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Article Series: Weight Loss & Dieting
How Do I Really Lose Weight?
Lose
Weight - Psychological Factors Why You Succeed
Behavioral
Psychology Expert Dean Anderson outlines 3 basic
assumptions underlying all chronic failure
people experience, including the persistent failure to lose
weight. In brief these are:
- the
assumption that they posses a personal flaw inside themselves
that is the cause of their
problem;
- the
assumption that this flaw is permanent and cannot be changed,
and;
- the
assumption that this flaw affects every aspect of their
lives.
In this article, we discuss the diametric opposite of this
attributional style designed for failure, an attributional
style geared for success. Conveniently, Anderson breaks this
opposing attributional style with three basic assumptions,
labeling each with a word starting in the letter “S”.
Dean
Anderson’s 3 S’s of Success are:
Self-efficacy
This
is the inherent assumption from within oneself that one
is capable
of doing whatever is required
to achieve one’s objective. This is the old attitude
that you can do anything you put your mind to. This belief
is
fundamental to success in any endeavor, not least of
which is losing weight. Without it, you’ll find it difficult
to sustain the energy to see you through any worthwhile
endeavor.
But with this belief in your own self-efficacy, you’ll
view
setbacks and obstacles as nothing more than challenges
to face and overcome in your path to inevitable victory. Now, don’t make the mistake of confusing of confusing self-efficacy
with self-confidence, self-esteem, or self-worth. While those
are all great and valuable attributes, the assumption to which
we are referring here is specifically a belief in your ability
to accomplish tasks that you set yourself.
Break down your overall goal of losing weight into smaller,
achievable steps (bite-sized, so to speak) and a sense of self-efficacy
will start to naturally arise out of these more realistic and
conceivable pieces a larger and more inconceivable goal.
Self-Monitoring
We
need to be paying attention to ourselves in order to
know if we are sabotaging ourselves or aiding in
our own success. How can you know what thoughts you are
thinking (whether they are positive and affirming or negative
and disempowering)
unless you’re listening? In the book: “The Solution” , by Laurel Mellin, RD, identifies
with her participants what factors besides hunger trigger them
to start eating and then works with them to learn how to respond
to those triggers in other ways, without resorting to food.
To succeed at losing weight, you need to stay keen to your
patterns of thinking and your patterns of behavior.
Self-monitoring does not just involve noticing your patterns
and properly interpreting them; it also requires making appropriate
adjustments to your thinking and behavior accordingly. If you
don’t following up your observations with action, modify your
behavior in response to messages you receive from your self-monitoring,
then you’re really not self-monitoring at all. This is apparent
in the person who says they “know” exactly what they need to
do and just don’t “do” it.
The crux here is that the changes a person “knows” they need
to do aren’t steps in a process or items on a To-Do List. They
are basic beliefs, values, and priorities affecting their patterns
of eating and activity that need a complete overhaul. And many
people would rather tune out than respond accordingly and appropriately
to those messages.
Support
This
one is easy; we are not meant to go through life alone. If
we were, there wouldn’t be so many darned people
around. We are social creatures, designed to cluster around
others of our kind with whom to give and receive support
in our individual and collective aims. Your aims at receiving
support have led you here. Congratulations; that’s an excellent
start (or step). Now keep up the good work: by joining a
group
of others who share similar weight loss goals, by drawing
on your existing support network of family and friends to
encourage
and assist you, and by seeking further support from experts
and other people who have already gone through what you are
going through now. # # # # #
SolveYourProblem.com
: 2008
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