I have shelves piled high with diet books of every shape and description. They are full of theories and plans, food allowances and calorie counts, strategies and tips.
Some of them have a simple message. Others try to complicate things with lots of scientific explanation. There's some truth in all of them but they simply don't work for most of us.
You can read every diet book out there. You can start out full of enthusiasm on yet another new weight loss plan or program every few months. But until you realize that it's not the plan or program that is keeping you from success - but you - you're likely to be still trying every diet under the sun until
you give up wanting to lose weight in your nineties.
Now, I don't mean there's anything wrong with you that makes you unable to make these diet plans and programs work. In fact, you are in a tiny minority of people if you do succeed - the select few who have that iron will and determination to stick to a diet until they reach their target weight and beyond.
What I mean is that you're not taking into account that you are a human being and that human beings are creatures of habit.
People like what is familiar and comfortable - it's in our very nature. So to make changes which turn everything that we are used to upside down takes a monumental effort most of don't have the time and energy for. And it's not surprising that we scuttle back to our old ways before too long.
The first two steps to succeed in making any change are awareness and acceptance of the current situation.
You have to understand yourself and what you are capable of and accept that before you can move forward. If you're willing to accept that you're human and that huge sudden changes are unsustainable, you can start to work with that rather than trying to fight your very nature and those characteristics shared by almost all of us!
So, what's it to be? Buying every new diet book out there and trying it out for two weeks or two months? Or making small changes to your habits one by one to move towards the healthy lifestyle that will result in the shape you want?
Copyright Janice Elizabeth Small
http://www.SimplySlimming.com
