Most people poised to embark upon a body makeover begin by worrying
about how to change their eating and exercise habits. But building a program that
works does not begin with food or fitness. It starts with building a solid emotional
foundation. If you want to transform your body, first transform your mind-set,
attitudes, outlook, and your way of seeing yourself.
Four Cornerstones
So how do you build your foundation? It starts with four cornerstones:
- Honesty. Stop wearing blinders; you must be honest with yourself about who you are and why you do the things you do. Lying to yourself is like having a big
crack in your emotional foundation. Dishonesty is a huge barrier to success. Physical
makeovers are about self-discovery—changing not only the behaviors that
lead to your health and weight problems, but the behaviors that hamper your life
in other ways. Replay decisions you make, both good and bad, and analyze them.
It’s the way to break unhealthy behavior patterns.
- Responsibility.
Opening up to your shortcomings and seeing that some of your habits are detrimental
to your health and owning them and changing those bad habits are two
different things. So, take responsibility for your life. Vow to change and make
good on that promise. Say, “That’s how I used to be, but I’m
not going to be that person anymore.”
- Commitment. If you’re lax about your commitments in one area of your life, you’re likely to be lax about other vows you make—both to others
and to yourself. Do you keep your promises you make to yourself? People who struggle
with their weight may honor commitments to others but not those to themselves.
You do a disservice to those who care about you by not taking care of yourself.
So, attend to your own needs as well as the needs of others.
- Inner strength.
Changing your body is not easy. Losing weight requires willpower. You need to
impose your will to achieve what you want to do. I prefer to call willpower inner
strength, because that’s what it really is. And one key to inner
strength is making conscious decisions. If you struggle with your weight,
many of your decisions are likely rote reactions—not choices. You come home
from a stressful day at work and dig into a bag of chips. A conscious decision
would be to choose to go for a walk instead. Take 10 seconds to think about your
choices before giving in to fleeting desires.
These four cornerstones provide you with what you need to weather
the storms that can derail months and even years of effort. PE
