“Aim to have more self respect and self confidence.”

You have now got to the end of the program and if you have successfully completed the homework task each week, you should now have the foundation skills that are important for weight loss. If you can implement them so that are part of your everyday behaviour and psychological mindset, you should experience ongoing success. These are some of the things that should added to your daily skills for weight loss:

The basic list from your homework tasks:

• smaller portion sizes
• a nutritious breakfast or mid-morning snack that is low is sugar
• elimination of soft drinks, flavoured milk and fruit juices
• incorporation of high intensity exercise
• adding incidental exercise into your day
• encouraging your social outings to be non-food and perhaps even exercise
• waiting 10 minutes before having a second serve
• increasing water intake
• mindful eating – not eating in front of the TV, computer or IPAD
• getting out for a short walk at lunch
• making a list of non-food treats
• being aware of your irrational thoughts and thinking errors
• incorporating planned exercise into your week
• practicing and mastering relaxation to manage stress and emotional eating
• adding resistance exercises into your exercise regime
• identifying emotions that trigger emotion eating
• saying daily positive affirmations
• plan your meals
• knowing who your supportive people are and those who are not so supportive
• eating until you are only 80% full and sitting mindfully with it

If you find that you are not doing these things on a daily basis, work on adding these in until they become second nature to you. You may want to go back to all the homework tasks at the end of each module to work on implementing each tasks slowly and tick them off as you feel confident that you can do them. These are the basic foundations to keeping the weight off.

Self sabotage

In general, weight loss with the superior control over eating, increase in activity levels and greater acceptance of shape and weight contribute to improved self evaluation. There are a number of other ways to improve self confidence.

While family and friends can sometimes threaten your weight loss goals, your toughest critic is probably yourself. Most of us are hard on ourselves and more critical than we would ever be with someone else. However, being too restrictive and unforgiving can actually backfire. We all need a little wriggle room and taking that flexibility away can make you feel like you’re being tortured rather than enjoying your workouts or healthy diet choices.

Look at the ways you self sabotage yourself. Which ones do you do?
– Having unrealistic expectations (review module 1)
– Being overly restrictive on what you eat (review module 2)
– Trying to increase difficulty and intensity of exercise before you have regularity (review module 3)
– Overbooking yourself and not planning ahead (review module 4)
– Giving excuses for not following through (review module 6)
– Setting impossible weight loss goals (review module 9)
– Embrace both weight and non weight goals (review module 8)

Problem solving skills

Good problem solving skills are important in dealing with problems, conflicts and changes to your weight journey. If you are getting stuck, revisit the problem solving chapter and do some energetic work on problem solving skills. 

Time

What’s the number one excuse we give for not exercising? Time.

Time, genetics, age, work and lifestyle are all issues which impact on how we behave and the decisions we make but it is not the reason why we can’t exercise. You are always going to have obstacles and challenges which make it harder for you to stay healthy. Stop waiting for the perfect time, make the time and prioritise exercise into your appointments. There is usually something less important that you can give up (like your favourite television show or that Saturday morning sleep in).

Motivation:
1) Think about the consequences of not acting now.
2) Boost your self confidence and the momentum will carry you like a train.
3) If you “fail” today, fix your behaviour now and “save your day”.
4) Stop self sabotaging.
5) Keep changing your exercise and challenge yourself. Boredom leads to poor success. Re-invigorate yourself and do not get too comfortable. Continue to learn and grow.

Final Thoughts

Well done for completing this 10 module program. Enjoy your success:

When you experience success, as small as it may seem enjoy it, congratulate yourself, stop moving the goalposts. If you don’t learn to enjoy the triumphs and the hurdles you have overcome, you will be perpetually miserable and forever trying to achieve the unachievable.

The weight loss journey is a life one. You will have periods of success and times when you feel you are going backwards. It takes 6 months to 1 year to make permanent lifestyle changes. You have given yourself a wonderful head start by laying down some psychological foundations in this program. The main thing is to remember that you are making lifelong changes to a healthier and better life mind, body and soul. Keep educating yourself, keep challenging yourself and seek support and help whenever you can.

I hope you have enjoyed doing this 10 week program. If you are willing to travel or the location is accessible to you, and you would like some extra one on one support or a tailored plan, you can always come and see Dr Marlene Tham for an appointment. Or if you wish to do further programs on food, exercise, medical conditions or do more advanced psychological therapies to continue working on your relationship with food and overeating, please have a look at the website under courses.

Remember, always continue to redefine your mind, body and the meaning of success.