Count the Cost for Weight Loss

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Cheryl Cope, One of Thousands of Christian Coaches on Noomii.

Count the Cost for Weight Loss

What will it cost you to lose weight? What will it cost you to keep it off?

There may be some literal financial costs involved, like joining a fitness club, purchasing meal replacement foods, or hiring a weight loss coach, but I’d like to focus on other types of costs.

What will it take?

What will it take to get you to your desired weight and to keep you there (both are similar)? Will it require getting more exercise? Will it require eating less in general or eating less of certain foods like comfort foods and sweets? Will it require replacing some bad habits with good habits? Will it require some changes in your thinking? Will it require a complete change in lifestyle? Will it require going out and getting some outside help (from a fitness club, weight loss program or weight loss coach)?

Try to be realistic and think through what it will actually require for you to reach and maintain your weight loss goal.

Are you prepared?

Are you prepared to make the necessary changes in your thinking, habits and lifestyle to be successful? Are you prepared to keep on doing those things to maintain your weight loss? That second question is probably more important. Most people can somewhat easily make temporary changes. It’s the lasting changes that are harder to make.

If you are not prepared to keep yourself where you are trying to go with your weight loss efforts you are not truly ready to go there. It is common knowledge that yo-yo dieting is bad for your health, and I would add, bad for your self-image (because you end up perceiving yourself as a “failure”). No one really wants to yo-yo up and down with their weight.

You Know it’s True

You know it’s true. You must permanently change some things in your lifestyle in order to maintain your weight loss. Thinking otherwise is an example of the common definition of insanity (doing the same thing and expecting different results). You know it’s true—if you go back to eating, exercising and thinking the same way that you did before your weight loss diet, you will gain it back. How could you not? It’s how you got there in the first place!

Mental Preparation

What’s needed is some mental preparation. It doesn’t have to take a long time but it is usually needed! Is the pain of not changing, greater than the pain of changing? If so, you’re ready. If not, you may need some more time for mental preparation. Review your main goal (the why behind your weight loss effort). (See my post from last week.)

You may be ready to simply make the choice. Make a firm commitment to yourself that you will permanently change your habits and lifestyle. Make a commitment to take the time, money, physical effort and mental effort to get you to your desired goal.

If you are in need of outside help for your weight loss efforts (and who isn’t?), visit my site at www.cherylcope.com or email me at cheryl@cherylcope.com.