Your Excuse: "I Know How to Lose Weight, But I'm Just Not Getting It Done"

The Excuse Buster: Losing weight and getting healthy is about much more than following guidelines. True, you can follow directions and usually achieve the expected results, but rarely is this a long-term solution. Instead, sticking rigidly to a set plan often becomes monotonous and restrictive, and many of us can't imagine living the rest of our lives like that. Beyond boredom, it takes a lot of time and energy to measure portions, count calories, fat grams and carbohydrate content. While these activities can be helpful in fostering awareness and forming better habits, there is an easier way to adjust our relationship to food, and that is by "knowing better".

If we want to be perfectly honest with ourselves, most of us have to admit that we already know how to achieve a healthy body weight. We know that eating more than our body needs and moving less than we should results in excess fat being stored in our cells. We know that we need to drink plenty of water to keep our body's organs and systems operating efficiently. We know the benefits of proper nutrition and getting enough sleep. But knowing and doing are two very different things.

That's where knowing BETTER comes into play. When you think about it, "knowing" something means simply that you believe it to be true. But have you ever believed something that didn't serve you well? Have you ever believed that losing weight was hard? Have you ever believed that your eating was out of control? Have you ever believed that exercise was unpleasant? Do you still believe these things now?

What you know and believe is what you will create in your life experiences. If you want to be sure that your weight loss will be easy and permanent, begin "knowing" that it will. Know that you have the ability to make better choices for yourself - beyond any written or spoken guidelines you may follow initially. Know that you are strong enough, committed enough and wise enough to transform your unhealthy habits into lifelong, life-affirming habits. Whatever you know, you make it true.