My Ultimate Goal

I love to read, and one of the things that helps keep me focused on my long-term goals is reading books about weight loss. I'm not talking about books that talk about what kinds of foods to eat or suggest 101 different foods that you can fill up on and not gain weight. I want to read about how the path other people took. What did they tell themselves? How far did they come? How hard was it for them? What made them successful?

Since so much of this journey is a battle in my mind, it helps to always be armed with stories of success and the victors' tricks for success. Remember, it's about playing new, updated and positive tapes in my head and getting rid of the negative chatter. So, as I find something valuable, I'm going to grab onto it and share it.

Tonight's jewel is about setting goals, and it comes to us from Dr. Phil. I feel like I should offer a disclaimer that I don't buy into everything he teaches, nor do I care for all the sensationalism surrounding his show. However, what I have read (and am reading) about weight loss is rock solid.

Early in his book – The Ultimate Weight Loss Solution – he invited me to write down my goals in this journey. As any good dieter would have guessed, I wrote down how many pounds I wanted to lose. Spot on, right?? Keep reading.

Following my goal, I was to write the things that I was (and am) willing to do to achieve my goal:

• Attend Weight Watcher Meetings
  
• Track everything I eat
  
• Eat healthy foods
  
• Aerobic exercise 5 times a week
  
• Strength training 3 times a week
  
• Cooking meals for my family
  

You get the picture.

Then, I was to ask myself how I would feel after doing all those things and achieving my goal. My response – I'm going to be healthy and confident. I'm going to have rediscovered that person inside me who KNOWS (without any doubt) that I am amazing.

THAT, Dr. Phill says, is my goal. Weight loss is simply one tool to help get me there. And now, THAT has become my focus.