Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 2515 of 3212

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Welcome to all the fresh-faced newbies! You have stumbled across the best 

place you could have found--the place where all weary worn-out dieters go 

for relief and common sense. =)

I do have one suggestion: to set a realistic timeframe for your goals. No 

doubt most of us have often used the new year as a time for fresh 
beginnings, with varying degrees of success. I don't usually try "new 

year's resolutions," but for some reason, this year I have many goals in 

mind and feel like this is a good time to concentrate on them. I've finally 

gotten it through my head that changing habits (formerly called "dieting") 

is a long-term project, not a short-term fix, but I don't think I've ever 

set an actual time period for my expectations. I got up this January 1st 

with an idea already established in my mind: that losing the first 30 pounds 

I need off will take me a year, if I do everything I ought to do. I believe 

I need to think and plan with this as my foundation, or I will become 
discouraged and distracted. 30 pounds is equal to 2.5 lbs. each month for 

12 months. I don't kid myself that it will be easy, but it should be 
possible. It still sounds slow--but not as slow as the past year, when my 

average weight loss was probably +1 lb. per month! =P So I've got no cause 

to complain--nothing else has ever worked better, or I'd still be doing 
it.

I posted recently about the need to believe you really can change, and the 

need to be sure you really want to change. I'm not one to believe that 

"believing" is what *causes* the change, but for sure, we will never 
attempt 
to do something that we don't believe is possible. So on some level, you do 

need to be able to picture yourself with different habits, being a different 

person. You also need to decide whether you really want to change. Too 

often, if I look below the surface of my thinking, I discover that I want to 

keep doing all the same things I've been doing, but I want to have different 

results. (Same old definition of insanity...) I want to go on eating what 

appeals to me or eating what I don't need, or eating for the wrong reasons 

(emotions or boredom), or not bothering with exercise, BUT I also want to 

get thinner at the same time! Of course I'd never think these things 
consciously, but subconsciously that's probably what we all want! So, 
"wanting to change" needs to mean not only "I want to be 
thinner," but also 
"I want to go through some discomfort in order to become a different 

person," or "I want to stop doing what I enjoy" (being assured that 
'what I 
enjoy' can change...or become much less important in the overall picture).

Anyway, take it slow and steady, and never give up!

Diane