"Trying" To Lose Weight

Let me know if this sounds familiar… You go on a diet and are super motivated. You stick to it exactly and are seeing results. The scale is moving down. The clothes fit better. You are getting results! Then, life happens. You get bored with being “on a diet.” You get distracted, whatever. The bottom line is that you lose focus and move away from what you were doing and inevitably regain the weight that you lost. This sets up the yo-yo diet situation where you may attempt to lose weight again and then restore weight only to repeat this pattern continually.

So, how do we break this pattern? What is the key to losing weight for good? In this blog post I am going to share just one of the fundamental principals that we teach our weight loss clients in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

One of my favorite quotes is “If you are going to try, go all the way”. This line comes from Charlese Bukowski’s poem “Roll the Dice”. He means that if you are going to take on a challenge, a new task, work towards a goal, etc., you must go into it prepared to “go all the way”. Anything less will almost inevitably lead to future disappointment. Again, there is no point in “trying” in “even making the attempt” if you are not ready to “go all the way”.

So this is the attitude, but it also depends on the plan. You MUST have the right plan in place as well. We make all potential weight loss clients go through a rigorous screening process before we allow them to start a program, not only to see if they are ready to “go all the way” but also to see if they are in entire agreement with whatever plan we lay out. If the plan does not fit the individual like a glove, all the trying in the world won’t matter.

From the start, if you want to be successful in losing weight for good, you need to know what is expected of you and what you can expect from your support team, and you need to be in agreement with all of it – 100%! You must also understand the weight maintenance plan before losing your first pound. This is often overlooked. People want to lose weight as quickly as possible without considering what happens once they do. After you understand all of that, you need to “go all the way.” There will be good times. There will be tough times. See it, through, no matter what. The reward is just too great not to.

I highly recommend reading Bukowski’s short poem “Roll the Dice.” He obviously does a much better job articulating the need to only try when you are ready to go all the way. The bottom line remains, however. If we define failure as yo-yo dieting, then having a solid plan that you agree with, along with being prepared to go all the way, is the antidote to this failure.