by Jenna Pope

Created on: December 28, 2009

I’m thankful for my grandchildren because they motivate me to stay on my diet.  I want to live to see them graduate from high school and college, get married, and have children.  That wasn’t going to happen if I didn’t lose weight and lower my cholesterol.  Thinking about my grandchildren inspires me to lose weight.  Without motivation, it’s difficult to stay on a diet.

 Goals:

Goals will make you feel more positive about losing weight.  My short-term goal, when I began dieting, was to fit into my Matron -of-Honor dress for a friend’s upcoming wedding.  I had two months to accomplish that.  By the time of the wedding, I’d lost so much weight that I had to alter the dress to fit me!  My long-term goal is to weigh 100 pounds.  Since May, I have lost 28 pounds and have gone from a size 14 dress size to a size 6.  Just 12 more pounds to go.  Keep your goals in front of you as something to strive for.

A long-term goal could be to look thinner and feel better about yourself.  Just like me, you could buy a dress one size under what you are wearing now.  Imagine how good you’ll feel when you can fit into that dress!  Later, when you have hit your weight-loss goal, you can have the dress altered to fit you in a smaller size. 

Rewards:

When dieting, it is important to reward yourself daily.  I love chocolate, and so my daily reward is a Weight Watchers’ chocolate cookie-covered ice cream bar.  It is only 130 calories and 5 fat grams.  This means that I can still eat sweets while dieting.  Skinny Cow makes ice cream sandwiches in several flavors that are delicious, only 150 calories and 2 fat grams. 

You could also reward yourself a trip to the movies or some other activity that you really like – if you have lost at least one pound that week.  Or you could go out to dinner and order something that is compatible with your diet.  Chili’s and Applebee’s have low calorie/low fat items on their menus.  Don’t be embarrassed to ask your waitress – wherever you eat – for the restaurant’s nutritional guidelines. 

Be reasonable:

It’s impossible to lose 10 pounds a week, unless you’ve had your stomach stapled.  So don’t expect too much of yourself.  Just do your best to stick to your diet plan.  One to two pounds a week is a reasonable weight-loss goal. 

If you have a lapse:

Everybody blows it occasionally and eats too much.  Just don’t let that lapse turn into a food-fest for the next week.  Just pick yourself up and move on.  Exercise a little more, and any weight you have gained will fall off quickly.

Dieting can make anyone feel blue, especially if you feel like you are constantly denying yourself, while the rest of our family is eating “forbidden” foods.    Set up some short-term goals and a goal for the long run.  Remind yourself of them often, and be sure to reward yourself for every pound lost. 

The payoff for dieting is not instantaneous.  Weight loss is a series of good decisions linked together like beads on a string.  They don’t look like much until you have several of them.  Then, you have something beautiful.

Learn more about this author, Jenna Pope.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.