Motivational tips to stay on the healthy track

Visualize yourself eating more of these and you will. (keetsa.com.)

We’re into week three of the new year—so how’s your new eating plan going? No worries if you’ve had a slip-up or two. The real trick is to immediately hop back onto the wellness train and continue at full speed ahead.

But let’s face it—sometimes it’s hard to go for the less fattening food choice. Many of us tend to be emotional eaters, and those emotions can range from excitement (maybe you’re like me and more than thrilled that 24’s Jack and Tony are back) to stress (do the words “stock market” send shivers down your spine?). Before you know it, one “bad” meal and can turn into one “bad” day, then one “bad” week, and so on. Then what seems like the blink of an eye, your weight loss goals come to a screeching halt.

“If this sound familiar, you may need a whole approach for managing your weight,” says Linda Spangle, RN, MA, (www.weightlossjob.com), author of 100 Days of Weight Loss: The Secret to Being Successful on Any Diet Plan (Sunquest Media, 2006). “What you really need is an easy set of tools that will help you calm, nurture and energize yourself so that food doesn’t have to do it for you.” Below Spangle and other weight-loss experts offer a few of their most successful strategies that can keep any dieter on track:

Motivational tip: Acknowledge your positive traits

Why it works: “Take an inventory of attributes that define you that have nothing to do with your body,” states Julia Havey, Weight Loss Expert and creator of The Vice Busting Diet Plans. For example, maybe you’re a great conversationalist, a gifted singer, or a phenomenal listener. “Reminding yourself of these traits will help you stay motivated with your new lifestyle since you’ll be focusing on improving you rather than just improving your body.”

Motivational tip: Visualize

Why it works: “The human mind loves working with pictures and images,” says Uche Odiatu, Personal Trainer, Certified Holistic Lifestyle Coach, and co-author of The Miracle of Health: Simple Solutions Extraordinary Results (John Wiley, January 2009). She then refers to author Jack Canfield. “He explains that daily visualization helps keep a person focused in the direction of the type of life they want.” Odiatu suggests cutting out pictures of active people, placing them on a collage among photos of yourself, and placing this collage in a place where you can see it each day. “This daily mental exercise allows you to feel successful without having reached your goal yet.” 

Motivational tip: Give yourself a new title

Why it works: Come up with a happy and positive word, phrase or name tag describing yourself that moves you toward your goals, says Linda Spangle. She offers words such as “balanced,” “fit,” or “healthy,” or a name like “power woman” or “sexy mama.” “You see, your brain doesn’t recognize the difference between a negative image and a positive one,” she explains. “By using more positive language will help you focus on your potential instead of your mistakes.”