So you’ve started out on a new diet with the best of intentions, only to mess it up a few days later.
The important thing to remember is this: we’ve all done it, and to use that moment as a teaching lesson rather than beating yourself up over it.
Success in any endeavor requires a hundred percent commitment, which is the reason most people don’t succeed.
Short cuts never work, and the consciousness that searches for them will destroy your results in other areas of your life as well.
If you’re fat and want to be fit, comply fully or resolve to struggle with extra weight for the rest of your life. If you’re obese, comply or die. It’s not pretty, but it is simple.
The fat person’s belief that you can beat the system by altering it is delusional. No one goes from fat to fit without one hundred percent commitment.
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You don’t try to diet; you diet. If you play the middle ground, it will only end in a diet failure–and thus, frustration, disappointment, and resentment. A full commitment will take you to the promised land of health and happiness.
The good news is there are many strategies to help you bounce back from a dieting disaster.
How To Overcome A Dieting Mistake
1. Believe in yourself
Building a support team is a smart strategy. The added energy and team-like feeling will help propel you through the process.
At the end of the day, however, when everyone goes home and it’s only you and the scale, your success will amount to the belief you have in yourself. This belief is difficult if you have failed on diets in the past, but it’s critical to sustaining your level of motivation.
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How do you create self-belief if you’ve never succeeded in dieting? You tell yourself to believe it…even if you don’t.
Start telling yourself every day, as often as possible, that you are dedicated and disciplined on your diet, and that you always exercise. You tell yourself that you have what it takes to be healthy and fit. You tell yourself that when you focus on what you want, you never miss. Get the idea?
It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you repeat these messages long enough and strong enough, you’ll be amazed that you start acting accordingly.
Related: How To Stop Negative Self Talk
2. Keep your word (to yourself!)
The concept of personal integrity rarely arises when people talk about diets. You hear the words willpower, discipline, self-denial, delayed gratification, and others, but not integrity. It is arguably the most important word in weight loss.
Think about it this way: you set a weight-loss goal, select a diet, and embark on the journey to better health. Any diet failure–and thus, any violation of the promises you made to yourself–is a breach of integrity. When you break these promises, you’re violating your own integrity. Do this enough times, and you’ll stop believing your own promises.
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It’s a slippery slope because once the integrity of a promise is breached, the strength of the promise is never the same.
This is one reason yo-yo dieters often suffer from low self-esteem. They no longer believe their own words, and it erodes the reputation they have with themselves.
The only question in this equation: are you a person of integrity or not?
Good news: today is a new day, and you can bounce back and start over from scratch. Use this gift to build confidence and self-esteem as you lose weight. It gives you multiple benefits for maintaining your integrity.
3. Start being the “new you” today
At its root, dieting is a battle of wills. It’s you against yourself, the ultimate contest.
It’s the old you who wants to keep the comfortable eating habits versus the new you who’s struggling to emerge and give birth to a more healthful way of living.
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Critical thinking suggests the odds are clearly in favor of the old you with your ingrained eating habits and food choices. The new you become the underdog swimming upstream trying to stay alive long enough to break the old habits keeping you fat, sluggish, and unhealthy.
The new you has a chance if you begin strong with some early weight-loss results that motivate you to keep fighting. It all boils down to commitment, and how much you want to be fit.
There’s no way to sugarcoat this: you’re either all in or you’re going to lose the battle. Walk in the ring with a ninety-nine percent commitment and you’re defeated. Remember, your diet is not a toy and you’re not a child.
Until you make a serious, full-blown commitment, you will always be fat, and if you wait too long, you will dig your own grave. This isn’t pretty, but it is reality.
Related: 5 Diet And Weight Loss Myths Holding You Back
The Takeaway
The past is dead, but you’re not. You can bounce back from that bingeing session. You still have time to turn it around, but remember: the clock is ticking. Make the decision today to stop wallowing in the diet failure of the past, and instead, become focused on the success of the future.
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Steve Siebold is the author of the international bestselling book 177 Mental Toughness Secrets of The World Class. He is a mental toughness consultant to Fortune 500 Corporations such as Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, and Toyota.
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