It all depends on you
There are many factors responsible for successful weight loss. One of the most important is motivation. It is very important to constantly strengthen your will during the diet. Various techniques are helpful in this, but irreplaceable too support obtained from loved ones. Many people have found out that in order to lose weight it is not enough to use the help of a dietitian or a well-prepared diet. The key is desire for a change felt by those who want to make changes in their life. When we feel that the goal we set for ourselves is in line with our expectations, and obtaining it is important to us – it will be easier for us to follow a diet. Such a situation is conducive to the smooth transition of successive stages of achieving effects, and not a feeling of struggle every day, which has a negative effect on well-being and may contribute to the cessation of diet.
Stages of change
Before deciding to start implementing each challenges there are several stages that we are often not aware of. Starting one of them omitting another may cause us to fail to achieve our goal. So let’s take a closer look at them. The authors of the model representing the phases leading to the commencement and implementation of tasks are DiClemente i Prochaska. The highlighted stages perfectly illustrate the weight loss process. Each stage assumes a different level of owned motivationboth in terms of its strength and content.
Stage 1 – before considering a change
During this phase, the person feels like not ready yet to take on the challenge of e.g. weight loss. Her thoughts are that she would like to lose weight, although she knows that it is not possible anytime soon. This phase is therefore characterized by forward thinking, postponing. An example would be a person suffering from significant obesity, unaware of the negative impact of their condition on their health. It is related with low motivation to changes preventing and delaying taking action.
Stage 2 – considering the change
The second stage manifests itself in initiation considering the possibility of change. The person starts be interested in the topic, learns about possible ways to lose weight, wonders if it is possible to lose weight in her case, whether she will succeed. Search is characteristic of this phase arguments for and against taking up the challenge. Additionally, a conflict arises – it is noticed that achieving a goal is also associated with losses and costs. These can be, for example, giving up eating your favorite foods, loss of energy, time for exhausting exercise, etc. However, if the arguments “for” prevail, taking an action that will result in obtaining an effect is more and more likely.
Stage 3 – preparation
During the third stage, there is an uptake the decision to introduce the change into force. The person making the decision plans to do so in a short period of time. This stage is time for preparation of a weight loss plan, preparing an appropriate menu, preparing for a change. It is also important seeking support among close people who will certainly be useful during the implementation of the task implementation plan. Therefore, the key is both proper preparation and setting a specific, achievable goal.
Stage 4 – action
The next step is to make specific changes. In the case of weight loss, they are broadly understood and refer to lifestyle modifications. They are very important in this case earlier stages. It is good preparation that guarantees achievement success.
Stage 5 – keeping the change
During the final stage the goal has already been achieved. Therefore, the focus should be on preventing the recurrence of the problem, i.e. in the case of weight loss on preventing it from happening effect yo-yo. It is worth remembering that at this time, working on motivation is still necessary.
It is also important that the implementation of various components that bring us closer to the goal may be at a different stage. An example is when the diet is already in the fourth phase, while the use of exercise is still at the stage of considering the change. It is worth preparing a plan for implementing changes, do it graduallyonly when we feel that we are fully ready for it. This approach increases the probability achieving the intended result.