How You Can Stop Procrastinating and Start Your Diet
Kenneth Schwarz, Ph.D.
Julie Schwarz
You mean it when you say it. You are serious about it. You want to lose weight, so you promise yourself you’ll go on a diet. But how many of these diet promises have you broken? How many times have said you’d do it and then put it off and put it off?
So many women want to lose weight but have trouble getting started. This is understandable, especially for someone who has dieted before and failed. If you’re one of those people, you know how hard it is to overcome past failures and feel confident about attempting a weight loss diet plan again.
Why not try a new way to get yourself ready to go? Why not try something completely different this time so you can finally stop procrastinating and start being the dieter you want to be? That’s what Maria did. She started by writing a letter.
Dear Food
I’m breaking up
with you.
Don’t be
surprised. I’ve certainly tried to do it many times before, but I
always weakened and went back to you.
I finally woke up
and realized this relationship is not good for me. I’m not getting
what I need from you. It’s hurting me, not allowing me the space to
grow in the ways I need to grow. You’re holding me back.
I know I’ll have
separation anxiety, but I’ve stayed with you too long, way past
when I should have. This just isn’t working for me. You don’t
listen to me. You don’t give me attention. You don’t care about
what I’m going through. It’s almost like you don’t have any
feelings for me at all, yet I’ve stuck close to you, helpless and
dependent.
I know you won’t
let go of me so easily. I know you’ll keep calling me, asking me to
come back. But please, let me go now.
In the beginning you
were always there, ready to calm me and soothe me, but it went too
far. I came to rely on you. I looked to you for everything. In all
fairness, it was too much to ask of you. No way could you fulfill all
my needs. For so long I’ve settled, afraid to go out there and find
something better for myself. I need to do that.
I now withdraw my
heart from you so I can be free to put it elsewhere, some place where
I can be loved back. I’ve tried to break up with you before. This
time it’s real. I want to be on the cutting edge of my own life,
and I can’t do it while I’m still tied to you. Thinking about
being free scares me, but I want it. I must have it. I think I’m
brave enough at last.
I know I’ll long
for you. I know I’ll think of you a lot, especially during those
hard times. I know I’ll be tempted to come back to you. But this
time I’ve got a plan, things I’m prepared to do when I get lonely
and sad. I’ve been thinking of other ways to celebrate when I’m
happy or proud. I have remedies in place for being bored or tired.
At this point you’re
a troublemaker in my life and I intend to keep my emotional distance
from you. So in a way, this is goodbye. Of course, I’ll still come
into contact with you day to day, but let’s just be friends, not
lovers.
Don’t cry
(although you never do, it’s me who does all the crying).
If you’ve been
struggling with a weight problem, you undoubtedly have your own
unique, complicated relationship with food. Do you know how it works
with you? Laying out the problem honestly the way Maria did can give
you the extra push you need. It is like a breath of fresh air, taking
you from procrastinator to starter in one heartfelt step: Dear food…
© Maria's Last Diet. Maria’s Last Diet is an online weight loss support website for women. At Maria’s Last Diet, you’ll find the tools to fix the thoughts, feelings, and automatic habits that fight against you when you diet. Because it’s never just about the food. Visit www.mariaslastdiet.com for more diet tips and weight loss motivation.
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