Dear Dr. Sadaqat Ali,
Year 2012 ended on a hopeless note. It’s not because of any financial or family crisis. It’s because of an issue which I have considered NOT A BIG DEAL for a long time. Last year, 2012, I decided to reduce my weight but end up having 5 kg extra. As I am reaching towards my 40s, I am seriously concerned about my weight issues because it ultimately represents my health status.I have seen other obese people face lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure and realized that, if I did not change, I would likely face these same obstacles. I was determined to reduce my weight but I don’t know what went wrong that I could not keep my last year resolution intact. I had nurtured my career but ignored my health. I realized I needed to spend more time on me. Please help me to figure out how to keep my 2013’s resolution intact —reduce my weight.
Thank you
Confused Obese
Dear Confused!
You’re not alone who blew your New Year’s resolution. It turns out that fewer than one in twenty of us succeed off our own at changing a longstanding habit that has kept us from advancing our career, improving a relationship, getting healthier, or becoming financially fit.Generally, our change plans fall into one of two traps:because of which cannot keep your new year’s resolution.Most of us fail to change because we believe the best predictor of our capacity to change is the quantity of willpower we possess. When we finally give up on willpower, we hope we can kill bad habits with a single new pill, surgery, gadget, or fad. For example, a friend loses weight, and we buy the same diet book. It’s only a matter of months before we’re back to bad habits and looking for the next quick fix. The problem with these approaches is that it assumes one simple change will get us to overcome deeply intractable patterns of behavior.
Luckily, there are more efficient ways for personal change than either willpower or magic bullets. In fact, there’s a way to design personal change that makes you ten times more likely to succeed in projects like weight management. This method is based on three simple but powerful ideas. The step one is realizing the problem is not that you lack will; it’s that you’re blind to many forces that shape your behavior, and you’re outnumbered by the forces you are n’t taking advantage of.And there forces may be working against your aims. Second important thing is take role of a scientist who’s dealing with problem. Most of us shop for magic bullets as though someone else might have figured out the key to changing you. They haven’t. No one knows all of the unique dynamics that affect your weight, relationships, career, finances, or health. You’ll have to embark on a scientific study of your own behavior to discover the key to changing you. The third point is taking your failure as a good data and not becoming discouraged. When you fail to change, the problem is not you—it’s your plan.
It’s time to leave behind failed approaches. Over the past years, I am sure you have tried variety of fad diets and exercise approaches in an attempt to lose weight. Your biggest problem wasn’t that you couldn’t lose the weight but could not sustain it. You were subject to a lot of unseen forces that were working against your weight management. You could not produce desirable results because there isn’t one reason we’re doing what we’re doing—there are many powerful forces around us that influence our choices, and these choices ultimately culminate into our success or failure. Unless we focus on all these forces, we’re as likely to win at change as a person in a one-against-many tug-of-war. Change literally becomes inevitable when all of the shrewd forces are tamed that provoke you into bad habits.Decide you want to permanently lose weight. Educate yourself. Set a realistic weight loss goal in mind. Formulate a structured weight loss plan with your doctor and receive proper follow-up. To make it possible, follow a comprehensive plan comprising of a multi pronged attack.