If you heard about a strategy that can help you to stick to eating healthy, would you be interested in learning more about? As a man, it can be embarrassing to admit that you are on diet. This makes getting motivated to start and keep that motivation going difficult. By the time you are done with work and get home, you are tired and don’t have any energy. That makes doing nothing about it much easier. Plus you tell yourself that your health isn’t that bad, you can worry about it later. I understand and it’s the reason why I want to share this strategy with you to help you stick with your healthy habits.
But What If I Have No Time?
Most men give two reasons that they can’t eat healthy and lose weight – figuring out which advice to follow and they don’t have the time. There is lots of info out regarding diet and ways to eat. They can cause overwhelm and paralyze you into no action. To make getting started ridiculously simple, I put together healthy ways to lose weight that you can start using right now without changing anything that you are putting in your mouth. That was simple enough. Now let’s move on to the issue of time. Cool? You might think that time is a resource issue and you don’t have enough of it, but I say that it’s the way you are thinking that is the issue. Stay with me on this. Trust me.
As humans, at our core the need to avoid pain and gain pleasure drive our decisions and control our lives. Simply stated – we’ll do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure. Have you ever been given that project or presentation to prepare at work with a deadline that seemed impossible to meet? At first it seemed impossible, but you got it done. Why? The reason is that you wanted to avoid the pain of possibly losing your job, getting reprimanded or letting your team down. You might be thinking, “What’s this have to do with my health?” If you want to take your health seriously, you have to use that same strategy. The reason that you aren’t doing anything about your health and weight it that you think that taking action is going to be more painful than not taking action.
Learn to Control the Motivating Forces of Pain and Pleasure
What you focus on is what is most real to you. If you want your current habits to change, what you focus on has to change. Focus on the pain you’ll experience by not changing your behavior and the pleasure that it will instantly bring you. Step up and decide right now that you will control what your mind focuses on.
Use Pain and Pleasure to Change Your Behaviors
I’ve put together some questions for you to answer that will help you to get started. Get specific with your answer, but also be realistic. It’s better to be specific because then you can see if you are on target for your goal. Take a out a pen and paper and write your answers down. Look at them frequently.
Step 1: Make a Decision
The most powerful action you can take is to make a decision. Make one right now that you are going to take control of your health and take action, then continue on.
Step 2: Define Your Goals
You need to define your goal, so you know if you are on the right path of achieving it. Are you going to use your GPS without putting in your final destination? It’s important to know where you are going. Answer these questions: What do you want your weight to be and where do you want your health to be in 3-months? 6-months? 12-months? How do you want to feel when you wake up? How do you want to look? What do you want others to see and say about you?
Step 3: Control Your Motivating Forces
Answer these questions: In the past, what is the pain you’ve associated with losing weight and focusing on your health? What is the pleasure you took from not following through in the past? What will it cost you if you don’t start taking care of your health and losing weight now? What are the benefits you’ll gain by taking action? Go beyond the surface level answers on these such as, “I’ll be fat.” Because the pain of missing out on cookies or cheeseburgers will be stronger than “being fat.” Go deep when you answer these questions – something like “I won’t be around to see my grandkids grow up” or “I’ll be single my entire life.” For the benefits gained by taking action, maybe it’s “I’ll have better sex with (fill in the blank)” or “I’ll have more confidence to speak to women.” These have to be reasons that resonate with you and have to be real, not just words on paper.
Your Turn
In the comments below, let me know if you have decided to take action and share some of the pains you have linked up to not taking action.
About Mike Lieberman
Mike Lieberman helps men to lose weight and increase their energy by finding out what foods work for their unique body and busy lifestyle. He shares weight loss and personal development tips on ModernManProject.com.
