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Three Little Words That Can Change Your Weight Loss Path

January 25, 2017

Have you ever heard someone say something that had nothing at all to do with weight loss but you immediately made an association? That happened to me a few weeks ago when I was listening to a talk show on the radio while I was driving in my big 12 passenger van. Although I don’t remember what the overall topic of the program was, I do remember this example that the commentator gave. He said that a technique he used with his clients was to Stop, Continue, and Start.

I immediately thought of a stop light and visualized the colors of red, yellow, and green. Then I thought about how those three words and colors relate to weight loss.

STOP represents those behaviors we need to stop doing because they are detrimental to our health and weight loss.

CONTINUE represents those behaviors we have that are good for our weight loss efforts.

START represents the behaviors we need to start doing to make ourselves healthier and lose weight.

I needed to STOP:

Going through the drive thru of fast food restaurants every single day
Buying candy for myself under the guise of a holiday or family event
Eating chocolate with abandon
Sitting on the couch as much as possible
Setting a bad example for my children
Making food for my family that was loaded with fat, calories, and unhealthy ingredients
Blaming other people for my weight problem
Eating from emotions

I needed to CONTINUE:

Taking care of my husband, household, and kids
Keeping up with appointments and obligations
Sustain healthy relationships with family and friends
Feeding my family
Trying to lose weight

And I needed to START:

Paying close attention to portion sizes
Keeping my calories and fat consumption at a weight loss level
Moving my body by getting off the couch and walking
Setting a good example for my children
Cooking healthier meals
Not using the holiday calendar as an excuse to go off my plan
Thinking about my future health and wellness

These three phrases really stuck with me and I hope they will with you. I challenge you to make your own list right now and really think about what behaviors you need to stop, what behaviors you need to continue, and what behaviors you need to start including in your weight loss efforts. Being deliberate when it comes to weight loss is important and taking the time to analyze your behavioral patterns can be very beneficial.

This technique can apply to weight loss, to work, to household chores, and weight maintenance. In fact, I really need to sit down and think about how I can improve my efficiency because as you have likely noticed, I’ve been lax on blogging and commenting. I need and want to do better!

Are you up for the challenge? Can you sit down and analyze how you are doing right now? Revisit your list every month and add or subtract behaviors as needed. I see these three words as a check-in opportunity to make certain that the choices that I’m making today are those that will yield a positive impact years from now.