Taking the Lead in Your Weight Loss
Sometimes it’s easy to blame other people when things aren’t going your way. And the more you focus on why other people or situations make it hard for you to lose weight, the more powerless you feel. When it comes to weight management, success comes with realizing it’s up to you to solve your weight-gain challenges.
Although other people have influence on you, you and only you can really manage your eating and activity. When you believe you are responsible for your actions, it helps you realize you have control over your life. This is called “empowerment.”
Empowerment makes people feel less frustrated. It allows them to stop making excuses or blaming other people for their problems. It makes it easier to start working on ways to eat healthier and be more active so they can reach their goals.
Does This Sound Familiar?
Mary’s friends frequently suggest they go to lunch at the fast food restaurant across the street from work. She often ends up eating off her meal plan when she goes and she complains to her family that she’d be doing better on her diet if her friends weren’t always inviting her out to eat.
Scott is a night owl. He usually doesn’t go to bed until midnight and rolls out of bed at the last minute before he has to get ready for work. Because he gets up with little time to spare before he has to leave, he doesn’t eat breakfast. By 10 am, he’s starving so he grabs a soda and something from the vending machine. He makes excuses for not eating breakfast because he says he just doesn’t have time in the morning to eat.
Beth used to like playing sports, especially soccer. But then one of her teammates started making snide remarks about her weight gain. At the end of the season she decided not to try out for the team again and since then she’s been very inactive. She’d like to play a sport, but she’s nervous about what people might say if she joins another team.
What could Mary, Scott, and Beth do to stop making excuses or blaming others for their challenges, stand up for themselves, and start taking more responsibility for their actions?
Mary: ______________________________________
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Scott: ______________________________________
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Beth: ______________________________________
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List one challenge you’ve been having with your meal plan and one challenge you’ve been having with your activity or exercise plan. What excuses do you make or who do you blame for your situation? What can you do to take the lead in your weight loss?
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Meal Plans
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Activity / Exercise
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My challenge
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Excuses I make or people I blame
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Possible solutions to my challenge
(How can I take the lead to change this?)
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Energy In
My Eating Challenges:
My “Energy In” Goal for the Next Week:
Energy Out
My Activity Challenges:
My “Energy Out” Goal for the Next Week:
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