Are You Ready? (Original Date: May 17, 2009)

A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend of mine who is also very into nutrition and fitness. We are both working on losing those last few stubborn pounds - the vanity pounds. I remarked to her, "I TALK about how much I want to lose this weight; but I really don't DO much about it." When it comes down to it, I'm not always doing what I know I need to do.

How do you go from talking about how much you want something to actually doing the things that will get it?

Start on the inside by pondering these two things:

1. Look past the "goal".

Why do you want to lose weight? Surely, the goal isn't the number on the scale or the number printed on a tag in your clothes - that is arbitrary. What is the underlying goal attached to that number? Is it how you think you will feel at that weight? Is it how you think you will look at that weight? Is it to be able to walk up the stairs without being winded? Is it to control your blood pressure? Is it something else entirely?

2. Look for the reasons for your choices.

Do you just want to relax at home after a hard day at work instead of go to the gym? Do you want that greasy hamburger because it's just soooo yummy? Sure, that will bring you satisfaction right now in this moment and I'm all for being satisfied; but these things work against weight loss. What are you wanting by making these choices? Is that relaxing at home a way to find some peaceful down time? Is that hamburger taking the place of something else? It is another reason entirely?

Only you have the answers to these questions.

This is how Intrinsic Coaching can help. Coaching conversations give you the time and space to explore these types of ideas. The coach is trained to ask the types of questions that open up new thinking for you.

Old thinking will get you what you've already got. New results need new ways of thinking.

No, I'm not perfect. Neither are you. But before you go from talking the talk to walking the walk, you've got to know what you want at the end of this part of your journey because what you want is guiding the choices you make.

Are you ready?