Welcome back, sister!

 

I’m glad you’re here. We’ve been working this month through how to make THIS year the one where you lose your weight permanently. If you missed the last two weeks, go back and get them (read the posts or watch the YouTube videos), because these classes build on each other. I don’t want you to miss a thing!

 

This week we’re learning to build our own “good enough” weight loss plan. Doesn’t sound inspiring, right? Why just “good enough” and not “awesome” or “perfect”?

Because you don’t need a perfect plan. You need one that allows your life to fit in, including events, celebrations, and exceptions. The problem with most weight loss plans is that they require you to be super rigid and follow all the rules perfectly to be successful. Even if you have LOTS of willpower and commitment, you can only sustain that kind of plan for a limited time. And permanent weight loss requires permanent change – the kind of change you want to do forever. That way you never have to rebound back UP the scale – you go down and stay down at your goal weight.

The other problem with most weight loss plans is that you have to put a plan that someone else designed and fit it on top of your life. It’s hard to take a plan designed for someone else’s life and fit it into yours. You might find one that works, but you definitely can continue a plan crafted around your life. And who better to build that than you?

 

So what do you have to have to create an individualized  “good enough” weight loss plan? You need two things:

 

Decide what you will DO

Most diets teach you lots of rules about what you can and can’t do to be successful, mostly what you can’t have. All that can’t have and can’t do leads to a restrictive and scarcity-focused mindset. It also gives you no room to be creative or to problem-solve when you need to be flexible with the diet. You’re left with a black-and-white, binary definition of success – you’re either following the plan perfectly or you’ve failed.

Here’s the brain hack you want to use to create your plan: Ask yourself the question, “What WILL you do?”. In order to create a personalized plan, you need to draw on your own wisdom and knowledge and decide what things you want to do to lose the weight. For example, you WILL respect the boundaries of hunger and fullness. You WILL eat two meals a day without snacks. You WILL eat mostly veggies and will also have animal protein twice a week. You WILL have fruit for a snack if you get hungry between meals and you WILL have a dark chocolate square after dinner. You WILL have a glass of wine on date nights only. (These are examples – choose your own!).

At first, your brain will draw a blank when you ask it this question. It’s not used to looking for solutions, just following the plan it’s given. But give your brain a moment – it will start making suggestions and then you can choose from these. If you get stuck, ask it again. These “WILL dos” are the basis for your personalized plan!

 

Choose HOW you will do it

Here’s where you get even more creative. Now you decide how what you WILL do gets done. You want to eat more veggies? How are you going to do it? Will you buy more pre-cut veggies at the grocery store? Order meal delivery kits? Meal prep on Saturdays? Or my favorite – have your kids cook for themselves? You get to choose.

Try not to be discouraged by all the negativity your brain will offer you when you ask it to find solutions – it’s just used to telling you all the pitfalls and reasons a plan won’t work. You’ll hear lots of “Well, you can’t do that because” and “That’s not going to work because”. That’s fine that your brain thinks that, but YOU are in charge. Keep asking it HOW. The brain will find a solution when you give it that task to work on. Now get to work on your plan!

 

If you’re reading this post before 7 pm EST on January 24, 2023, you haven’t missed your chance to get into the Weight Loss Without Willpower webinar class! If you haven’t been part of this powerful free class, you want to grab your seat right now. Go to www.drandreachristianparks.com and click on the banner at the top of the page to register. If you can’t make it to the live class, you’ll get the replay emailed to you if you’re registered (but there are some special opportunities ONLY offered in the live class, so be there if you can).

Also, if you want my help doing this work, my Weight Loss For Black Professionals weight loss course is open for enrollment – but only until 1/29/23. Class starts January 30th, and once we start class it’s too late for you to get in until the next class opens. Get your spot here.

 

Here’s your video help for the week (I go into more detail on making your plan in the video, so definitely worth the watch)!