When I finally got my head round this dieting lark and trimmed down I was doing it with a friend of mine I worked with. We were both very big boys and used to meet up on a Sunday night to go and get weighed.
I was always very competitive and so was he and we used to compete to see who could lose the most weight, now it sounded like a good idea to me but the problem with a competition is that only one person can ever win it and everyone else loses.
When I first started to work with people and couples I saw it again and again. People would think if they compared themselves to other people then that would inspire and motivate them to stick to their diet.
I was always very competitive and so was he and we used to compete to see who could lose the most weight, now it sounded like a good idea to me but the problem with a competition is that only one person can ever win it and everyone else loses.
When I first started to work with people and couples I saw it again and again. People would think if they compared themselves to other people then that would inspire and motivate them to stick to their diet.
Now it can work! But as a motivational technique and a strategy I would argue it is not a good idea. The reason being that although it can start as a good fun idea it can create bad feeling between those in the competition when they aren't winning. Also ultimately being slim and not dieting isn't about competing or comparing yourself to anybody or anything else.
You see the best strategy for dieting in my opinion is when you are doing it for you, on your terms, by your rules, for yourself, it's your journey, your race and as long as you get through the finishing line and make camp then it doesn't matter how long it takes.
By comparing to others I have seen people give up dieting. I remember working with a lady who stopped dieting because her husband had lost seven pounds and she had 'only' lost four pounds in one week. Overall she had lost over five stone but that 'bad' week in comparison to her husband meant she decided it wasn't for her.
So turning this to you? Do you try and get motivated by setting a competition with a friend? Do you compare your losses to everyone else and then allow the results to affect your mood? When you have a 'good' week and lose loads of weight then excellent and well done, when you have a less good week and your weight plateaus then excellent and well done! As long as you are on the motorway then eventually you will reach the end of it.
Having a weight loss buddy to work with is great but make sure it doesn't become a competition that somebody can't win, instead why not support and use empathy as the tool as you combine your results to get an even more impressive figure.
Compare yourself to nobody! You are unique and your body will give up it's fat at a different rate to everyone else. I was lucky as I was male and six foot and therefore I lost it ridiculously quickly but I have worked with all sorts of people, for example, with loss of multiple limbs who have lost weight very slowly but their eyes were on the prize and they weren't racing anyone, they were strolling to the finish line but they still got there.
You see the best strategy for dieting in my opinion is when you are doing it for you, on your terms, by your rules, for yourself, it's your journey, your race and as long as you get through the finishing line and make camp then it doesn't matter how long it takes.
By comparing to others I have seen people give up dieting. I remember working with a lady who stopped dieting because her husband had lost seven pounds and she had 'only' lost four pounds in one week. Overall she had lost over five stone but that 'bad' week in comparison to her husband meant she decided it wasn't for her.
So turning this to you? Do you try and get motivated by setting a competition with a friend? Do you compare your losses to everyone else and then allow the results to affect your mood? When you have a 'good' week and lose loads of weight then excellent and well done, when you have a less good week and your weight plateaus then excellent and well done! As long as you are on the motorway then eventually you will reach the end of it.
Having a weight loss buddy to work with is great but make sure it doesn't become a competition that somebody can't win, instead why not support and use empathy as the tool as you combine your results to get an even more impressive figure.
Compare yourself to nobody! You are unique and your body will give up it's fat at a different rate to everyone else. I was lucky as I was male and six foot and therefore I lost it ridiculously quickly but I have worked with all sorts of people, for example, with loss of multiple limbs who have lost weight very slowly but their eyes were on the prize and they weren't racing anyone, they were strolling to the finish line but they still got there.
