I brought this up on another thread, but I thought I'd start a thread specifically for this topic. What role does your attitude play in weight loss, and especially in breaking stalls and making it all the way to your set goal?

I got on to this subject by considering one way I personally increase my metabolism. Here is my post from that other thread...

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In my work (I'm a programmer), my brain goes through times where I have to concentrate a lot more than normal. I think that alone must boost my metabolism, especially since I may sit here for long stretches doing it. On other days though, I just can't get my brain to function that well. Perhaps that is a sign that my body is trying to get me to slow down and resisting my attempts to think at a higher level.

And this is where I think attitude actually plays a real role in weight loss. I'm thinking that we often let our body control us, letting it decide when and how much to shut things down. But I think our higher-level self has the ability to override those orders, and set a different plan into action.

I'm thinking that if we "want" something, if we *really* want it, that is when we stop letting our body control us and we start controlling it, figuring out what to do to get it in line. However, this is not easy or a one-time deal. Without knowledge of the "puzzle pieces" that we need to break a stall, it is easy to get discouraged. Even if we do have the puzzle figured out, we still face each day with the challenge of whether or not we want to be in control that day or just let our bodies plot our course for that day.

This is where the "will" really comes in. It is more than just willpower to make us eat a certain way or exercise a certain amount. It is the "will" to be in charge of our destiny. Couple that "will" with the "attitude" that your goal is reachable and your body begins to cooperate with you more than fight against you.

A big factor here is knowing you can achieve your goal. That gives you "hope" and that makes a world of difference. Without hope, I think our bodies don't really take our higher-level commands seriously.

Don't we all know there are times when things just "click"? That last puzzle piece falls into place. That decision is finally squarely in front of us and we know we have to make our choice now. We make the choice and suddenly everything changes. What was really hard before, becomes relatively easy.

But we have to remain in that grove. Our bodies will try to throw us off track. Life will throw us curve balls. The road may get bumpy. But if we remain focused and on track, we just know we'll make it. And it's that "faith" that makes all the difference in the world. No?

YES!!!

Its been so true for me that I was very happy to see your thread!!!

I've always had a horrible attitude when it came to losing weight and staying on a diet...any diet was pure torcher for me and I resisted them all the way. I'd cheat and lie about it, I'd play head games wiht myself a couple of days before weigh in day and try to get the scale down before I weighed. I'd eat pints of ice cream and expect to lose weight. I hated being restricted in any way and fought the whole idea every time I tried.

I yo-yoed my weight 5-6 times this way, in the past 15 yrs. Never getting close to onederland, I knew I had to change something but I wasn't sure what it was. Last year when I committed to this food plan, I didn't know that I had changed. I found out that I had as I started working the plan.

My bad attitude was gone and my resolve was very clear to me. This time would be different!! I had hit my bottom and I was doing somethng about it!!

I'm at a threshold now of breaking through to a new place. Its scary because this means that I'll be getting to really thin numbers for my body. It scary to me as I see how the world is responding to me now. I have adjustments to make to my food and exercise to make this happen. The last thread on TDC wo are now thin, made a very strong impression on me. I'm now evaluating my food to see what has got to go. I think its nuts and I need to restrict my fats a bit more. I'm also going to get a pedometer and do those 10000 steps a day...Thanks to Lynda!!

Having a bad attitude prevented me from accepting new ideas and coaching. Having a good attitude helps me to see new ideas and coaching as gifts!!

Thanks Dean!! I really appreciate that you, Lynda and Wooo, have taken the time to reveal your road to success as it has helped me alot to see the light at the end of my tunnel!!

Of course it does! I know that a huge part of being successfull on this WOE was taking that first step, making the committment to be in it for the long haul. Accepting that I had to change the way I ate and that it would take months to get to my goal weight and committing to sticking to it even through the tough times I know are ahead is a big relief. To see the light at the end of the tunnel.

When I turned 40, I just knew I had to do something about my weight or I was going to shorten my life. But dieting seemed impossible, so a stomach operation seemed my only hope. But when I looked at pictures of the actual surgery, I got "scared straight"! I liked the idea of lc, and when I saw the Sommersize plan that was an easy version of it, everything just fell into place for me. I knew what I had to do and I set out to do it, knowing that if I failed, then that stomach surgery would be my only choice.

That really helped focus my attitude and made a big difference.

And I've seen that same attitude in your posts (and in Judy's too). I really like to see that too, as it tells me you're really going to make it. I can feel it because that hope and determination keeps coming through.

And that's fantastic! Keep up the great work!!

I think attitude is as important as anything else in losing weight- I have failed at previous attempts to lose. Why? Because I treated them like diets and not a lifestyle change. I had the attitude that I would lose the weight and then go back to "normal eating". When I didn't lose as quickly as I wanted, I would then go off the "Diet" and go back to "normal" (note that I didn't say HEALTHY) eating. Since I had the mindset that the diet was temporary I would fail rather than finding something that worked within the constructs of the way of eating I'd chosen.

I think alot of people fail because they expect themselves to do so. I have succeeded this time because I expect myself to do so. I am remaining positive and it's proved to make a huge difference. "If you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them. " (don't know who said that but it is SO true!)

I know attitude has made all the difference this time for me. While I still have goals they are not what is driving me onward.I do not feel like I am deprived this time and the only real cravings I've had are for a good ribeye. I don't know what my end weight will be because I haven't set that in my mind yet I fust know that whatever numbers I leave behind are left there for good. I no longer think about what others (my friends and family) say about my losses if they notice thats nice but this is for me and only me. I'm not trying to please anyone other than myself. So yes I feel attitude make all the difference.

I think attitude is important, but only up to a point. My perspective is if there are underlying issues--physical or emotional--that greatly impact our lives, all the attitude in the world will not carry us through losing 100+ pounds.

I would guess that most of us TDCers have tried other diets that did not work for us, despite approaching it with great attitudes. The physical reality of how our particular bodies handle/process carbs creates a roadblock to success on higher carb diets. Other people face issues like relationship or work stress that can be equally significant barriers.

I know I could not have experienced success if other parts of my life were not conducive to helping my attitude along. A supportive husband, an absence of financial worries, the way my body has responded to low carb, and probably several other things, including all the support I have gotten here, have given me the things I need in addition to attitude.

Attributing too much of this to attitude, is like talking about willpower in that it is easy to fall into the trap of being blaming and shaming toward other people who have had a really hard time--while making what is for them, their best effort,--at doing this very hard thing.

Very well said 100% truth. Always I had absolute knowledge that I was going to put my body where I wanted it to be. Period. That's not to say I wasn't intimidated at times. I certainly wasn't prepared to set an ambitious goal like 110 pounds coming from where I was. Partially because I wasn't sure if 110 pounds would be realistic for my body (I have no idea what a "normal thin woman" would weigh since I was overweight/obese all my life) and partially because I didn't want to overwhelm myself by thinking about what maintanence and the end of things would be like. I was just motivated to get there and knew I would.

I notice a lot of people in the TDC make goal weights over 200 pounds, well into the overweight/obese ranges. This tells me something about that person. It says they really don't believe they can do this (or alternately they consciously don't think they WANT to do it, which may or may not be a cover up for a lack of empowerment). I mean I don't expect someone starting out at 300 to say "I'm going to be 120 pounds". I didn't do that and I doubt many people do (unless they WERE 120 pounds at one point in their lives... which is more the exception than the rule when it comes to massive obesity). But if you are inspired and have faith in yourself to lose it you're not going to make your long term goal a very heavy weight, either.




Absolutely.
It's about staying organized, keeping priorities in order.

You know recently a series of irresponsible behaviors and indulgences (mothers day dinner) without responsible planning have resulted in my gaining what I suspect to be a bit of true storage fat. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about this... and I was tending toward obliviousness or "handling it later". In the back of my mind I was also painfully aware that this could cumulate into making slipping/weight gain a justified bad habit.
But when I reread the "ex-TDCer thread" it became clear what was right. I had to lose this fat NOW, make responsible weight management a habit, and stop slipping/justifying it and general irresponsibility from becoming a habit.
To read people say bluntly and frankly "just do what you have to do end of story" it was like suddenly everything was clear again and my priorities were back in order. It's really very simple. If you gain weight, you do what you have to do to lose it (restrict). Then you can stop restricting and try to be more careful/responsible next time. Period.

I think it really helps to write these things down so this way your priorities and WHY you want them always remain crystal clear and completely lucid. I think I am going to write a list of all the reasons I don't want to justify gaining any fat (because a little leads to a lot, which is reason #1).

This is another very important, profound statement.

When you are truly ready to change you are HUNGRY for knowledge. You are completely open to learning about what you need to do to obtain your goals. Even if you don't agree with an approach you still have an interest in learning about it simply because you are so motivated to achieve that any and all knowledge is a welcome tool in your tool kit (if not for you to USE, then for you to learn from and try to AVOID in your own travels).

OTOH when you're really not prepared to change, you tend toward being hostile and unwelcoming to information that doesn't justify what you want to do (read: justifying non-commitment). I've seen this over and over as someone who stayed in denial about my weight for a long time (oh how I LOATHED people who tried to encourage me to change LOL), and now as someone who both takes requests for advice and gives it out when people intimate they are looking for guidance/direction (even if they don't directly come and ask me for it).

The true catalyst behind all successful weight loss is drive. True empowerment and belief that you can overcome what you need to overcome, and true commitment to overcoming it. With this, the course of action will fall into place. Where there is a will, there is a way. There is a certain amount of "luck" involved too (in that you have to stumble upon many of the puzzle pieces yourself during your travels) but never forget that "luck" is nothing but preparation meeting opportunity. Opportunity abounds, it's the preparation part that is elusive. Every minute of the day we are surrounded by potential opportunities, most of which we'll never develop because we weren't prepared for it. If you are truly driven for weightloss, then you are very prepared for it and you are also more receptive to the thousands of inconspicuous potential opportunities that we encounter every day. We will create our own answers and our own good luck in finding it.

I think attitude is just about everything in weightloss.

I know that this debate has been hashed through hundreds of times on this forum, and I understand that many of us are afflicted with metabolic issues or hyperinsulism, or have health issues that might prevent certain exercises, but those are just roadblocks. They can be overcome if you want to overcome them. It's all about attitude, but maybe it's also all about desire.

I spent most of my life wanting to lose weight, but not really. Not enough that I'd stop my insane eating habits - drive through and get a huge amount of Mexican food. Or 8 big chicken strips and probably three potatoes' worth of fries, or indulge in sugary stuff. If the average American eats 189 lbs. of the stuff a year, I had to be socking away 250+. I was on my way to an early death. I am 100% certain of that. One thing that scared me a lot more than dying was becoming unhealthy--unable to take care of myself.

To me, that was scarier than death.

Especially after I met the right woman and she gave me a perfect daughter, I decided that I wasn't in this alone anymore. I could maybe risk Scott, but I couldn't risk Kyra. I couldn't risk being too fat to make a living. I couldn't risk being so fat I might die young. I just couldn't.

I think attitude isn't just a factor. I think attitude is the only thing that matters. That goes for most anything in life, not just for health. I think people are much more gifted and intelligent than we let on in our day to day, sometimes gray existences. We're so stuck to day to day stuff that we don't realize what we can do.

There was a guy whose niece was attacked by a 6' long bull shark a few years back. He not only got her out of the water, he wrestled the shark onto the beach to try to get her arm back. I think if he can do that, it tells me that I can bypass any damn chocolate chip muffin.

Hi ItsTheWooo

I do agree with most of what you said. The exception is this part

You have to understand that there are some that need goals that you can reach within reasonable time limits. I don't do that with my "goal weight" per say but I do something similar with Mini Goals that I set. I usually focus on 10 lbs at a time. For me to stare down the barrel of 160 lb journey to goal is mind blowing. It's like standing at the bottom of a large mountain knowing that you somehow got to get to the top. It's easier to get there by focusing on reaching the next rock just up ahead. One step at a time. Tangible goals that you reach in steps are important to my personality. A lot of people set high "goal weights" because it's easier to fathom. And you can reach it in a reasonable amount of time. If such a person reaches that goal (and sometimes if they just make substantial progress) they will adjust it down to a new number. I, my self, suspect that 160 may be too high a goal weight for me...or maybe not. It will depend on my body fat percentage when I get there. Just don't assume that people aren't committed or highly motivated just because their goal weight is in the 200's.

Julie Huck

Exactly. I think people in general need to dismiss any excuses as to why they are fat and why they can't lose weight. I got hugely fat for around a decade after I came down with Graves Disease, gaining from 250 lbs. to 350.

Today, I am smaller than before I got sick. I could have done that at any time during that ten years. It wasn't the Graves, it was me. I know it is more difficult for some to lose weight than others, but guess who ultimately has to deal with those difficulties? Nobody will do it for us. I am beginning to filter out all the excuses in my life. There aren't any. It all comes down to wanting to do whatever it is, weightloss, or whatever. Some people are terrified by that, but I find it to be liberating.

I am convinced that weightloss is unlike many other issues (alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling addiction) that are dealt effectively with by 12-steps that begin with admitting powerlessness. I think weightloss, because of its nature, is best dealt with by claiming absolute power over your actions and your body.

The methodology is really secondary. Don't get me wrong, I think low carb is the best way for most people, but if I really wanted to, I could do this on whatever.

Attitude certainly plays a part, but like Taming says, it's important up to a point.

When I started the Atkins diet in 11/03, I was done with low fat/low cal dieting. I did a ton of research and *knew* this would be the last diet I ever needed. And for the first 9 months while I was losing weight, my attitude about the diet was very positive. While I lost slower than a lot of folks, about 6 bs a month, I found it to be incredibly easy, stress free and a great fit for my lifestyle. I even low carbed on my vacation to Italy last summer! All because I knew I could do it, I wanted to reach my goal and low carb was the way to do it for me. The next 7 months were more challenging. I was impatient with the rate I was losing and became more restricted in my diet and added a large amount of exercise. It was a lot harder to keep my attitude positive during this 7 months as I was not losing ANY weight. However I persevered for 7 months like this, by overcoming my disappointment with a positive attitude and will power.

I think the *first time* dieters in the TDC are very lucky to have found lc as their first diet. You're seeing a lot of success that those of us who started with low fat/low cal did not see. You're having a lot of success without lengthy stalls and without doing large amounts of exercise. I wonder what your attitude would be like if you saw lengthy stalls of 3 or more months despite your effort? "Where there is a will, there is a way"? That will only get many of us so far. Then the hard work starts. What happens when you're will runs out before the finish line? What happens when months of serious effort result in little if any return? It becomes more difficult to have a positive attitude.

And I really disagree about the methodology being secondary. Why do you think so many of us have "dieted" our way into triple digits. Did I want to be thin and healthy any less when I was doing Low fat/low cal? No.. I wanted it just as bad. It was just incredibly more difficult to stick with that type of dieting for more than a couple months at a time. The fact that I stayed low carb for 16+ months faithfully is pretty miraculous. I never was able to do that on any previous low fat/low cal diet. And it sure wasn't just my attitude that got me there. It was first and foremost a diet that didn't leave me starving day after day. The attitude and will power came a lot easier when the diet seemed very easy to me.

I thought attitude was the be-all, end-all of weight loss. You know: think positive thoughts and you will get positive results.

After much consideration and being the most positive person I know, I have come to believe "commitment" is the key to my ability to lose weight. Commitment is where you can do your food plan and exercise plan even on the days when your attitude is down the toilet.

Speaking only for me...I am known to have periods where my attitude and my commitment are on vacation.