Create your own positive voice. Think of the reasons you want to reach your weight loss goal (or any goal), not the reasons you don’t want to remain at your present weight. Tell friends how good you feel, rather than reliving your less-than-perfect efforts. Give importance to the good stuff. Let go of all else. Try to monitor your negative, unrealistic thinking. How many times do you give yourself credit for doing something positive – “I ate only when I was hungry the entire week” – to take it away by adding, “. . . except for Thursday night when I worked late and had three slices of pizza?” It is not a good habit of thought to give one evening of pizza the same weight as six days of staying on your Program. Thinking realistically and positively may be tricky at the beginning because you may have been thinking unrealistically and negatively. It takes practice and perseverance to change your attitude, but you will succeed. Perhaps not immediately but one baby step at a time. If you believe you can, you can. Napolean Hill said, “If you can conceive it, and believe it, you can achieve it.”
—Caryl