I decided to find out how my friend manages to stay on track with her goals, not only weight loss, but life goals in general because it was obvious that I needed help.

My friend has one of those personalities that is strong and determined. When she says something, she does it.  Every morning at the start of her day she reviews her goals. She makes sure she is clear about what she wants. This remains with her all day so that if she is hit with a distraction, she immediately compares the distraction against her desires and then makes a decision – Do I want this or not? Does this serve me or not? And then she DECIDES, and then she ACTIONS.

The most impactful thing she said is this. She does not let that little voice in her head talk her out of her action. She says STOP loud and clear to drown out that voice. The internal chatter doesn’t get any attention; she refuses to listen to it, or to even let it get a dialogue going.  On a bad day when she is feeling less strong, she will even say it out loud – STOP!

I have spent the past two weeks using this idea with wonderful results.  For example, I was in bed thinking about my exercise goal to walk for 30 minutes before work. The voice start doing the thing, “It’s so cold outside,” “Just 10 more minutes under the covers”, “Perhaps I can do it later this afternoon.”

I am so used to this voice of mine and usually I spend many wasteful hours per day in this ridiculous back and forth dialogue. And in most cases, I lose so much time that I end up NOT doing what was on the Goal List.

This time though, as soon as the Voice reared its ugly head, I said – Stop IT! I jumped up out of bed with my mind razor focused on what I had promised myself and without any further discussion, I went for the walk.

It felt amazing to be in control of myself and to be moving forward for once. Let’s face it, you never feel better for giving in to weakness. You always feel fantastic when you achieve a goal.  (I have yet to understand why procrastination has so much power over us when ultimately it doesn’t make life better).

This idea can be used for everything. I shout out STOP IT every time that annoying voice starts up. I am making excellent progress with not only my healthy weight goals, but also my work goals and with my music goals.

Thanks to my buddy for giving me this little tip. And to that voice in my head, if you are not going to be helpful then just STOP IT! Shut up.

• Girls as young as 5 now worry about how they look
• Cosmetic surgery rates have increased by nearly 20% since 2008
• About half of girls and up to a third of boys have dieted to lose weight

What a worry! Other facts:

• more than 95%of people on diets regain the weight they lose       (This is why my programs are called the non-dieting approach!)
• wiping out dieting could stop 70% of eating disorders                    (Very scary stuff. I was shocked to read this. Makes me more determined to do something about it)

The study claims that media images of unrealistic bodies were to blame. I couldn’t agree more. Something has to be done about the unrealistic images thrown in our faces. A comment in the article said, ” the perfected ideal that is entirely unattainable for the vast majority of people” – I question this and wonder if it is unattainable for anyone at all, considering the amount of photoshopping that goes on. And who makes the rules about what is the ‘ideal’ anyway!  Who even knows what’s realistic anymore as our views of ‘normal’ have been so distorted by media images.

I agree with the comment that the media and companies should show greater diversity and authenticity in the images they bombard us with! I find many fashion magazines offensive in how they depict women in advertisements. Why is it that teenagers, who have not yet developed into women, are striking sexy poses and selling clothes to grown women. I find it sickening.

Let’s hope people start to sit up, take notice and take a stand against this misrepresenting of what the majority of us really look like. The fashion industry and media will not change until we demand it. That’s my rant for today.

Jacinta x

Link to the article:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18260133