Lose Weight in a Sustainable Way Focusing on Your First Three Weeks

Whether it’s about watching opting into that next Netflix episode or shopping that chocolate bar that is placed so strategically next to the till – we easily fall temptations that are not in line with our weight goal. But guess what; you’re human and you’re bound to fall back into old habits, procrastinate and lose motivation that leads us to exit. Lack of motivation usually is a result of how we cope with that “failure” and that we don’t see the progress towards our goal. The most common problem why people fail is due to unrealistic goals and expectations. Goals that are too high and expectations that don’t fit with your everyday life.

When you don’t see the results on your scale that you expected as a result of that you didn’t behave as expected – we often feel “what the hell,” lose motivation – and quit. In the beginning of the process, it’s crucial to see and feel progress. Psychological research support that people losing weight in the beginning – increase your likeliness to succeed. These factors will, in turn, reinforce your confidence in your ability to cope. To help people gain control of their weight loss journey  –  we, therefore, designed a plan focused on making healthy living simple and that helps people make progress – to boost motivation rather than lose it at the beginning of the journey.

Here are 3 pieces of behavioral advice to succeed your goal that we built the program on:

 

1- Set a time specific plan

We, humans, have a hard time visualizing the future, so if we don’t have a time specific goal – we will interpret our journey as “forever” which obviously seems distant and impossible to reach. Therefore, one of the most important things is to have a clear and time specific goal within reach. For example “I’m going to lose weight” is not a clear goal, “I’m going to lose 3 kilos in 21 days” is much clearer. In our 3 Week Weight Loss program, we have a 21-day countdown, for this particular purpose.

 

2- Be nice to yourself when you get off track

Temptations are everywhere, and our brain is easily fooled by promises of instant gratification. That’s why we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves when we deviate from our plan. In fact, we have a fundamental need to feel autonomous – that’s why you shouldn’t neglect drinks with our friends or that hamburger when we crave it. As long as we don’t do it every day, that is. Our new 3 Week Weight Loss program allows and encourages you to eat so-called “cheat meals.” You get four of those, so make sure you spend them well :).

 

3- Planning and minimizing decisions is key

Don’t think about “what if I fall off my plan”  but rather about “when I fall off my plan.” Because we will fall of our plan, that’s almost certain. If you’ve ever gone grocery shopping while hungry, you know what we’re talking about. You can reduce your numbers of deviations by making the healthy choices simpler. The 3 Week Weight Loss program has a meal planner with simple, healthy recipes (five ingredients max) and a shopping list to go with them. This way, you don’t have to make decisions on what to eat or what to shop – just buy the things on your shopping list, and you’ll be fine.  

When you have had the laser focus on these first three weeks, and have your confidence in place where you see and feel proof on that you CAN do this – then you can try a new focus on a more long-term holistic plan.

After three weeks of focusing on this program, you’ll have gained the confidence you need to set more long-term goals with one of our other diet plans.

 

By Linda Lindström, Behavior strategist & Co-founder

Beteendelabbet (The Swedish Behavior Lab)