Stages of Change - Contemplation

Transition from denial to contemplation stage ofreally not for me". Keep in mind: you cannot
the change happens quietly, but once it happenssuccessfully diet and still be on your baking recipe
you find yourself listening to people that offer youcircle or your bacon tasting club. Prepare a ground
their advice for losing weight. You don't switch thefor yourself: insure support of your family, clean
channel if the commercial is about some piece ofup your house of junk food and insure support of
exercise equipment; you find yourself picking apeople who are successful at getting their diet
copy of Fitness magazine in the hair salon andunder control.
actually reading it with interest!- Don't get into analysis paralysis.
This is an important stage to educate yourselfThis is another extreme: trying to acquire a
about your weight loss, and design a strategy. DRperfect understanding of you weight problem and
James O. Prochaska in his book "Changing forperfect solution!
Good: A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program forSome people take forever to learn everything
Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Lifethere is to learn about the weight loss and can't
Positively Forward"suggests to watch out for thecommit to any program while waiting for a in
following things in this stage:depth understanding of the issue. While theoretical
- Avoid wishful thinking: wishing you could achieveknowledge about various diets is good, you will
your weight and fitness goal without having tonot know what work for you until you try! So,
change.get your feet wet, already!
We all wish for a diet pill that would allow us sleep- Don't wait for magic moment to start the
in and eat from sunrise to sunset and be in idealweight loss program:
shape. There is not such diet, so stop dayWhile some circumstances are less then ideal, like
dreaming and get to it!starting a new job, moving to another city,
- Don't jump into action:starting a new relationship, when you are handling
The rush to act may turn against you. You needway too much on your plate, there isn't a perfect
to do a certain amount of prep before you aremoment to start a new regiment, so once you
ready. Starting a diet without really committing togot your plan together - go for it!
change may lead to a conclusion that "dieting is