Is Your Permanent Weight Loss An Achievable Outcome?

by Perry Permann

Do you have the goal to lose weight permanently? Or do you think it would be helpful to have such a goal? Whatever the case might be, I’d like to challenge you: Goals are useless.

Yes, you’ve read it right. Or, to put it differently: A goal is useless unless it is stated as an Achievable Outcome. I’ll tell you more about Achievable Outcomes in a second- what I’d like you to do as you read along, is to challenge your weight loss goals to hold to the standard of achievable outcomes. You will immediately understand: An Achievable Outcome is very powerful and can help you reach your permanent weight loss goals.

An Achievable Outcome has 7 factors:

1) What do you want specifically?
I bet you already know that you should state your goal in positive terms. If your goal is stated in negative terms (“not weighing 172 lbs”), ask yourself “What would I like to have instead?” So “not weighing 172 lbs” might be transformed into “I weigh 140 lbs”.
In addition, don’t use comparisons. ” My weight is less than 172 lbs” does not say anything about your goal. “I weigh 140 lbs” does.

2) Can you make your goal sensory-rich?
You know, we have 5 senses. Our brains are trained to process sensory input; they perform most effectively if they work with input stated as sensory input. These are things we can see, hear, feel, smell and taste.
Your goal needs to be stated in terms of things you can see, hear, feel, smell and taste.
You need to see yourself stepping on that scale and the number it gives you. You need to hear in your mind your friends praising you for achieving your goal. You need to feel your body in that swim suit or elegant clothing. If you can add a compelling smell to the picture, all the better: good smells are usually emotionally very motivating.

3) How do you know you are going into the right direction?
This is closely related to “Make it sensory rich”: You need specific, concrete, tangible criteria to know, if you are on the right track. These criteria need to be stated in terms of sensory input – what you see, hear, feel, smell, taste when you are on the right track. In addition, it shows you how far you came- what will increase your motivation.
So, you might see yourself stepping on the scale and it shows you that you’ve lost 10 lbs of excess weight – as the first step to lose 40 lbs. Or it might be that you are able to walk 2 miles comfortably as your fist milestone to physical fitness.

4) What will your permanent weight loss allow you to do, what results will it bring into your life?
Answering this question will give you some insight into your motivation. If your motivation is weak, you won’t get sustainable, permanent results. So, sit down and create a list answering the question above. Hint: Usually the really interesting motivational items come after the first 20 or so answers. The first approximately 20 answers are what your conscious mind is creating. After that, your unconscious starts speaking- and it is much more powerful.

5) Can you initiate and maintain your weight loss program yourself?
If you want to be successful, you need to be the one who is in charge. Friends and family members are helpful, but you need to be the driver behind the steering wheel of your change.

6) Do you know what you need to achieve permanent weight loss? Look for the 3 main areas of self-improvement:
First, your knowledge. Do you know enough about healthy nutrition and do you know enough about how to move your body? Second, your inner game: Do you know how to motivate yourself long-term? Do you know how to change your emotional response to damaging foods? Third, how to make things happen in the real world. All the knowledge and all your inner game does not help, if you can’t bring things into action. Do you know how to bridge the gap between knowing something and actually doing it?

7) Answer the magic 4 questions:
a) What will happen if you achieve healthy, permanent weight loss?
b) What won’t happen if you’d achieved healthy, permanent weight loss?
c) What will happen if you don’t achieve permanent weight loss?
d) What won’t happen if you do not achieve permanent weight loss?
Answering these questions will not only give you additional insight into your motivation. They might show you some barriers to overcome too.

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