Using a short term weight loss program to set your self up for a longer term goal is a great idea, provided it is just a part of the overall objective.

The main problems that surround short term weight loss programs and diets, is that they are not sustainable for the long term. They also do not typically provide a transition into a sustainable diet.

The reasons that they are not sustainable is that they either;

• require massive changes to your usual eating habits and daily routines.
• Or they require you to totally restrict your diet to one or just a few food groups. Like the lomonaide, atkins, or other detox style diets.

Clearly in the cae of a very restrictive diets, you are not going to be able to keep them going for long, in any case most of these types of diets clearly state the maximum time you should use their system for.

With many other diets like weight watchers, or Jenny Craig, while they are mostly recomending a balanced diet, they tend not to allow you to fit the diet to your own particular likes and dislikes.

There are two critical aspects about long term weight loss;

1. Change must occur!
2. That change must be sustainable!

The only way that a diet is going to be sustainable for LIFE, which is what we are talking about. Is if you still get to enjoy your food.

So in a way you must be able to have your cake AND eat it. The thing that you must learn is that your good eating habits must become the dominant part of your diet.

I know I hear you saying "but MY trouble is I can't just have one". Here's a little home truth, YOU are also not alone, its not really YOUR trouble. It is the same trouble that most of us have.

So here is the real "trouble", it is not wether or not you can stop at one, it is wether or not you are ready to LEARN HOW to stop at one.

So if you are comited to losing weight for the long term (for ever) but you still want to lose weight in a week, then here is what I recommend you do;

• Determine WHY you want to lose weight.
• Set your goals.
• Make a comitment to yourself AND a confident that you WILL achieve your goals.

• Choose your short term diet or program and select a start date.
• Choose your long term stratergy and how you will buiuld towards it.

OK I am going to get a bit deep here, but this is the foundation stuff that sets you up for success.

Most people fail because they have not set the right foundations and are constantly searching for the next quick fix solution.

The solution to weight loss is not "out there". It is within you. And you are the only one that can unleash it (with a bit of help from your friends!)

If you wouldn't mind, just read that again please.

OK thanks for that, because you really must understand that there is no magical diet, pill or potion. It is really up to you to change your eating habits and change them for ever.

Only when you are ready to accept change, and to customize that change to suit YOUR personality, will you change your wants into needs, and then into actions that will result in you achieving your goals!

So please take the time to get it right in your mind exactly why you want to lose weight.

You may come up with many reasons, but what you really need to do is find the one or two reasons that bring a shiver to your spine, or a tear to your eye when you think about the consequences of not achieving your weight loss!

This step is really not very complicated at all, however it is critical to the overall picture as it provides your road map to your success.

The basis of your goals is really quite simple. What is your weight now. What is your desired weight and subsequently how much weight do you need to lose.

Now all you need to do is to set how long it will take you to reach your goal. Modern convention is that you should not lose more than 3 to 4 pounds (about 1 to 2 KG) per week.

This seems to by default have become the standard goal. Just because this is the maximum recommended allowance does not mean that you should automatically adopt it is your target.

I recomend that you do three things;

1. Use no more than 2 pounds per week as the method by which you calculate your time frame.
2. Then use the same calculation to set some milestones along the way
3. Finally forget about the 2 pounds a week thing and just focus on the process, not a weekly weigh in and whether you have lost 2 pounds this week.

The reason for this is simple. The human brain, that is your head, will pay lip service to your good results, and will generate huge amounts of self doubt when you fail to lose 2 pounds.

How many times have you heard it, "I have ONLY lost 1.5 pounds this week, I am a failure"!

Nooooo, 1.5 pounds IS a success. In fact any weight loss is a success. The unfortunate thing is that your mind is rejecting the changes you have introduced and as a result is playing with you in an attempt to get you to return to your old habits.

What I am talking about here is the huge topic of N.L.P. or Neuro-linguistic programming. You can check this out further at Wikipedia.

The key to setting goals is the combnation of making them challenging, but also keeping them realistic. The other key ingredient is the ability to reassess them along the way and to make sure you recognise and reward yourself for your successes.

It is important to make yourself accountable to your goals. This validates your comitment .

Writing down what your comitment is and reafirming it on a daily basis will help you to keep focussed on your goals.

Telling someone else what your goals are is also important. "Going public" is an important step in establishing a positive mind set and confirming your determination to succeed.

The person or people you choose to confide in need to be carefully chosen. They need to be positive people who will not only support you but also have the courage to kick you in the backside when you need it. And it is very likely you will need at least one kick along!

Ok we are about to get started, but don't rush this. Your best chance for success is to choose a diet or program that matches your personality and eating preferences to some extent.

What you should be looking for is a program that provides some structure so that you have a solid plan to follo, but that also includes some of the foods that you actually like eating.

Whatever you choose, make sure you are comfortable with the requirements of the program. For example, don't sign up to your local weight watchers if the meetings are on the same night that you normally do something else that is important to you.

Here is a resource that reviews a number of programs that might be suitable to you. Weight Loss Reviews.

Once you are set, comit to it full on for as long as you can. Youalready know that this is not your long term diet, so there can be no excuses about sticking to the diet. You only need to do it for aweek or two so just do it in the knowledge that you can make it more enjoyable in a coupe of weeks.

Your objective is to prove to yourself that you can do it and to see how you can lose some fat n a short time frame.

The side benefits are that you will have made some headway into breaking down your bad habits.

Tis is the time

Firstly your bad eating habits are just that, Habits. You were not born with those habits you developed and learnt them.

Now is the time to learn how to UN-learn them, or more to the point, learn better eating habits. And the good news is that once you have learn't your new, healthy eating habits, you will find them just as hard to give up! There is that NLP thing again!

In brief what you need to do is to firstly understand exactly what you do eat in a normal day. Obviously since you are about to change that, you had better start recording this information right now.