A health magazine is asking for tricks men and women can use to stay motivated on a weight loss program. (sigh).  The real trick in losing and maintaining weight loss is to engage with your illogical emotional mind.

If you are overweight, reaching and sustaining a healthy weight requires you to develop and embrace the patience and stamina of the long distance runner.  A sprint will get you far fast and then leave you exhausted in a heap, probably reaching for chocolate.

Scales, tape measures, and calorie journals make logical sense as weight loss program aids, but eating more than your body needs is not logical.  Eventually these aids feel like controlling abusers that require you to rebel. And when you rebel and gain weight you feel defeated. 

Skip the logical control systems and make friendly visits to your emotional and illogical self. That's what governs your emotional eating. If you want to be lighter yet you eat in a way that makes you heavier then you have a conflict going on in your psyche. The solution to conflict is peace.

Here's how to begin:

Write in your journal in the morning and before you go to bed. This will remind you of what you genuinely care about and offer you non food solutions to your emotional needs.  Your own words will alert your emotional self to the price you pay for going off your weight loss plan. Then you can discover and create plans for caring well for yourself with life practices that do not include eating.  You can commit to fulfilling uses of your time. Living well instead of eating too much is your long distance practice.

Don't wait to live the life you want until you've lost weight.  Go for what you want right now, before you lose weight and as you lose weight.  Being active in a life you care about while taking care of your emotional needs is the "trick" that will bring you to your healthy weight. This will give you more happiness and freedom than you can imagine.

Use the exercises and activities in Healing Your Hungry Heart to find more ways of engaging with your illogical self to create your sustained healthy weight.

Can you befriend your illogical self?  A peaceful partnership within yourself can accomplish wonders and is the best "trick" in town.