4 Strategies To Supersize Your Self-Control

When temptation strikes and threatens to throw you off your healthy eating plan or exercise program, be ready to think yourself thin. Follow these new strategies to rev up your willpower and stay strong.

"No cocktails for me. I have to go to the gym after brunch."

"Dessert? I'm too full from dinner."

"Sorry, can't make happy hour; I'm off to the gym."

We all know a friend who seems immune to the temptations of cocktails, cupcakes, and canapés. We all would love to know her secret. And... the secret is... drum roll!)... she has found a new muscle to flex: her willpower. That's right. Researchers have found that you can chisel your self-control and will power just as you can make every other muscle in your body stronger.

With use and practice your self-control muscle becomes less weak and flabby, so you have the strength you need to stick with a healthy eating plan or exercise program. Once you get to work on strengthening your self-control you will soon be the one trading happy hour for a session at the gym.

1. Boost Your Brain Power
Visualize how you want your body to look and you will find you make better choices in both your eating and activity levels. When you have that clear picture of how you wish to be that is what you will become. The more you activate this visualization system, the more powerful it will become, so in the future it will feel easier to do the right thing. Eventually you will start to notice whenever you are doing something that is inconsistent with your goals.

Work Your Will-power
Spend just one minute every day this coming week. Here is how to get started: Sit quietly with your eyes closed and count your breaths. When you reach 10, begin again. Whenever your mind wanders from your breath, start again at one. Once you can do this a few times swap the counting breaths for that picture of how you want to look.

2. Be a Sceptical Dreamer
When it comes to setting goals, are you: (a) a wishful thinker (you fantasize about wearing your slim jeans again) or (b) a complainer (you focus on how hard it is to resist food at parties and find excuses why you can't be more active)? Either of these mindful attitudes can derail you on your way to your goal, but oddly enough, researchers have discovered adopting both at once may have the opposite effect.

People who imagine succeeding and then reflect on the obstacles facing them are more inspired to reach a goal than those who do solely one or the other new research has uncovered.

Work Your Will
Have you a 'get-in-better-shape' or weight-loss goal? Imagine how good you will feel when you fit into your skinny jeans again. Feel them sliding effort¬lessly over your hips; hear your friends telling you how good you look. Now think about what stands in the way: the junky food you are forced to eat when you are at work all day; skipping your morning gym session
food you eat at work because you have no other choice or the fact you stayed in bed and missed your morning gym session because you stayed out too late the night before; or, you know, just eating the wrong things. But never mind because now you are ready for the next self-control booster: Create a 'what if' game plan.

3. Play the "What if?" Game
When you know of a tempting scenario coming up for you devising a plan B helps you cope with these situations that may undo your resolutions (like drinkies on Friday night). Having a plan B shifts the decision-making moment from the danger zone (when the barman asks if you would like one more cocktail) to a point in time when you are in touch with what you want to achieve (that slim, feel-good body) before you even set foot in the bar.

By making a 'what if" plan earlier on it is easier to overcome temptations and stick to healthy choices later when the situation is in front of you.

Work Your Will
Jot down the obstacles on the road to your skinny jeans, and then write down a 'what if' plan for sidestepping each one. Check out the ideas below to see how your plan might look.

Obstacle - eating junky food when at work.

Plan - take a healthy meal to work with me
Obstacle - stayed in bed too late and missed my morning gym session
Plan - do it after work
Obstacle - eating too much later in the day
Plan - make sure to get a couple of healthy small meals in earlier in the day
4. Be Your Own Very Best Friend
If you learn to treat yourself with understanding and kindness when you experience a setback, it will be easier to get back on track after a moment of weakness. People who fall off the wagon with their healthy eating plan and then beat themselves up about it actually eat more, because they feel so bad about themselves.

Work Your Will
We all know how to encourage and build the confidence of other people. If a friend told you she was upset that she had skipped her workouts for a week, you would give her a hug, tell her a week is not the end of the world and encourage her to go to the gym the next day.

Chances are you are not nearly as supportive of yourself when it comes to set backs and slip-ups. A lot of people just do not understand or realize how critical their 'inner' self-talk is.

Learn to be your own friend and cheerleader: Write down the things you say to yourself when you fall short of your goals, then rewrite the script as if you were talking to a friend. And while you are at it, you had better figure out what you are going to say when your friends ask you the secret of YOUR rock-solid willpower.

The idea that your subconscious mind may be actively blocking your conscious efforts to lose weight can be hard to swallow at first. So in addition to revealing my top 4 secrets to effective weight loss, I have included in my free report "Visualization Secrets For Weight Loss Success" a section on how mastering your subconscious mind through visualization can make all the difference to your level of weight loss success.

You can download that report here: http://weightlossmotivationbible.com/freereport

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