What is your WHY?
Have you ever asked yourself WHY you want to lose weight?
I know most people’s answers are pretty straightforward (on the surface) – to look better, to feel better, to be healthier, to be able to wear cute clothes. Good enough reasons, right?
But have you ever REALLY asked yourself WHY?
Why do you want to focus on feeling better, being healthier, looking better? There’s more to the story then these simple answers – and usually it’s a lot deeper than you would’ve ever considered. Listen – losing weight, getting healthy, ending the cycle of emotional eating IS possible – and you can make lifelong changes committing to these goals – but it’s going to take COMMITMENT! And knowing your WHY is instrumental in understanding your mindset when setting these new shiny goals!
Cause whatever thoughts/worries/fears/hopes are driving your goals, are also going to directly affect the actions you take and ultimately the results you get!
Here’s a little exercise to do to uncover what your real WHY is – it’s called the 5 why’s.
This strategy asks 5 repetitive Why’s in a question and answer method.
Make your first ‘Why’ whatever your primary goal is – Why do I want to be healthy?
Why do I want to exercise?
Why do I want to stop emotional eating? – then the answer to that question becomes the next question.
Here’s one that I filled out several years ago:
Why do I want to be healthy? Because I want to take care of myself and live a long healthy life.
Why do I want to take care of myself and live a long healthy life? Because I want to set a good example for those around me that I love.
Why do I want to set a good example for those around me that I love? Because I want for them to take care of themselves and be around for a long time.
Why do I want for them to take care of themselves and be around for a long time? Because I don’t want to lose them.
Why don’t you want to lose them? Because I don’t want to be alone.
Yikes, right? That’s some pretty heavy shiznit to be my underlying reason for being healthy! Our desires and goals are usually so much more than just being able to wear a certain size jeans or weigh a certain number on the scale. And ultimately, that mindset – my fear of being along – didn’t help me to be motivated in the hard times. In fact, it would paralyze me and the cycle of emotional eating would continue because I wanted so badly not to feel that fear and worry.
Does this mean that I now don’t worry about losing my loved ones or being alone? Ummm….no….but it has allowed me to face those emotions, feel my feelings and stop trying to numb out with a cookie (or two).
What’s your Why?
