[alexplatups]

That's great that your values and goals are so well aligned, Alex! So you can easily see, then, how your values wouldn't motivate me or Michelle, and vice-versa, in either the short- or the long-run.

Yes, Angela, I can see that! The biggest part of my motivation for reaching
and maintaining my current weight came from holding a vision of my future
self in my mind and at the same time focusing on my current circumstances
on a daily basis. These two actions create the energy, drive and the non-
stop motivation that works for me and for the many people that I have
helped to lose weight.

Pain and fear and discipline can be great motivators for the right people. A little bit of pain or fear, like when you are a few pounds heavier than comfortable and see a photo of yourself in a swimsuit or can't button your largest jeans, can be an excellent swift kick in the butt, and inspire you to kick in some discipline.

without a doubt this is what put me on the path toward finding an effective
motivation and weight loss strategy many years ago

For most people I've worked with who want lose more than a few pounds, or who have been trying without results for a long time, there's an emotional component that has them holding onto the weight unconsciously. These people have had their fill of pain and fear (and shame and guilt and hurt and anger); being told to just buckle down and be disciplined -- just eat less and exercise more already! -- only enhances the negative emotions that have exhausted them and keep them from being as successful as they'd like.

I completely agree with this also, and for example my weight loss approach
suggests to understand about your true desires and true wants, and offers
an effective goal setting strategy that makes it simple for people to create
permanent fat loss, no matter what circumstances they are in currently

In fact,many people become overweight because of shame, guilt, hurt, anger,
fear and many different kinds of pains that they live with or have experienced
in the past. As most people, I have had my share of all of them.

My weight loss strategy is focused on creating a sustainable motivation,
nutrition, and exercise approach an step by step plan that takes into account
the circumstances in every persons life.

For example, if you eat 5000 calories per day, and your current daily calorie
intake should be around 3000 calories, I suggest to lower your daily intake
by about 200 calories per day every week, until you reach the 3000 calories.
So first week you would eat 4800 calories, and so on.

Then I recommend to use simple cardio training exercises like simple walking
to start out with, and little by little work your way up. This is very important
because cardiovascular exercise burns the most total calories, and no other
physical activity can be as important for creating permanent fat loss.

And last but not least to use resistance training of some kind, either in the
gym or at home, starting out with simple exercises and also working your
way up as you gain experience. This is necessary to maintain the current
muscle and keep the metabolism elevated.

In fact, pain, fear and negative emotions actually contribute to the states they want to avoid by losing weight! Things like stress-related illness, heart problems, cancer, depression, and so on, that losing weight's not going to matter too much if the negative emotions are flourishing. Many people who lose weight are surprised to find that the weight loss didn't magically make them feel as good as they thought they would -- I think that's because they're approaching things backwards.

This is also true in my opinion, and I have written in this thread that to lose
unwanted body fat permanently, the primary objective must be the lean,
healthy body *itself,* for its *own sake,* and *not to change* your emotional state
(even though it might) or *to make yourself happy* (even though it does make
me happy and many people I know) or *for any other reason,* but *for itself,*
because you simply *want to create* the body of your dreams. This is a very
important element of creating irreversible, long term, weight loss success!

But one thing I can tell you is that eating the way I explain in my site, and
doing cardio and weight training, creates a state where you always have a
high energy level and feel amazing physically and emotionally, without trying
to accomplish this in some other way. What I want to say, no mater what
the circumstances in my life, most of the time (90%) I feel really happy and
satisfied for no reason at all

The other thing is that it looks like Orecle and I have a different perspective on feeling good, and maybe Alex, too -- like feeling good is some pie-in-the-sky dream that one is foolish or delusional to aspire to. I know from personal experience and from teaching people to do it that one can change your state right now -- you can feel good right now -- without waiting for some condition to be met first. When you don't have the tools to do that, it can seem pretty fairy-tale-ish to think you can feel the way you want to, whenever you want to, I get that. But from the perspective of having taught many people to do so, and practicing it myself constantly (although sometimes I forget! ), it's sad and funny to hear people think of feeling good as something they can have Someday, Maybe, Probably Not, and Only With Hard Work.

I think feeling good on purpose would be a great thing to teach kids in grade school! I think it would make a huge difference in health and emotional issues that plague people when they grow up. But even if you're old and rickety, it's not too late!

I think if a person wants to feel good right now, even if he doesn't or can't
for some reason, this is a normal desire. The thing about it is that I do not
think that feeling good is some pie-in-the-sky dream that one is foolish or
delusional to aspire to. In my opinion we simply have to *separate* the part
about feeling good, from other desires, wants, goals, and dreams. And not
use them as steps toward accomplishing the desire of *feeling good*

feeling good is one desire, and a loving relationship is another desire, creating
permanent fat loss is a third desire, and so on. There is no conflict then, you
simply have many different desires, and you can take small steps toward
accomplishing all of them. As long as there are no major conflicts between
these desires, I do not see any difficulty in trying to feel good, and at the
same time trying to lose one pound of unwanted body fat per week...

...by eating four average sized meals per day, with the total calories that
your body can realistically burn, divided into let's say 50% natural carbs,
30% lean proteins, and 20% good dietary fats, drinking plenty of water,
and using simple cardio exercises four times per week, and using weight
training three times per week.

This will not only lead to a creation of permanent fat loss and the creation
of the body of your dreams, but it will add to the second desire where you
try to *feel good* because the physical factor of being lean and healthy
can't be dismissed. When you have a lean, healthy body, you feel great
physically, and this can have a positive effect on the emotional side of
your life also. It is much easier to cope with many things when your
body is filled with health and vitality!...Agree?