For Weight Loss It's Want Power You Need Not Will Power
By Kathryn Martyn, M.NLP, Thu Dec 8th

The problem isn't that you don't have enough will power toachieve what you want. You have will power, but it's not willpower you need, it's want power.

You have to first want

You must want to change your habits, want to lose some weight,want to give up your evening snacking before your will comesinto play. Once you want a thing badly enough, you will dowhatever it takes.

If you think you want something (to make a change in your eatinghabits perhaps), but then find it difficult to follow-throughwith your plans, most likely you simply want your currentreality (your current habits and patterns) more than you wantyour goals (less weight, better health, etc.)

I can hear you all the way over here, telling me I'm wrong: "No,that's not right! I want this more than anything, I just don'thave any willpower!" Round and round you go, but the truth is,you will get what you really want. Think back, has there everbeen a time when you really wanted something? A certain piece ofclothing, a certain house, car, job, spouse? Hum... Yes, we goafter what we want, if we really want to acquire or achieve itwe do. Nothings going to fall in your lap, you've got to go getwhat you want.

What's Going on?

Put another way, you may want to avoid the pain (breaking oldhabits, avoiding some favorite foods, simply not overeating...)more than you want to gain the pleasure (losing some weight,gaining new habits, eating favorite foods in moderation ...)

Since losing weight takes time, from weeks to months to years,it's easy to fall off the path. It's always easier to get backinto our old habits of eating, eating, and more eating. There'salways more food. Unless you are too poor to purchase it,there's plenty food in America - in fact, too much food, and soit becomes even more necessary to keep the longer-term goals inmind.

How do you keep the longer-term goals in mind, when theshort-term food is staring you in the face? What about all thetreats offered, what about the commercials, the billboards, thesigns everywhere that say EAT?

Wanting, in fact, is the "W", the first step in the W.H.A.C.Kapproach. See it in the free e-book, Changing Beliefs, YourFirst Step to Permanent Weight Loss.

Think back to when you last really wanted something. Wanted itmore than anything, had to have it, would do just about anythingto get it. To want is a mighty powerful motivator, butsurprisingly we aren't all motivated by what we want. Some of usare motivated by avoiding what we don't want.

What is your Motivation Strategy?

Motivation comes in two (or more) flavors. You can be motivatedtowards something (what you'll gain) or you can be motivatedaway from something (what you'll lose). This desiring to avoidcan be confusing. I'm saying you must want something, and you'rethinking, but I don't want to be fat. I can't think about myfuture, only what I don't want. Here is what's going on:

Motivation: Toward

If you are motivated by what you'll gain you find it easy tolook ahead and see your future shapely body, you'll see peoplearound you with admiring glances, you'll hear their compliments,you'll smell the good food and feel good knowing you can eatenough to be satisfied, and then say you're full. You've hadenough, thank you. You'll be in control of your life. You'llwant what you visualize more than anything, and you'll dowhatever it takes to get it. If asked what movie to go see,they'll have a few ideas, and tell you why.

Motivation: Away

If you are motivated by what you'll lose you'll focus on whatyou want to avoid. For example, you want to avoid dying, youwant to avoid being too heavy to enjoy playing with the kids,you want to avoid gasping for breath when you climb a flight ofstairs. You want to avoid the embarrassment, the humiliation ofother people's remarks and rude glances. You don't want any ofthat anymore, and you don't want it to the extent that you'll dowhatever it takes to avoid these things. If you ask them whatthey want for dinner, they'll tell you they don't want Chinese,or pizza. It can be difficult to get someone motivated this wayto actually say what they do want!

Knowing your motivation strategy makes it easier to find methodsthat support your preferred strategy. If you are motivatedtoward, you may enjoy cutting our pictures of people in greatshape with similar body types to

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yours. Find models wearingclothes that would look good on you, pictures of swimming pools,holiday places you'd enjoy; the types of things that go into adream board.

If you motivated away, then make a list of what you want toavoid and elaborate on that list. Why don't you want thesethings? The more detailed you are, the more likely you'll trulydo what it takes to avoid them.

Hopefully these ideas will get you thinking, and much aboutmaking changes in our lives comes down to thinking it through.Realizing what we really want can get us past the hurdles ofwhat we already have. To affect change isn't necessarilycomfortable, until you've worked at it for awhile, and thensuddenly your changed behavior has become your new behavior andthe effort is over.

About the author:Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, author of the freee-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent WeightLoss, and owner of http://www.OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT andNLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/getnews.html