Making it difficult to fail

Diets (when you follow the rule/program/plan/whatever) make it difficult to fail. If you stick to it -- there isn't any operator error. You have had someone tell you what will work -- your job is to execute orders -- that's it.

The upside and downside of Mindful Eating is that there is only the plan you create. The plan of listening to your body and letting it guide you. This is an upside because if you love ribs, wings, and burgers, you can eat them and still lose weight. The downside is you are going to have to figure out how to implement that plan on your own. (Unless you have an Eating Coach).

Complete freedom sometimes gets overwhelming.

So the idea for you is to create situations where it is difficult to fail. One way to do that is to tell people what you are attempting. Let people support you.

There are a million ways to do this.

Ask them to hold you accountable.

Join in with a group of others who want to lose weight and work on being more mindful together. One quick way is to have to send the group one positive eating decision per day. (It can be anything -- you didn't eat a cookie because it didn't look good. You ate a cookie because it looked fantastic but you took time to access how it was tasting half way through. You let the waitress take away the rest of your dinner even though you "had more room" because you felt you had eaten enough. -- anything that is a behavior change you feel good about).

Start your own blog about your experience being mindful. You will be amazed at how easy setting up your site is and how good you feel that people are out there supporting your success and learning from you.

Get your group together and hire a coach to facilitate your collective process. That way you will all being heading in the same direction together and learning from one another (plus, it will give you like-minded people to go out to lunch with --you might be amazed how much easier it is to eat mindfully when your lunch/dinner companions are doing the same thing).

Have a coach facilitate a Mindful Meal. (you and your companions get to eat like normal but the coach calls your attention back to your experiences at intervals so you can find the 7,8 and 9)

Last weekend, I had dinner with some family friends I haven't seen in years. The man sitting next to me turned down dessert. He didn't tell me I was bad because I wanted dessert. Maybe he doesn't like sweets (I didn't ask). But it made me more conscious (but not self-conscious) about enjoying my dessert (and ultimately leaving some uneaten -- since it was no longer tasting FANTASTIC). It was a positive reminder for me -- a reminder I wouldn't have had if he had ordered dessert.

Find the people that will help make it difficult to fail.