Assess your readiness to change

Your weight-loss success depends highly on your readiness to take on the challenge. If you jump in before you're ready, your weight-loss plan may buckle under the first challenge. Use these questions to assess your weight-loss readiness.
1. Are you motivated to make long-term lifestyle changes?
Successful weight loss depends on permanent lifestyle changes, such as eating healthy foods and exercising more. Your motivation for undertaking these changes may be better health, improved appearance or just feeling better about yourself in general. As long as your motivation is a healthy one, it doesn't really matter what it is. Find your motivation and focus on it.
2. Have you addressed the big distractions in your life?
If you're dealing with major life events, such as marital problems, job stress, illness or financial worries, you may not want to add the challenge of overhauling your eating and exercise habits. Instead, consider giving your life a chance to calm down before you launch your weight-loss programme.
3. Do you have a realistic picture of how much weight you'll lose and how quickly?
Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is a lifelong process. In the long term, it's best to aim for losing 0,5 to 1 kilogram a week. To lose this, you need to burn 500 to 1 000 calories more than you consume each day. You can do that through a low-calorie diet and regular physical activity or exercise.
4. Have you resolved any emotional issues connected to your weight?
Emotions and food are often intertwined. Anger, stress, grief and boredom can trigger emotional eating. And if you have a history of an eating disorder, weight loss can be even trickier. Start by identifying your emotional issues related to food so that you're prepared for the challenges. Talk to your doctor about what weight-loss options are best for you.
5. Do you have support and accountability?
Any weight-loss programme can be difficult. You may face moments of temptation or become disheartened. Having someone in your corner to offer encouragement can help. If you don't have friends or family you can rely on for positive help, consider joining a weight-loss support group.
6. Have you embraced the weight-loss challenge?
If you don't have a positive attitude about losing weight, you may not be ready. If you dread what lies ahead, you may be more likely to find excuses to veer off course. Try to embrace the vision of your new lifestyle and remain positive.
If you answered yes to all or most of these questions, you're probably ready to make the lifestyle changes necessary to work toward permanent weight loss. You may be able to forge ahead on your own, creating your own lifestyle programme for healthy eating and exercising. Or you may feel you need help.
If you answered no to more than one of these questions, you may not be ready to embark on a weight-loss programme right now. And that's OK. Explore what's holding you back and face those obstacles. Consider seeking help from your doctor or another professional to help you work through these issues.

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