4 keys - amazon s3...on other people and things around you to keep you motivated and focused,...

4 Keys To GeTTinG

BacK on TracK afTer

WeiGhT Loss

surGery

ByAmber Kay,

Co-Author of Get Back on Track After Your Weight Loss Surgery

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A Personal Letter From Amber Kay

Hello and welcome!

The purpose of this eGuide is to help you. Specifically, it’s to help you to get back on track and to get the results that you want after your weight loss surgery. Because that’s why you had the surgery in the first place wasn’t it? To get great results and to live a happier and healthier life! Whatever that means to you personally, whether it’s feeling more energetic, fitting into a certain size of clothing, being able to look forward to playing with your children or grandchildren, enhancing your career or anything else that’s important to you. That’s what it was all about, wasn’t it? So I want to help you create and achieve that happier and healthier life for yourself, and for it to start today.

Another benefit you’ll experience from using what you learn is confidence. Confidence in you and in what you’re doing, and a sense of certainty that it’s going to work this time because you’re going to make it work and no longer get in your own way, or risk going back to where you were before you had your surgery.

When you use the strategies I show you, you’ll know that you’re on the right path and that you’re moving towards the health and body that you want and deserve, because they’re the cutting edge strategies that have worked for thousands of others who have achieved success and sustained their desired results over the long-term.

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And the strategies I’m going to share with you are probably going to look, and sound, and feel a little or a lot different to what you’ve seen, heard and done in the past. Why? Because most of the books and information about how to get the results that you want after weight loss surgery are focused on the strategy of how to get there – what to eat, and how to get in shape - because this is generally the first place that most people look to get results.

Let’s be honest though, the ‘how’ around nutrition and physical activity is not that complex, or difficult to find out about.

These days it’s almost impossible not to hear about all the things that you could be doing to reduce unwanted excess weight and get healthier! And I’m confident that you already know a lot of what you need to know in terms of the strategies for physical activity and nutrition, and you also know how to find out more, because the internet makes everything accessible within moments! So why are you, and many others like you, struggling, getting in your own way, sabotaging your efforts and getting results that leave you feeling frustrated and frightened?

Because that isn’t the most important piece of the ‘great results after WLS’ puzzle…

The biggest factor in determining your success after WLS isn’t what you’re ‘doing’ or ‘not doing’ – it’s who you’re ‘being’. It’s what’s internal, not external. It’s what you think and feel, and what you choose to believe. It’s your ‘why’. I often tell our clients, that their results come down to 80% nutrition, 20% physical activity… and 100% mindset. Because you know

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what to do, but doing it on a consistent basis is not about knowledge, is it? It’s about what’s going on in your head and whether that’s conspiring for your success or not.

That’s why this eGuide is different, and infinitely more valuable. You’ve seen what happens when your mindset isn’t 100% set for health and success, so you’ve seen how powerful it is in creating your results. Just imagine then what life will look, sound and feel like when your mindset is 100% set for success!

Let’s dive a little deeper. Here’s what I’m going to share with you in this eGuide:

How getting clear on what you want will massively increase your chances of successYou might think you know what you want in terms of your results after WLS however you’re probably clearer on what you don’t want, and therein lies one of your biggest obstacles (not for much longer!). How do you turn it around? Simply by getting crystal clear on what you want (there’s a little more to it than this and I’ll take you through it, but at its core, this is the essential key). And it is this clarity that holds immense power in determining your ultimate success.

How to build the motivation you need to make the necessary changes Even when we know what we want, we can’t rely on willpower alone because that doesn’t last. So we need to build momentum in order to be ready and willing to take the actions necessary to move ourselves towards our desired results. Less fear, more desire. Less push, more pull.

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How to create a clear plan of action to move towards what you wantThere is no substitute for action, ever, especially when it comes to your health. Your surgery was one piece of the puzzle and you already know that it doesn’t work in isolation – you have to make changes and take action beyond that in order to create a healthy lifestyle that sustains you and your success. It can often be a challenge however to figure out what actions to take and when, especially when you have a busy life and plenty of responsibilities. So this is where I’ll assist you to create an effective plan that is manageable and fits into your life.

How to stay on track and moving towards what you wantThe journey, from where you are now to where you want to be, is not going to be a straight line – challenges will present themselves, and the world around you will not always cooperate with your master plan! So here I’ll be sharing some top tips to assist you to move past any obstacles that come up, to stay focused, and to keep you moving closer towards your ultimate desired outcome.

Here’s why this is important:

It’s not enough to rely on your surgery alone to get the results – you must shift your mindsetIf you’re feeling like you’ve fallen off track, then it’s less about what actions you’ve been taking or not taking, and more about what you’ve primed your mind to do for you so far. Your mind (specifically your unconscious mind) is responsible for around 97% of your decisions and actions, so you can choose to ignore the significant impact that your mindset has on what you experience in life, or you can choose to harness its power!

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Willpower will only get you so far and using these techniques will provide you with a much more powerful source of drive and motivationWouldn’t it be wonderful if you didn’t have to constantly push yourself? If you didn’t have to keep putting energy into getting motivated and finding your willpower? If it felt easy and effortless to do what needed to be done in order to get back on track and stay there? Well that’s what the techniques I’m going to share can create for you (assuming you actually use them! -).

You deserve long term success after having your surgery, not just a couple of yearsYes, you do. You are worth it, and any old story that you might be telling yourself to the contrary, that up until now has sabotaged your efforts, is simply that – a story. A story that’s kept you safe in some way up until now, but has also kept you trapped too. We all deserve to live outstanding lives, and the foundation for that is our health. You had the surgery in order to transform your life and your health, so when would now be the right time to create successful results that last a lifetime?

Here’s how this eGuide will help you:

You’ll have a clear idea of the steps to start taking to get you back on trackNo more going in circles or cycles of effort and frustration, willpower and disappointment, action and fear. No more wondering if it will work ‘this time’. I’m going to tell you what to do so that you can once and for all achieve the results you desire, and deserve.

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You’ll feel more motivated and drivenIt’s easy to feel motivated and determined when you know something is going to work, isn’t it? And rather than relying on other people and things around you to keep you motivated and focused, you’ll be able to do it for yourself.

You’ll have a clear plan of action and you’ll know how to keep updating this as you make progressKnowing what to do and when makes taking action so much more straightforward and simple. My aim is to get you to the point where you don’t need me to keep you on track! I’m going to share with you the easy strategies for planning that I use myself to achieve great health and wellness results, and sustain them.

You’ll feel more confident and less worried so that you can enjoy your life moreYour health is the foundation for everything else in your life. When you’re well, fit and healthy then everything else is possible! When you’re the opposite, well, you know how that feels and what life is like. Life is meant to be enjoyable – full of joy, love, laughter and more! Isn’t it time to create that kind of life for yourself?

So without further ado, let’s get into it.

Talk soon,

Amber Kay NSW, 2016

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1What Do You Really Want?

Focus On What You Want, Not What You Don’t Want

In order to get started, it might sound really simple but one of the first steps that we need to take is to actually work out

what you want (aside from ‘getting back on track’), rather than what you don’t want.

It sounds really obvious but most (around 70%) of our initial support sessions with our clients on our Fresh Start support, education and coaching program start with the discovery that the client doesn’t actually know what exactly they’re aiming for after their surgery.

They generally know what they don’t want – for example, they don’t want to “feel fat” or “be in pain” - but they haven’t given themselves clarity about what they do actually want so that they can actually move towards what they want, and set themselves some goals around that.

It is absolutely essential to focus on what you do want rather than what you don’t want in order to experience long-term success.

This is one of the most important principles that I can share with you to help you get back on track and to achieve the great results that you want after your surgery, and it also applies to getting great results in every area of your life. You must stay focused on what you want, and all aspects of that, and

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4 Keys To Getting Back On Track After Weight Loss Surgery

not give in to distraction, worry, doubt, or to the temporary circumstances that might be happening right now in your life.

And if you can’t stay focused on that 100% of the time (because that can be challenging, especially when you’re new to it, or when life does throw things in your way), then it’s about being consciously aware of when you’re doing the opposite, so that you can bring your focus back to what will move you towards success, instead of going in the opposite direction.

When we have thoughts of fear, self-doubt, worry, criticism, judgement, anger, frustration, anxiety, negativity and other disempowering negative thoughts, we are focused on what we don’t want, and this creates associated negative emotions, disempowering actions, and results we don’t want.

Our thoughts create our emotions, our emotions determine our actions, and our actions determine our results.

So you must turn your focus to what you want in order to conspire for your success and for your desired results!

Your Focus Creates Your Reality

You do have a choice as to what you focus on at any moment, and where you put your focus changes your whole experience of the world.

There are so many things that you can pay attention to in life but your brain can’t possibly process them all. For example, right now you could be paying attention to the feeling of your toes

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What Do You Really Want?

pressing against your shoes, or your heart beating, or listening to the noises outside, or looking at the corner of the ceiling (and now that I’ve mentioned them you are paying attention to them!). There are literally billions of things that come through all of your senses that you could be paying attention to in any moment, but your brain would become inundated if it paid attention to everything… So it filters most of it out.

The reason why this is so important is because what you focus on in life tends to expand. If you’re faced with a challenge and you give all your attention to what is wrong in that situation, you’ll tend to feel negative emotions such as fear, frustration and overwhelm. And when you’re feeling like that, does that help solve the situation or does it tend to bring more challenges and problems into your experience?

Contrast that with when you focus your attention on solutions to a problem or challenge. How does that make you feel? Generally it makes you feel a bit better about it – and when you’re feeling better, you tend to feel more resourceful and positive, and this helps the situation get better.

I want to be clear - I’m not saying that you should put rose-tinted glasses on, deny the existence of problems and always feel good! That’s not healthy for a start, and life can be incredibly challenging - everyone experiences tough situations in their life and sometimes it can be very difficult to see the good in a situation. What I’m saying is that it’s important to focus on the solutions rather than the problems – that is, to focus on what you want rather than what you don’t want.

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If we place just 5% of our attention on our problems and 95% of our attention on the solutions then this will make a huge difference to our lives, yet most people usually have the percentages the other way around, and as a result find life in general quite a struggle.

So we’re going to focus on what you do want, rather than what you don’t want. We’re also going to spend our time thinking about the solutions, rather than the problems.

The Power Of Gratitude

Before we focus on what you want to work towards, it’s important to reflect on what’s good in your life right now. If we’re always striving for the future and don’t take the time to appreciate what we can be grateful for and what we’ve achieved already, then our ability to bring more ‘good stuff’ into our lives will be reduced.

So, we’re going to do a simple gratitude exercise - to focus on what’s good in your life already.

The purpose of this is to shift your energy and to put you in a positive emotional ‘state’. Gratitude is a simple yet very powerful way to bring more of what you want into your life1. Again, what you focus on tends to expand, and gratitude is all about focusing on what is working in your life already. When you do this it helps you to feel good and then this tends to bring more good into your awareness and therefore your life. When you’re grateful and positive, you’re also more likely to 1Seligman, M. (2002). Authentic happiness: using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. London: Freedom Press.

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be able to focus on creating a clear vision of your health that inspires you.

I want you to do this simple exercise by taking some time to get yourself into a relaxed and positive state, and then answering the questions below. It can help to go to a location (either physically or in your mind) where you always feel happy or relaxed – by the ocean, for example. Or you can listen to some songs that always get you in a great mood. This is important, so make sure you do this for yourself to get the most out of this exercise!

It’s also important to make sure you answer each question before going on to the next one, as this is where you’re ensuring that you’re expanding your comfort zone, pushing past any current mental boundaries, and looking to create new pathways in your mind.

1. Think about everyone in your life that you can be grateful for right now – who do you love and who loves you?

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2. Think about at least one person who has changed your life for the better, either through their words, or their actions.

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3. Think about 3 things you can be grateful for already today – maybe a hot shower, warm sunshine, birds singing, a message from a friend and so on…

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This is a simple exercise that you can do either in your head or written down every day to put you in a good state. Chances are (and research has shown) it will put you in a better mood, you’ll relate better to other people, you’ll be more productive, and you’ll be happier – and this will give you more of what you want in life.

So, I’d like you to take all those warm and good feelings of gratitude and appreciation as we move from your present... into your future...

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Create A Crystal Clear Vision Of What You Want

As I mentioned before, the next key step is to get really clear on what you want to achieve in terms of your health and body results, and to actually visualise the results that you want in advance.

Visualisation is a powerful process to bring what you want in life into actual reality and it really does work. Visualisation is a tool that’s used by virtually every Olympic athlete and there’s real science that validates its effectiveness. Scientists have linked Olympic sprint athletes up to biofeedback equipment and had them go through their event only in their mind. The results showed that the same muscles fired, in the same sequence, and at the same pace when running in the imaginary, visualised event in their heads as when they were really running on the track.

Your mind cannot distinguish between imagination and reality – between whether you are really doing something or if it’s a practice in your head. So if you’ve been somewhere in the mind then you can go there in the body.

So, to maximise the potential and possibility of you achieving what you want for your health and body, I want you to tap into the power of visualisation! In a moment, you’re going to start to create an image in your mind’s eye of what you truly want, and it’s really important to make it compelling and powerful, so that you feel excited and drawn to move towards it2. The

2 Wood, R., & Locke, E. (1990). Goal setting and strategy effects on complex tasks. In B. Staw & L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 12, pp. 73–109). Greenwich: JAI Press.

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power is in its attraction, and how exciting and compelling you make it.

Before you start visualising, have a read of the questions listed below first, to get your mind aligned to what you can notice about your ultimate compelling vision of health and wellness.

1. What do you want your body and health to be like at your best?

2. What could you create if you were absolutely committed?

3. How would you stand if you were at your best in terms of your health?

4. How would you look and how would you feel every day?

5. What would you be wearing? How would your clothes feel on your body?

6. What could you do physically if you were at your best?

7. How would you be feeling – physically in terms of your health and energy?

8. How would you be feeling – emotionally?

So, start by sitting up tall and breathing deeply. You might like to get some inspiring music playing in the background,

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or remember some of those wonderful gratitudes you had earlier… Start by feeling good, by feeling great…

And when you’re ready, close your eyes and for the next few minutes, see yourself in your mind’s eye - your ideal picture of where you want to be with your health, and notice those aspects in relation to the guiding questions above.

Do that now.

When you think you’re done, go back to the guiding questions and make sure you can answer each of them in detail. If you’re unsure about any aspect, go back to your mental image and get clear on the answer to that question.

Do that now.

When you think you’re really done, go back to your image and start to have a play with it in order to make it even more compelling, even more powerful! You might like to turn the lights up and make the image brighter, or make the colours more bold, or bring it closer to you, or move it further away. You can turn the sounds up – of what you’re saying to yourself when your health and body are exactly the way you want them to be, and of what people are saying to you. You can put a frame around the picture, or make it a panoramic image that stretches past the edges of your vision - whatever it takes to make that image feel like a magnet, drawing you closer and closer, totally irresistible!

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Do that now.

I trust by now that you’re feeling pretty fantastic, and also really excited about your vision for your future. If not go back and do it again! Get yourself juiced up, because it needs to be compelling, and what you truly want, in order for you to want to move towards it! And don’t worry if the image isn’t clear yet – if the details are blurry perhaps, or if you’re coming up with more ‘sensations’ than pictures – keep re-visiting it and getting clearer on it, and as long as you’re moving towards clarity on what you want, that’s what’s important.

Assuming you’re ready for the next step, start to capture that image in words and write it down, using plenty of “I am …” statements, because by doing this, you’re already telling your mind to act ‘as if’ it has already happened. Remember that your mind doesn’t know what is reality and what is imagination, so if you tell it that something is, right now, then it will prime itself to ensure that ‘state’ is achieved.

For example: “I am walking easily, looking fit, toned and energetic. I am wearing a fitted t-shirt with slim-fit jeans and I feel really confident and comfortable in them. I am hearing my family and friends tell me how clear my skin looks and how bright my eyes are. I have lots of energy to play with my children and to focus on my business. My health is constantly improving and I am more open, more sociable, more courageous and more willing to try new places, people, and activities.”

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Write it all down here:

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Now look back at what you have written. Did you focus on what you want, or on what you don’t want? For example, did you write, “I am a size …..”, which is what you want to move towards, or did you write, “I am not overweight”, which is what you want to move away from?

Remember, getting clear on what you want and where you want to go is the only way to arrive at your chosen destination.

So if you need to, go back over your vision and put it clearly in terms of what you want, not what you don’t want…

… and if you don’t need to, then well done! You’ve just achieved a crucially important step in getting back on track!

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2 Building Your Motivation

Understand Your Reasons Why

The next step in the process is to really understand why this vision is important to you, because this is arguably the

most important part. If you’re passionate about something and you have really important reasons for it, then these reasons will drive you, they’ll motivate you and they’ll inspire you. Your reasons will provide you with the motivation to achieve your vision when things are tough and when challenges appear3. Your reasons for doing this are going to provide the driving force that’s going to keep you going and that will ultimately bring you to your chosen destination. You have to have big enough and powerful enough reasons to be committed to creating your new health vision.

When we speak to our clients on the goal-setting component of our 2-year Fresh Start support, education and coaching program, very few have previously taken the time to clearly identify their reasons for creating change. They often know that they don’t want to feel a certain way any more but they haven’t attached clear, powerful, motivating reasons for making the lifestyle changes required in order to attain the full benefit of having their surgery.

In contrast to this, we have interviewed numerous people who have had weight loss surgery, who have completely transformed their lives and who have enjoyed lasting results, and every single time we interview someone like this, they 3 Miller, W.R. & Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational interviewing: preparing people for change. New York: Guildford Press.

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Building Your Motivation

have stated a clear reason that motivated them. Often it was because of a significant person in their lives - for example, to be a better role model for their children or to be around when their grandchildren are born. Whatever the reason though, they knew what was driving them and it was important to them.

So what will your vision give you? What do you value most in life and how will this vision support what you value? When you can link health to what it will give you in life then you get the motivation to take action.

You must link your health vision to everything that’s important to you in life. So, sitting up tall and breathing deeply, what’s your ultimate WHY?

For what purpose do you want to look this way and feel this?

What will it give you?

What does it change in your life?

What kind of example are you for your friends and your family?

Who would you attract into your life or inspire?

What would be possible if you had this kind of physical ability, vitality, energy and drive?

What is your ultimate purpose to go with this vision?

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When you’re ready, write it down:

1. My reasons why

For example: “Setting a good example for my children”; “Having more energy so that I can enjoy my passion of playing golf”; “ Feeling more confident and balanced when I go out socialising”.

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2. What will not having my vision cost me?

Humans are motivated by both pain and pleasure. The above exercise gets you to focus on the pleasure of reaching your vision but you can also tap into pain appropriately to help motivate you.

If you don’t change and achieve your vision, what is it going to cost you?

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Building Your Motivation

If you carry on going the way that you’re heading, where will you be in 5 years’ time? What will you have missed out on and how will your health be?

Where will you be in 10 years’ time?

How will you feel?

Where will you be in 20 years’ time if you carry on the way you are heading?

How will you feel?

What will it cost you in life if you don’t create this vision?

Write down your thoughts below:

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3. What will it feel like when I achieve my vision?

Finally, to put you back in a positive state, take a few deep breaths, clear your mind and then see yourself creating your vision… What will it feel like when you have created this vision?

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3Making Your Vision A Reality

Well done! You now have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and what it will look and feel like when you

get there! You also know your reasons why you’re doing this – and this is the most important aspect, because these reasons will drive you towards fulfilling that vision.

Identify Your Strategies

The next step in the mindset process is to focus on all of the possibilities and action steps that are available to you to make your vision a reality (and to overcome your challenges – the ones you have now and the ones that could arise). There are an incredible number of ways to do this, so let’s start to tap into your creative power to create a list of all the actions that you can take to start moving towards your goals.

So what actions and strategies are open to you?

It’s important for you to be aware right now that you don’t need to carry out all of the possible actions. At this stage, you’re just brainstorming ideas and coming up with possibilities, so let go of whether or not the idea is realistic or practical at this point and just put it down on paper to capture it.

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Here are some general ideas to get you started:

Focus on holistic health – physical movement, nutrition, emotional and mental health including sleep and relaxation, etc;

Talk to experts and get advice – surgeon, dietitian, physiotherapist, exercise physiologist, style advisor/image consultant4;

Talk to others who have had WLS and achieved great results, and get their input;

Get psychological support - e.g. coaching, counselling, or help from a psychologist;

Find someone who is getting the results you want and interview them/copy them;

Remove temptation from your environment;

Plan ahead;

Become accountable to someone else / buddy up / join a group;

Attach pain to the unwanted behaviour;

Create new habits;4 Style or Image consultants (a.k.a. personal shoppers, personal stylists, wardrobe consultants and makeover consultants) are experts who can advise you on what clothes to buy and wear, and make other styling recommendations for hair and make-up, so that you learn how to feel confident and to best dress for your changing body shape.

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Making Your Vision A Reality

Create new beliefs and let go of old limiting ones - e.g. “I have a slow metabolism”.

Now list a minimum of 10 different actions or strategies that you can take here that will lead you towards your vision. Remember you don’t have to commit to doing any of them. Now is the time to simply brainstorm anything that you think is relevant. You might like to do this with a partner:

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Identify Your Supports

Research5 shows consistently that people who have access to support networks after weight loss surgery are more successful with weight loss and mental adjustment, especially long-term, than those who don’t. Having people on your team who support you, who’ll encourage you to start new healthy habits and maintain them, who also understand what you’re going through because they’ve been through it too – this is critical.

You’re not alone on this journey and there are many people who can help you achieve your vision. So next I want you to write down all the supports that are around you that will help you move towards your vision. Who is on your team and where can you get assistance? Perhaps it’s a best friend, or your surgeon, or it’s a walking group or a personal trainer?

List at least 5 different supports below:

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5 Beck, N., Johannsen, M., Stoving, R., Mehlsen, M. & Zachariae R. (2012). Do postoperative psychotherapeutic interventions and support groups influence weight loss following bariatric surgery? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and nonrandomized trials, Obes Surg. Nov; 22(11): 1790-7 and Rudolph, A. & Hilber A. (2013). Post-operative behavioural management in bariatric surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Obes Rev. Apr; 14(4): 292-302.

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Identify Your 3-Month Goals

Now that you’ve identified a whole list of things that you have going for you, a.k.a. solutions, you just have to work out what actual behaviours will move you towards your vision. It’s best to do this in chunks, or stages, so start with the ones you are going to be doing on a consistent basis in 3-months’ time. The 3-month timeframe is short enough to provide you with a sense of urgency that will help you with your weekly goal setting6.

Perhaps you’re walking 3 times per week, only drinking alcohol twice per week, using meditation every morning to start your day on a positive and empowered trajectory, or attending a fortnightly support group. Whatever you come up with, these behaviours will become your 3-month goals.

Now that we’re at this stage, it’s important to define your goals well and I’m going to use the SMART Goal Setting Model7 to assist you:

S stands for Specific – make your behavioural goal specific in terms of what it looks like. If your goal starts off as ‘exercise regularly’, making it specific may mean ‘to walk for a minimum of 3 times each week for at least 30 minutes’.

M stands for measurable - how will you measure the achievement of your goal? If it’s an activity then it’s generally straightforward – e.g. ‘I walked for 30 minutes’. For general goal setting it may not be as straightforward – e.g. if it’s a

6 Moore, M. (2009). Coaching psychology manual. Wellesley: Wellcoaches Corporation.7 Smart Goal Setting was originally developed by George Doran and has been expanded and modified over time. See Doran, G. T. (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review, Vol. 70, Issue 11, pp. 35-36.

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feeling, for example confident, or attractive, or energised, then how will you measure it? How do you feel now in that feeling on a scale of 1-10, and what is your goal number? If you have a previous reference point for feeling 10/10 then that’s fantastic but isn’t necessary - your goal may be ‘to feel 8/10 or higher’.

A means Achievable – is it realistic? Are you prepared to actually commit to what is required to achieve your goal or are you being too ambitious and there is an interim goal that may make more sense? If your aim is to complete an hour’s bushwalk each week and you have knee or joint issues then your goal may need to be modified.

R stands for Relevant - is it something you want or are you doing it because someone else expects you to? Does it fit in with your values and priorities? For example, you might think that you should be attending some kind of boot camp, but if you don’t like a dominant style of instruction or exercising in large groups where there’s little individual supervision, then what would you rather do?

Finally, T stands for time-bound – you must have a time-frame around your goal. We know that these goals have a timeline of 3-months. What are the timelines for other goals? And think also in terms of time detail for your goals - how long are you going to carry out this activity for and how often each week?

Here are some SMART examples of 3-month behavioural goals:

1. I am in bed with the lights off by 9pm every Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday night.

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2. I am walking for 45 minutes or more, at least twice a week on Monday mornings at 7am and Friday lunchtimes at 12.30pm.

3. I am drinking at least 2 litres of filtered water every day. I am having no more than 2 glasses of wine between Friday and Sunday and no alcohol during the week.

4. I attend a meditation class every week and listen to a 10-minute guided meditation audio on weekday afternoons at 3pm.

Now it’s your turn (make sure you have at least 3, ideally covering areas like nutrition, movement and self-care, because it will always take a combination of actions to move you towards your vision):

1. _____________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________________

Create Your Weekly Goals

The next step is to work out what you’re going to do over the next 7 days that will take you towards your 3-month goals and your health vision. Maybe your 3-month goal is to walk to work 3 times each week, so perhaps this week you’re going to walk to work once or to buy a suitable pair of shoes.

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It’s important here to set yourself up to achieve success.

So often people get themselves super excited and in the moment they set themselves a whole list of actions that they are going to take in the first week. For example, they decide that they’re going to walk every day for 30 minutes even though they haven’t been physically active in a while, or they decide that they’re going to give up all sweet treats even though they’ve been enjoying something sweet most days. What then happens is that they often struggle to complete their goals and then they feel bad about it – this makes them feel that they’ve failed and they’re sent on a downward spiral of feelings.

You’re going to experience much better results if you set yourself up to win right from the start – make your goals super achievable so that once you achieve them you feel good about it, and then you feel energised about setting yourself some more goals. This then sends you on an upward success spiral. The secret to long-term, sustainable success is to take small manageable steps in the direction that you want to travel and then to slowly build on these successes.

Write down 2 or 3 (super-achievable) actions that you’re going to take this week that will move you towards your 3-month goals:

1. _____________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________________

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Check-in: Are these SMART goals? If not, go back and adjust them! You want to know when (and ideally where and with whom) you’ll be doing them and what the evidence will be that the action is completed.

It’s also important to measure your confidence in your weekly goals to assess whether you’re actually going to make them happen8. So, when you’re done, ask yourself how ready, confident and committed you are that you will be able to take and achieve these first steps toward your vision. Give yourself a score out of 10, where 10 means that you are definitely going to take them and 1 means that you’re unlikely to achieve them this week.

If you gave yourself a score of less than 8/10, think about how can you refine your goal to make it a 10/10. For example if your 3-month goal is to reduce your alcohol from 7 nights per week to 2 nights and your intention is to have 4 nights without alcohol this week, but you know that you have a busy / stressful week ahead so perhaps this week your goal is to have 1 or 2 nights without alcohol.

Remember that success breeds success, so set yourself up to succeed!

Once you’re fully confident about your planned weekly actions, get them into your diary and make them as immovable as possible. If there’s any chance something could get bumped due to something unexpected and urgent coming up (otherwise there’s no reason to change your plan), get your back-up plan ready now for when else you can achieve that goal.

8 Botelho, R. (2004). Motivate healthy habits: stepping stones to lasting change. Rochester: MHH Publications.

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Every week, reflect on how you went with your weekly goals, acknowledge what worked, see what you’ve learnt, and consider what may need adjusting. Then create 2-3 new weekly SMART goals that keep you on track for your 3-month goals, and make this a regular weekly activity so you can stay on track!

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4Staying On Track

You now have 3-month goals and a plan for the week ahead to move you towards those goals. The final step

in the process is to make sure that you stay on track and keep heading towards your vision.

You must understand that this is a journey and it’s going to take time. It’s about taking small, achievable steps that build upon each other, one by one that eventually stack up to create real, lasting change. It’s also not a straight journey - sometimes you’ll have a great day or a great week and sometimes you’ll go backwards, or sideways, or in a loop, or fall completely off track (this time though you know what to do when that happens!).

What’s vital is that you keep focused on your vision, your reasons for getting there, and you adjust your actions to keep you moving there, and there are a number of tips that I’d like to share with you to help keep you on track.

Keep Focusing On Your Vision

One of the most important ways to stay on track is to keep returning and focusing on the vision that you have created. Don’t just file it away somewhere where it will never be looked at again. Put it somewhere that you will be constantly reminded of what you’re working towards and why you’re doing this. Perhaps this will be in your diary or on your smart phone or on your desk or on your fridge. Vision boards or apps that allow you to add words and pictures are great for this.

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Where can you keep the vision so that you connect with it regularly?

Write this down here:

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Then every week, when you’re planning your week ahead, have a look at the vision and decide what actions you will take that week that will help you move towards the vision – and then schedule these actions in. Block out time in your diary to be active, time to relax, time to shop, time to learn and so on. This simple step, taken each week, is one of the most powerful ways to create change and reach your vision.

Human beings are creatures of habit and a significant proportion of our daily actions are just habitual. If we want to change our results then we must change our habits and setting new weekly actions each week is a great way to do this. After a few weeks it will become automatic to be active, shop, relax and learn on the days that you set.

Another powerful technique to accelerate your results and to enhance the power of your vision is to write out your vision every day on a piece of paper and to carry the piece of paper around with you, for example in your wallet. Carrying out this exercise will constantly remind you of what you’re working

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Staying On Track

towards and will have a powerful effect on your unconscious mind so that you carry on taking actions that will move you towards what you want.

Have Awareness

Another important part of staying on track is having awareness of your progress and your results as you go along. This means knowing whether or not you are being effective.

Are you getting the results or outcomes you wanted from the actions you’re taking? If not then change your actions. As Albert Einstein said, “The definition for insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Have Flexibility

Another key strategy to staying on track is to have flexibility. Give yourself permission to be okay with changing the actions if they’re not getting the results that you want, and to ask yourself the question ‘What could I do differently?’.

If you’re wondering how many times you change your behaviour, well the answer is simple - as many times as it takes to get the result you are looking for.

Also, it isn’t just what you need to do differently in terms of flexibility with regards to your behaviours: it could be more about being flexible in your beliefs. For example, if you’re working hard towards a particular physical activity goal, but

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have a belief that ‘exercise is unpleasant and hard’ or ‘I’m not an active person’ then that is definitely going to get in the way of your success! Letting go of a limiting belief and replacing it with a belief that is supportive and nurturing, that allows you to move towards your goal effortlessly and actually conspires for your success, could be the most powerful gift you give yourself.

Feedback, Not Failure

One of the most valuable shifts you can make to assist you to achieve your goals is to let go of the concept of ‘failure’ and embrace ‘feedback’ instead9. If we believe in ‘failure’ then we’ll generally try to avoid it, which can limit our action-taking and also our growth. ‘Feedback’ on the other hand is information, on what worked and what didn’t work. When you choose to embrace the philosophy that there is no failure, only feedback, then what you get is permission and freedom to give things a go, make mistakes, to experiment, to look at the information you’re getting and adjust your course as you go along to achieve what you ultimately want.

Be Persistent

The final key strategy to staying on track that we want to talk about here is persistence.

It’s easy to get bogged down in waiting for ‘the perfect time’, the ‘perfect conditions’, and when you’re feeling confident or energetic enough to take action, yet all of those are myths – 9 Cooperrider, D.L. & Whitney, D. (2005). Appreciative inquiry: a positive revolution in change. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Communications, Inc.

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Staying On Track

they will never turn up because perfection doesn’t exist and emotions don’t arrive in the post - they come from within you. You have everything you need to feel whatever you want to feel, right now.

As Nike says: “Just Do It!”

Remember, the secret to all success, and that includes success in relation to your health, is the single ability to stay focused, committed and always trained on the end result that you want, no matter what.

The Final Word

So, there you have it – the initial principles and strategies that will start to get you back on track!

What would happen to you if you used these principles on a consistent basis in your life?

What would that be like? Think about it for a minute.

Of course, none of it means anything if you don’t do anything with it! I’ve given you the initial roadmap to do this. Now the ball is in your court -.

Follow these steps, and join the thousands of others who have achieved fantastic results after WLS that they truly love and that truly last.

4 keys - amazon s3...on other people and things around you to keep you motivated and focused,...

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