Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More for Life by Chris Powell Read Free Book Online Page A

silent promise! That’s why you need asupport network. You’re more likely to fulfill your weight-loss commitments to yourself if you share them with others—you don’t want to let them down! When you make a mistake,
you can’t let yourself off the hook
and repeat the vicious circle of more silent promises. So promise your people that you’ll let them know when you stumble on your path to transformation.
    To keep your weight-loss goals on track, you need to confess your slipups to your crew, which isn’t easy. Sure—you already feel bad enough about botching up, and now your partners will hold you accountable for it. Confessing is scary and uncomfortable, and with your people wishing the best for you, you’ll have to face the character-building challenge of getting back up—right in front of them! It just might be enough to keep you on the straight and narrow.
    You want to make your team proud; you want them to believe in you. Let that desire to please them drive you until you have built the self-love and self-worth that can carry you along your journey. Once you reach your destination, you’ll very likely find yourself expecting accountability from your team!
MOTIVATION
    The praise and encouragement your tribe gives you are like rocket fuel for your transformation. When people on your team tell you how well they think you’re doing, how good you look now that you’re losing weight, you
want
to do more and go farther—not just for yourself, but for them. That’s motivation. It feels good to believe in yourself and keep your promises, to reach your goals, and it can feel even better to make your cheer squad happy. Your drive and determination shoot through the roof! Your chances of weight-loss success go up exponentially.
HEALING
    There’s another upside of confessing to your partners: They’ll make sure that when you fall, you don’t fail. They’ll lend you an understanding ear, help you reassess your goals and promises, and root for you as you recommitto yourself—and to them. When you reach out to your crew for encouragement in tough times, they’ll be there for you. Tell them you’re going to fall sometimes. Let them know that you’ll be coming to them to heal and get back up on your feet. When they understand the steps of confessing, reassessing, and recommitting, they can and will hear your confessions warmly and compassionately. Their response will reinforce your courage to confess. Their love and faith—
their belief in you
—will help you heal. And as you heal, you can give back to them by persevering in your weight-loss journey. Their support makes it much, much easier to get back up and go forward.
    How Do My Family and Friends Fit into the Picture?
    You might not want to hear it, but I’ll say it right up front: Your immediate family and friends may not be your best supporters. I strongly recommend that, right off the bat, you put every single member of your family on hold when it comes to your transformation team. This might disappoint you, but follow my advice on this. Granted, there are occasional exceptions out there, but in my experience, your husband or mother or sister may not belong on your team—it’s just too emotionally complicated. The same might go for many of your friends: You must be completely, absolutely confident that they’re on your side
100 percent
.
    It’s not that your family and friends are bad people, but their
vision
for you might not align with yours. Maybe you come from an overweight family that doesn’t understand why you want to get in shape. Maybe your spouse is afraid that once you lose the weight you’ll leave him. Maybe your best friend is a junk food junkie who’d feel rejected if you stopped scarfing nachos with her. That’s all right! You love them, but these folks don’t belong on your support squad, if this is the case. However, if they love and support your decision unconditionally, let their actions earn them a valuable spot on your