The Secret to Losing Weight

I’m a big fan of Dr. Phil.  He makes sense to me.

I like his older shows from several years ago the best. I remember when he first started appearing on Oprah’s show. I would watch him when I got home from work. I’d even find myself telling people things I'd heard Dr. Phil say.

Dr. Phil is full of statements that make you think about yourself and what it is you want out of life. Have you ever heard Dr. Phil say,

·          How’s that working for you?

·         Are you doing what you're doing today because you want to do it, or because it's what you were doing yesterday?

·         Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.

·         If you want more, you have to require more from yourself.

·         Awareness without action is worthless.

·         Failure is no accident.

·         Sometimes you just got to give yourself what you wish someone else would give you.

·         You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.

Gosh, these are all good.  Dr. Phil is down to earth.  He’s a plain speaking Texan who can look at a situation, sum it up, and give advice that is logical. I like that.

On one particular show, the topic they were talking about was the difficulties of losing weight. Of course I listened. I’ve had a problem with putting on and taking off weight for many years. I listened as a lady from the studio audience was talking about how she found it so hard to stick to a diet, that it was hard resisting the cravings, how she would always “fall off the wagon” after just a few weeks, that she had been on so many different diets and nothing seemed to work. That lady could have been me.

I needed to hear what Dr. Phil had to say. I just knew he would have the answer to her (and my) dilemma.  I leaned forward giving the show my complete attention and waited for Dr. Phil to speak. When he did, I was surprised at the simplicity of his words.

He said, “Why don’t you just grow up!”

Grow up?  What kind of answer is that?  This was not the answer I had been expecting.  I don't know what I expected really, but asking a then almost 60 year old to grow up and stop acting like an immature little kid and take responsibility for her bad eating habits was not it.

That was a few years ago. Today, when I find myself saying “I can’t do it” or “it’s just too hard” or “just this one time,” I tell myself to “just grow up!”  Sometimes I listen to this Dr. Phil advice.  Other times, I give in to that little kid inside me and for the moment, I’m satisfied.

There’s another pearl of wisdom I’ve heard Dr. Phil say.

 “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.”

If that’s true, I may never grow up where my eating habits are concerned.  But I have hope.  I still have a few more years left in me to “grow up.”

Thank you Dr. Phil.

~ P