Imagine an athlete taking a position to start running a lap.

Ready, set, go… and off he ran.

Alas, after half way there, he was out of breath. So he stopped. He went back to the starting position. He took a deep breath and went again.

Several minutes later he felt that his ankle was hurt. Thus he slowly returned to the start line and waited there until it got better. Then, he started running again.

This time, he ran and ran… and he was just a short distance from the finish line when he felt so tired that he didn’t think he could move any further. He just had to stop.

Weakly he returned to the starting position and tried to pull off all his energy to give it another go.

But then, he started feeling frustration. “Maybe I should just give up running”, he thought, “after all I’ve failed again and again”.

Can you feel his frustration? Isn’t it understandable that he wanted to quit running?

Now go back to the story and replace ‘running’ with ‘dieting’…

Does it make any sense? Does it ring a bell?

Do people also ‘start dieting’ again and again, but never make it to the finish line? Does it surprise you to hear that in a couple of surveys it is said that some people have dieted 15-20 times in their lives¹² ?

It IS crazy, isn’t it?

I’m sure we all want to put a stop to that.

How? By doing things differently. Because just like Einstein said,

“Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results IS insanity”.

So let’s start by start dieting differently.

This “How to Start a Diet” series discusses the important steps that we should take, the crucial things that we must consider, and the disturbing questions that we may have when we are about to start a diet. And this is NOT just another diet. Let’s make this our FINAL dieting attempt in which we will actually make it to the finish line!!!

1. How successful-weight-losers start dieting.
2. Why 67% of people fail to reach their target body weight.
3. 5 Smart strategies to start winning diet battles.
4. How to choose the best weight loss program for YOU.
5. The no. 1 reason why successful-weight-losers make it to the finish line.

1. University of California Berkeley’s Center for Weight & Health, led by Joanne Ikeda, carried out in 2000-2001 [↩]
2. University of Connecticut’s Center for Survey Research & Analysis, led by Christine Kraus Ph.D., conducted in Nov 05-Jan 06 [↩]