Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More for Life (6 page)
Read Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More for Life Online
Authors: Chris Powell
Tags: #Health & Fitness / Diet & Nutrition / Weight Loss, #Self-Help / Motivational & Inspirational, #Health & Fitness / Exercise
What’s the biggest obstacle to keeping my promises to myself? Time? Money? Friends? Family? Anything else?
How can I plan ahead and work around these obstacles?
What will it take to make my promises to myself the number one priority in my life?
As the old Chinese proverb goes, “Every journey begins with a single step.” The way we see it, every transformation begins with a single promise. That’s why the very first transformation promise you make to yourself must be so small that it’s actually attainable, even when life gets in the way. It has to be so doable that you know you can
fulfill it
. Then you can add another little promise and master that one. Each tiny promise is a step on your journey of transformation.
Here’s an example: When people ask us how much cardio they should do to burn fat, our answer is “Gimme five minutes.” Doesn’t matter what it is—a jog around the block, walking in place while watching TV—just do it for five minutes. It’s a five-minute promise that you can fulfill every day. If five minutes make you feel so good you want to do five more, that’s great: You’ll just reach your goal faster. But the promise is for only five minutes of cardio. Hit those five and you win. Period. Do four minutes and fifty-nine seconds and you lose. It’s not about the cardio—it’s about
you
and the
promise
you made! Get it yet?
Because it’s so important to keep the promises you make to yourself,
don’t go overboard. Start slowly, by making
just one small promise
—“I will eat one serving of vegetables today,” “I will take the stairs today.” Every single promise puts your self-love on the line, so only make promises that you can keep—and keep them! I see the payoff for our clients: When they keep their promises, they learn how to love themselves, and they can do almost anything. Loving yourself is the
most valuable gift
you can give yourself. When you love yourself, you can realize your dreams.
I want to give you every possible advantage in making your physical and emotional transformation, so I’ve written 101 basic, realistic promises that you can use (one at a time!) along the way. I call these the
Power Promises
. Each of these is a great place to start your transformation.
Take a look through the Power Promises. See how easy they are? If you make just one Power Promise to yourself, your chances of keeping it are incredibly good. So pick a promise and focus on keeping it. When you master it, add a second promise, make it happen, then a third… and so on. Give yourself as long as you need to fulfill each promise to yourself. By succeeding, you’ll come to
believe
that you can transform your body and your life. Keeping your first promises to yourself will psych you up to
do this
!
The Power Promises fall into three categories that are central to transformation.
Food Promises—I Will:
1. Choose skim milk over whole milk.
2. Eat at least one serving of veggies every day.
3. Avoid drinks with refined sugar.
4. Cut out the beer and alcohol.
5. Drink half as many ounces of water daily as I weigh in pounds.
6. Drink water before each meal.
7. Use a smaller coffee cup.
8. Leave cream and sugar out of my coffee.
9. Eat breakfast every morning.
10. Eat low-sugar, high-fiber breakfast cereal.
11. Eat three meals and two snacks a day.
12. Set an alarm so I remember to eat every three hours.
13. Eat protein at every meal.
14. Quit grazing on junk food in the afternoon.
15. Keep healthy snacks on hand at home, work, and anywhere else I eat.
16. Stop eating my kids’ food.
17. Brush my teeth after dinner so I don’t eat later.
18. Stop eating after my fifth meal.
19. Pack each day’s snacks and lunch in the morning, when I’m fresh and motivated.
20. Stop eating in the car.
21. Say no to fast food.
22. Put half of every restaurant meal in a take-out container before I start eating.
23. Eat from a salad plate instead of a dinner plate.
24. Eat slowly.
25. Occasionally enjoy my favorite foods in moderation so I don’t feel deprived.
26. Stop eating off my friends’ or spouse’s plates.
27. Skip seconds.
28. Eat half my dinner portion and half my dessert, and save the leftovers for tomorrow.
29. Get rid of my microwave and all the processed food that goes in there.
30. Skip the middle aisles at the supermarket.
31. Make my food from scratch.
32.Grill, steam, or bake instead of frying my food.
33. Use vegetable oils instead of butter.
34. Eat less salt.
35. Increase the fiber in my diet.
36. Switch from white bread to whole grain bread.
37. Avoid refined white pasta.
38. Eat a whole lot more veggies of different colors.
39. Eat a piece of fruit every day.
40. Eat more fish.
41. Eat less red meat and more poultry.
42. Try new recipes that are free of gluten, refined sugar, dairy, and eggs.
Body Promises—I Will:
43. Stay away from the couch, which is a magnet for my butt.
44. Walk instead of drive whenever I can.
45. Get off the bus or subway one or two stops early and walk the rest of the way to my destination.
46. Park farther from the entrance at work and the store.
47. Take a brisk morning walk for energy.
48. Walk the kids to school.
49. Get up from my desk and walk around for five minutes every hour.
50. Take a walk during my breaks and lunch hour.
51. Take the family for a half-hour walk after dinner instead of watching TV.
52. Take the dog to the park every day.
53. Walk or run the dog around the park instead of standing still to play fetch.
54. Walk to work.
55. Ride my bike to and from work a few days a week.
56. Do my own housework instead of hiring it out.
57. Mow my lawn with a push mower.
58. Wash the car by hand.
59. Exercise for five minutes a day.
60. Work out in the morning before I do anything else.
61. Exercise during TV commercials.
62. Do fifteen push-ups, fifteen sit-ups, and fifteen squats every morning to start my day.
63. Choose cardio exercises that take me outdoors into the beautiful fresh air.
64. Join an exercise group or gym.
65. Take one new class or try one new piece of equipment at the gym this week.
66. Sign up for a community or charity walk/race.
67. Go to bed fifteen minutes earlier every night.
68. Sit up straight.
69. Stand instead of sitting whenever I can.
70. Smoke one less cigarette every day.
71. Take a multivitamin every day.
Mind Promises—I Will:
72. Look myself in the mirror every day and say, “I am worth it.”
73. Breathe deeply.
74. Put on workout clothes the minute I get up each morning.
75. Make my bed and get dressed in street clothes every day.
76. Keep a checklist of the nonnegotiable things I
must
do every day.
77. Track and measure my eating and exercise, and write it down.
78. Keep my changes basic and reasonable.
79. Set small weekly goals instead of big, long-term goals.
80. Say “I will” instead of “I want” and “I can” instead of “I can’t.”
81. Act, instead of thinking about acting.
82. Count my day’s accomplishments each night.
83. Reward myself for my accomplishments.
84. Forgive myself for one failure a day.
85. Find something good about myself every day, instead of something that’s wrong with me.
86. Stop eating automatically while watching TV or using the computer.
87. Practice mindful eating—pay attention to what, when, where, how, and why.
88. Allow myself to say “no, thank you, I don’t eat this.”
89. Use food to nourish my body, not mask my emotions.
90. Stop eating my sadness.
91. Make a point of sitting down to family dinners to share the health.
92. Pay attention to the way I feel.
93. Share my feelings with others.
94. Give myself permission to cry.
95. List my emotional and food triggers and stay away from them.
96. Avoid negative and unhealthy people who bring me down.
97. Surround myself with like-minded people.
98. Get support.
99. Ask my friends to hold me accountable for my promises.
100. Take control of one decision each day and don’t let anyone else make it for me.
101. Remind myself each day that “nobody will do it for me.”
As you read through the Power Promises, a few of them probably jumped out at you and said “I’m the promise for you.” These are the first promises you should make to yourself as you start your journey of transformation. Go back to the list and pick one to three promises from
each
category that you’d like to focus on first, no more. If you need to tweak a promise so it aligns better with your situation, don’t hesitate to do so. Then write your promises down. Remember to choose promises you believe you can keep. Your integrity and dignity are on the line!
My Food Promises:
1.
2.
3.
My Body Promises:
1.
2.
3.
My Mind Promises:
1.
2.
3.
From among these, choose the very first promise you want to make to yourself. Make it something you can accomplish by the end of the day today. Put it down in writing.
Today, I promise myself I will:
Now, take a few steps that will help you fulfill your first promise, and many larger promises to come:
1. Write it down and post it in at least three places where you’ll see it often.
2. Tell someone your promise and ask for that person’s support. (You can also make it a status update on Facebook, a tweet on your Twitter account, and/or a declaration on my Facebook page!)
3. Identify the baby steps you need to take to meet this commitment to yourself. Take these steps one by one.
4. Identify the markers you can use to measure your progress toward fulfilling your promise.
5. Keep a daily log of your successes and setbacks.
At the end of the week, have you kept your promise? Did you eat every three hours? Take walks on your lunch break? Share your feelings with someone? If you did, give yourself a big pat on the back and a reward, such as that scarf you’ve had your eye on or that trip to the movies. If not,
don’t be hard on yourself
. Work on your promise for as long as you need to.
Once you’ve kept your first Power Promise, choose another of the
promises you wrote down above and focus on that for the next week. Keep going down the list—you’re doing great!
