a little bit of psychology that I found to be a BIG help

Jackie_Paper

Hey all. When I decided to take my usage of this site and my attempts to get in shape seriously, my friend linked me to a message board for weight loss support. I was going to post right away about how THIS TIME I am totally going to START TOMORROW and finally do it! Then, before I made my post, I noticed they shared this video, about how if you tell someone your goals *before* you start doing any of the work, you are less likely to complete the goals / follow through because psychologically, your mind feels like it has already done the work just by TALKING ABOUT what you're going to do! I noticed that I do that nearly 100% of the time I set out to do something. If I tell someone first...I don't do much after that. The message board instructions suggested 'get started now, then post your introduction in a week'. So that is just what I did, and here I am still sticking to the plan! Interesting isn't it. Here is a link to the video, hopefully it works when you click / we are allowed to post videos.
http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself.html

leypb

I have seen this theory thrown around quite a lot and it is interesting. There are equally reputable sources that say visualising something helps you acheive it., rather than inhibit you. Keeping it to yourself can be good though ,because I personally beleive the reason a lot of people dont start to lose weight as it seems too much to lose. An extra cake or pasty wont change your weight that much, its easy, but losing 10/20/50/100lbs is a mountain to climb! Keep it to yourself, remove any extra unnecessary pressure from yourself. I have told my dad I want to losee weight, but he is currentley doing the same. Just do what works for you

cmriverside

All of life is in what you choose to do for yourself. I'm glad your strategy helped. I'm just the opposite. Although all accountability is ultimately mine, once I tell someone something, I tend to follow through. I need to hear myself say it, or write it to someone. I really don't like breaking my word.

Jackie_Paper

Interesting. I'm totally in the 'tell someone and then do absolutely nothing else' group. So I just have to shut up, do the work, and THEN proudly show my results :} Which is why I like the theory so much, because it makes sense to me now that it's a real thing and that i'm not just lazy.

rjsimpson2002

I think part of why this website works is that you don't just tell someone you are losing weight or getting fit and then stop talking about it and never do it. This time I have to keep telling the website (if no one else!) what I am eating / doing to exercise and that is helping me to make a start and keep going - although I am only a few days in but I feel very positive about it.