Looking Good While Losing Weight

How often do dieters tell themselves that they will buy a new wardrobe, change their hairstyle or makeup, or otherwise enhance their new body images once they have successfully reached their weight loss goals? In reality, however, individuals who desire to shed unwanted pounds and inches would help themselves enormously by spending more time on looking good while they try to lose weight.

There are numerous reasons for this, all related to increasing motivation. Motivation, after all, is a powerful drive that allows us to adopt new patterns of behavior and we cannot lose weight without it, despite our greatest desire to shed pounds or even our conscious commitments to ourselves to do so. This is because changes, even for the better, are stressful and associated with unfamiliar actions and consequences. For example, you may need to exercise more or change your eating habits. This could mean leaving the comfort of your home to go the gym regularly after you pay your membership, or giving up that afternoon candy bar or trip for coffee and donuts you usually make every week. It could mean having to research new recipes you might like or facing fears about how people might respond to your new appearance and lifestyle. The only way you are going to make healthy changes is to be motivated, and the higher your motivation the more successful you will be at changing self-defeating habits and making healthier lifestyle changes that will allow you to shed weight permanently.

Spending time on yourself as you attempt to lose weight is also a powerful motivator because it validates your sense of self-value. You feel good about yourself when you treat yourself as a special and unique person. Spending time pampering yourself with a home facial, giving yourself a manicure, or buying a new piece of jewelry, can go far in affirming your own value as important and wothwhile. It is important to keep in mind that you will lose weight because you like and accept yourself. You may not like the added weight but you want to shed the pounds because you love yourself unconditionally and deserve a healthy, physically fit body. Just think about it. You will not be motivated to make changes in your life if you feel deep down that you are not worth the good things that will happen to you by treating yourself well. So start spending more time acknowledging that you truly like who you are but simply want to change what is not beneficial to you, namely extra weight and unhealthy habits and behaviors.

Here are a few tips to help you look and feel better while you lose weight:

#1. Create the illusion of being thinner by choosing appropriate apparel and cosmetics. Use concepts of dark versus light to your advantage. For example, if you want to make a particular area appear less noticeable or slender, you would use darker shades of colors. You might wear a dark blue skirt or a black pair of slacks if you wanted to appear ten or fifteen pounds lighter. You might use a makeup foundation in a couple of shades darker than your regular foundation and apply it along the outline of your jaw, or ask your hairdresser to help you crate a new hairstyle that will fit the shape of your face as well as make it appear thinner.

#2. Neutralize the effect of imperfect areas of your body by bringing focus to stronger areas. For example, if you carry excess weight mainly in the stomach, you can wear a fashionable blouse that visually attracts attention to another area of the body. If you want to neutralize the effects of extra weight all over the body, you can draw attention to your better qualities by wearing a very visually appealing outfit as well as smiling and showing a pleasant personality that will draw people to you as a person, rather than to your overweight appearance.

#3. Affirm a postive status daily. Tell yourself something like, "I am becoming more attractive every day", or , "I deserve to be healthy and attractive." Even though you may feel uncomfortable with such statements at first, by repeating them daily they will become a part of you. Also keep in mind that affirmatives must be in the positive and relate to the present in order to work. For example, avoid saying, "I deserve to lose weight" or "I will be attractive in a few weeks". The body will truly respond most successfully to making constructive changes that are presented in positive statements and refer to the present.

Use these tips in whatever way is beneficial. Add to them by continuing to read articles and talk to people who have expertise that can help you maximize your looks while you are in the process of trying to lose weight. Also, ask friends for their opinions on what looks best on you and helps you appear thinner. While you still want to make the final decision yourself, it may help to know that many people think you look great in a particular outfit as you may want to wear that more often or for special occasions. The final result of maximizing your appearance during your weight loss will be to increase your good feelings about yourself and ultimately motivate you to achieve the successful weight loss you so deserve!