Put the "I" Back into Your Vocabulary
Increase Your Chances for Weight-Loss Success
-- By Dean Anderson, Behavioral Psychology Expert
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Which of the following is the single most important factor in long-term weight loss success?
A. Calorie Counting
B. Regular Exercise
C. Starting your sentences with the pronoun “I”
D. Both a and b
The correct answer to this question is: C—starting your sentences with the pronoun “I”.
Here’s why it’s so important:
You already know that to lose weight, you must eat fewer calories and burn more through exercise. But if just knowing this was enough to drop the pounds, you wouldn’t be sitting here reading this. You’d be off flaunting your incredible body in that new swimsuit you’ve got your eye on. Or doing something—anything—but reading about how to lose weight. There’s a big difference between knowing what to do, and knowing how to do it.
People who succeed at doing what needs to be done are people who have mastered the art of defining problems accurately, and choosing (and implementing) effective solutions.
You can master this art by starting your sentences with “I” statements. Here’s how this works. If you have persistent difficulty actually exercising like you know you need to, for example, you probably don't describe this problem to yourself with thoughts that begin with the pronoun "I". You may tell yourself that your job or your family responsibilities don’t leave enough time or energy for exercise; that the gym is too far away but you don’t have the money to buy exercise equipment; or that your body is so large or out of shape that you can’t do enough exercise to make a difference.
