Love yourself thin! Want to lose weight? The trick is to think you're beautiful, just like you are right now

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By Louise Atkinson
Last updated at 1:59 AM on 3rd January 2011

There’s nothing like the first week of the new year to start a diet and exercise regime, but if your motivation is ?disgust at the size of your waistband, you could be setting yourself up to fail.

Successful slimming, according to Lisa Jackson, is all about banishing ?negativity and concentrating on loving everything you possibly can about ?yourself — even the Christmas excess.

In her new book, Adore Yourself Slim, she sets out a sensible eating and ?exercise plan packed with clever tips to ensure weight loss is steady and ?effective.

Have self belief: Being positive about your personality and appearance will help you lose weight

But the real twist that makes her plan promise to work where so many others fail, she insists, is her emphasis on ?getting ?yourself in the right frame of mind before you start.

Here, she explains how you can:

PRE-DIET PREPARTION

Before you start on any diet, make sure you feel really good about yourself. If you don’t adore yourself for the ?person you are before you lose weight, you’re not going to be able to do so when you’re slim.

So sit down and write a list of the ten things you most love about yourself — whether it’s the way you laugh, your ?generous nature or the way you always say ‘Thank you’ when you get off a bus.

Now write down ten things other ?people adore about you — all the things your friends, family and colleagues might have mentioned (feel free to prompt them). Do they think you’re loyal? A sassy dresser? Witty? A good cook?.

This should give you a boost. Keep these lists safe and bring them out if a ‘What’s the point?’ day should strike.

ADORE YOUR BODY

When you’re slimming it’s easy to get fixated on the body parts you dislike, rather than making time to appreciate those for which you should be grateful. But for any diet to work, you need to fall in love with your body — the one you’ve got right now — before you start.

Simply take a good look at your body and write down a description of the bits you love (such as: ‘I love my hair, because it’s glossy’). Now, as you move through your weight loss plan, ?whenever you feel discouraged, take out this list and remind yourself of ?everything you love about your body.

Your mind is like a DVD player and you can choose which disc to play. If you find yourself watching a DVD that depicts your frustration, your list should help you chose a different one.

Perfect fit: A weightloss goal might be to fit into a smaller jean size than you normally wear

SET YOUR SLIMMING GOALS

Find a quiet place where you are unlikely to be disturbed and make ?yourself ?comfortable. Relax.

Now focus all your attention on the ?reasons why you want to lose weight. Think about how you’ll feel when you’re slimmer, what you’ll look like, what outfits you’ll wear and the activities you’ll be ?participating in.

Draw up a list of your short-term goals (to buy gorgeous new clothes for the summer, for example), medium-term goals (to look better at 40 than you did at 25) and the lifelong ?reasons why you’d like to be slimmer and healthier (to look good and feel great).

Now that you know why you want to be slim, choose the rewards that will help spur you on to achieving those goals:

Promise yourself daily treats for sticking to the program (an invigorating body scrub, fake tan or pedicure).Promise yourself weight-loss rewards for every time there’s a drop on the scales (a massage, facial, new ?lipstick or new outfit — in a smaller size).Promise yourself something spectacular when you reach your target weight.

BOOST YOUR SELF BELIEF

The road to weight loss has its ups and downs, but you’ll sail through if you can keep your self-belief high. Super-charge it before you start by incorporating the following tricks into your life:

Spend the first precious minute of every day ?praising yourself. That way, even if no one else does (though they will, once the weight starts falling off), it matters less.Stop striving to be perfect — you don’t have to do everything right in order to love yourself and for others to love you. Instead of berating yourself if things don’t go to plan (the chocolate biscuit that jumped into your mouth, the day without exercise), start ?practising a bit of unconditional self-acceptance.Get in touch with your body — show it how much you adore it (rolls and all) by lavishing it with care and attention. Treat yourself to a scented body lotion and massage it in after a shower as a way of saying thank you for what your body does (carries you around, allows you to enjoy all the ?wonderful things life has to offer), not just for the way it looks.Banish evil thoughts — most women are plagued by a negative inner voice, ?belittling, sneering and criticising ?everything they do. But every time you catch yourself ?thinking something ?unhelpful (such as ‘I’ll always be ?overweight’), just imagine a giant STOP sign in front of your face. Then ?consciously turn that thought into a positive (‘Every day in every way I’m becoming slimmer and fitter’).Act like a Girl Guide — it’s far easier to believe you are a good person if you behave like one, so start ?committing acts of kindness and get in the habit of doing a daily good deed.Be grateful — every time you brush your teeth at night think of three things you’re happy to be (funny, ?determined, enthusiastic), three things you’ve done well that day (not lost your temper with the children, cooked a healthy meal, made others feel good about themselves) and three things you’re grateful to have (your health, a loving partner, a comfy bed).Fake it to make it — think of the most confident and successful person you know and analyse how they dress, look and behave, and then start ?copying them.

What you really feel inside doesn’t count because what you’ll be telling the world is that you have ?self-belief.

And guess what? With nothing better to go on than what you tell them, other people will soon start treating you like a person who’s confident and successful, which will boost your real confidence.

GETTING STARTED

Sticking to a diet and an exercise regime is never easy so, whichever route you use, stick to the ten Adore Yourself Slim commandments:

ONLY EAT FOOD YOU ADORE

You may not be able to eat whatever you like all the time, but dieting will never work if you force yourself to eat food you hate.

PUT YOURSELF FIRST

Nothing is more important than ?eating well and exercising, as if you don’t have good health you can’t make the most of everything life has to offer — or be there for the people who need you. Ask yourself daily ‘What do I need to do to stay on track?’ and make that your first priority.

EAT SLOWLY AND STOP WHEN FULL

People who eat quickly are twice as likely to be overweight — and eating slowly is a great way to give your body time to register that you’re full.

ASK WHAT YOU REALLY NEED

Every time you feel an urge to eat ?(outside of the three meals and two snacks per day) ask yourself this ?question — you may be surprised by the answer — do you really need food, or does your body need a break? A glass of water? A hug?

WATCH PORTION SIZES

Losing weight isn’t just about what you eat, but how much. And that counts for salad, too.

Instead of eating huge ?portions, eat smaller amounts and ?promise ?yourself you can have second helpings should this mini-meal not be enough. You will find yourself ?feeling ?pleasantly full on a lot less food.

HAPPY NEW REAR!

Eight out of ten women and seven out of ten men start a diet on New Year's Day

EVERY LITTLE HELPS

You didn’t become overweight in a day and you won’t slim down in one either. It took ?thousands of tiny ?lifestyle decisions to get where you are today and, by the same token, many tiny lifestyle ?decisions are going to help you slim.

Think about every bite of food you take, every move you make and, little by little, those calories you shave off and those extra bits of energy ?expenditure will add up to a new slim you.

REMEMBER YOUR GOAL

Psychologists have found that focusing on things rather than just appearance will make you more likely to be successful in your slimming quest. So make sure your diet goals are ?enticing and worthwhile.

FORGIVE AND FORGET

Don’t punish that one biscuit ?indulgence by feeling a failure for the rest of the week — that’s a certain way to sabotage your weight loss. Instead, forgive yourself and get back on track.

PLAN EVERYTHING

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Go shopping for the week’s salad and ?vegetables on a Monday to reduce the risk of the empty fridge sending you off track.

Put your exercise sessions in your diary and fit other commitments around them, not the other way around.

RELAX

Studies show stress can make you fat, but rest, sleep and exercise can ease stress and help shift those pounds.

Extracted from Adore Yourself Slim by Lisa Jackson, published by Simon & Schuster on Thursday at ?12.99. ? Lisa Jackson 2011. To order a copy (P&P free), tel: 0845 155 0720.

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