Envisioning the future

[CoachCrimson]

Hello everybody,

I've been doing a lot of thinking as i get ready to kick things into high gear here, and Ive had a bit of a sudden realization. Relatively early on in my years as a competitive athlete, I was fortunate enough to understand the importance of being able to actually visualize the outcome of anything you are trying to do. As a shotput and discus thrower, this meant that I should be able to close my eyes and see myself move through the perfect motions, actually visualize my own body almost like it was a dream. When i was able to do that, I was able to start setting records and winning some very big meets. I applied this ability to alot of other things in my life, and i feel it has made a significant difference. However...

I have never been able to visualize myself as "lean" (i hate the term thin, to me thin is very bad). I've been larger than average my entire life, so ive never had anything in the past to go on, but no matter how hard i try to think about what I might look like and how i might feel if i was lean, i cant get a good visual image in my head. i almost wish i could get access to one of those programs (like the police use for missing children) that can modify pictures and adjust for aging and weight change.

Every time i come up with something, it always seems like i have just "cut and pasted" body parts of other people over my own in my head. With as important as visualization has been in my life, i fear i may never succeed if i can not successfully do it for this journey.

Is there anyone who has been able to visualize what they should look like at the final goal? If so, how did you do it? Did it help you stay motivated? Were you very far off you hit your goal?

 

[smisen]

I agree - visualization is such a powerful tool, and one that I don't think is used often enough as a weight loss strategy. Coming up with a realistic vision can be difficult - after all, we're not all going to look like Baywatch models after losing weight. But I do think we're all familiar with what our general body types are, whether it's pear, apple, hourglass or whatever. We can look for patterns throughout our families and we can see where excess body fat has been built up that might be lost. Typically, when people lose weight, they tend to retain the same body shape, just smaller. I have big hips and will have big hips no matter how much weight I lose - in part due to family genetics and bone structure. But I can see how losing weight will help trim my thighs and my arms and I can start to generate a vision of me at a lower weight.

Good luck coming up with your own mental image

 

[maleficent]

there's a website called that you can create a virtual you at your current weight and at specific milestones and your goal weight if you want - it's a fun site...

I'm not totally sure if it's been a motivator for me -because the goal weight I picked I'm not sure is what I want - like the supreme court said regarding pornography, I dont know what it is but i'll know it when i see it - I use as well - Idon't quite know what my goal is -but I'll know it when i get there.

I use other milestones as motivators - like being able to walk up 2 flights of stairs to my apartment - avoding the elevator and not getting winded... Walking home from work at night and trying to best my time from the night before. I'm way to much of a realist to ever think I'll have the body of a 20 year old - i've got age and gravity working against me - for me - it's about how I feel and what I can do... not what I look like.