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Many patients in weight loss programs face a tough challenge as they transition from active weight loss to maintenance. This is critical since the skills needed for the active phase of weight loss are not identical to those needed in long-term maintenance. Even those who have lost well over 100 pounds and kept it off for over a year can face a common sense of failure. One patient dubbed it her SPF rating; her Self Perceived Failure rating. Whether it is unrealized expectations, hidden stressors, depression or just past weight loss failures resounding in your ears many patients face a fear of failure even in the midst of success.

Maintenance calls for a different emphasis. Not that record keeping, accountability, exercise and food planning become irrelevant in maintenance but that they lose their power to focus change. In Changing For Good by Dr. Prochaska and colleagues, maintenance requires that you look ahead and plan to avoid future problems, like relapse. Lowering your SPF rating can be the key ingredient in permanent weight loss maintenance.

First you must face the fears and sort out their meaning and the behaviors they stimulate. Do they push you toward food or toward healthy lifestyle options? Then you must plan an active strategy to manage these weight regain fears that is practical. Unrealistic expectations can quickly sink your self-esteem just when you should be basking in your success. List ten reasons why you wanted to lose weight. List ten barriers that kept you from weight loss. Then list ten strategies that address your issues in a comprehensive way and share them with your support team or with your doctor. Track your success and modify your plan as needed. Be prepared to adjust. Be prepared to change your attitude toward maintenance and see it has a manageable set of risks. There is no finishing line or end to a successful weight management program in this lifetime. No magic bullet is likely to be found that can control all of the complex reasons for weight control problems.

Weight management requires a realistic evaluation of your goals and the challenges you will face. So, take a moment to evaluate your perceptions and determine your Self Perceived Failure rating. If zero represents never having failure enter your mind (0 = I am a total success/I can’t fail!)… and one hundred represents a feeling of certain failure (100 = I’m a total failure/I can’t do this)… What is your SPF rating? Tell us how you feel about it…

This article was originally published in a broadcast of the Health-e-Thoughts Newsletter (distributed by betterMD.net on March 27, 2002)

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