Day 11: Ask For Very Specific Help | 30-Day Weight Loss-athon
Welcome to Day 11 of the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon.
All tasks in the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon are adapted from the 52 Weight Loss Missions program.
Read the steps first, then take 10 minutes to think about them and take action. Ready?
What You Need:
- Willingness to ask for help.
Step 1
The people closest to you – your family, the friends you see often, your close work associates – can all play a significant part in your weight loss success… or failure.
But the fact that they play a part doesn’t mean you can play the victim or offload your own responsibilities – not in this program, baby!
The onus is on you to ask for what you want in a way that makes it easy for them to support you. Don’t expect them to know what you need. This is frustrating for you and unfair to them.
So our first step today is to explain to a key person or people in your life that you’re focused on getting slimmer and would really like their support.
Keep it brief and don’t over-explain the myriad psychological complexes or childhood dramas that brought you to this place.
Step 2
Next ask for something specific and not too onerous.
For instance, it’s blatantly unfair to ask someone else to take responsibility for getting you to the gym, or keeping you away from chocolate.
Here are some examples of support you may choose to ask for:
- Ask your partner to look after the kids for an hour, 3 nights a week, so you can exercise
- Ask your work colleague if you can go to healthier places for lunch – eg the new salad bar, the sushi place – instead of your usual burger joint
- Ask your friend if you can go for a walk when you have your weekly catch-ups
- Ask your mother to make a yummy fruit salad instead of your favorite dessert every time you visit (but I urge caution when it comes to mothers and food!)
- Ask your boss if you can have fruit for sale instead of only vending machines
- Ask your family to keep their snack food out of the pantry so you don’t see it every time you’re in the kitchen.
Step 3
Accept that not everyone may be able or willing to help you, and you may get some ‘No’s.
That’s fine – once you know where you stand you can evaluate your options. Other people’s support can be a big help, but if you don’t have all the support you’d like, then accept it, and move on with the resources you do have.
Check in!
And you’re done!
Be sure to leave your comment below to check in and stay accountable. If you’re reading this by email or in a reader then please click here to leave your comment.
See you tomorrow!
My family and closest friends are really supportive. The other day one of my best friends invited me to have dinner at his place so I asked him to tell me what the menu would be… and I took from home my own low-calories version of that menu.
Great idea for catching up with friends. A walk followed by a skinny flat white and hold the cake!
I’ll have to ask my mother to stop cooking cakes just because she has a lot of jams in the pantry.
ok – I know something…
I´m trying to be my best friend instead of my worst enemy… I have supportive friends but I feel that controlling my meals is my total responsability.
Done!
I get my husband to keep me in check.
When I mention to my husband that I don’t want junk in the house he tells me to get more will power and just not eat it. My argument that my will power is to not have it in the house! (its a circular argument as you can see). Our happy medium is that he hides treats and I do my best not to sniff them out.
done
checking in!
Done! Hubby is “it”.
I’ve told my family what I’m doing but I’m my own worst enemy. My lack of willpower is shocking.
This may be really hard. I don’t mind sharing what I’m doing, but I like to be private and independent. I know my husband will walk with me whenever I want… I’ll start there.
I really have done this already, my kids are very supportive of me taking my daily walks, I am going to talk to the whole family tomorrow about any junk in the kitchen.
oops I forgot to check in yesterday, I will be thinking about who and what to ask from someone.
I have my support on My Fitness Pal and Fitbit. I don’t ask the people in my own home anymore because their idea of “help” is giving me grief about anything and everything I eat. 😉
We don’t have kids, but when my husband has tried to encourage me to exercise in the past (even if I had previously asked him to do so) I would get mad at him. “I’ll exercise when I want, don’t tell me what to do” But I like the idea of asking him to kind of let me off duty so I can go exercise.
I need to ask my husband not to bring home the “treats” others give to him. I am happy that several of my friends have seen these posts and asked me about what I’m doing so I know I can ask some of them to help me be accountable. I’ll need to let my son know what is happening so when he comes home from university he’ll not expect too many treats.
Sunday I asked the woman who organized the walking group at church last year if it wasn’t time to start up again. Now I have two walking groups a week!