Let me paint you a picture of a scenario I’ve seen countless times as a fitness professional. A client comes to me ready to take action on losing weight and living a healthier lifestyle. They’re highly motivated and eager to lay out their diet plan and workout schedules. During the first few weeks the excitement only builds as they begin to see the scale go down.

But then out of the blue, completely without warning or any indication, they fall off the wagon. If you’ve ever started a diet or workout program and experienced the same thing you’re definitely not alone.

Self-sabotage is very common with a lot of people when they go about making significant lifestyle changes. The important thing to understand is that its change and change can make people do some funny things. In this article I’m going to discuss what causes self-sabotage with weight loss along with some practical ideas on how to overcome the obstacles.

One week you don’t miss an exercise class, your diet is on point and everything is perfect. The next week you binge, skip workouts, and repeatedly cheat on your diet. What’s most perplexing is that you know you’re blowing it but for some reason you can’t stop. It’s as if some unseen force has control over your behavior like you were a puppet on a string. Guilt and thoughts of failure only fuels the negative emotions which perpetuate a steady cycle of negative behavior.

One of the key reasons for this is the feeling of being overwhelmed. This is why I always recommend people to set small goals and build off small successes instead of trying to overhaul their entire lifestyle all at once.

When you allow yourself to become overwhelmed with trying to be perfect all the time you set up faulty expectations. Ultimately you can’t live up to such an unreasonable standard and the proceeding guilt negatively affects your actions.

Other times you’ll also find an actual fear of success. As crazy as this might sound, it’s true. Fear of success often occurs due to negative self-talk from others that still dominate your beliefs and attitude. Maybe it was a spouse that constantly put you down. Maybe it was a parent that told you that you’d always be fat. As sad as this is, the reality is negative input from others can get into your subconscious thoughts and stay there until you replace it with something else.

Realize that your effort in eliminating negative self-talk and negative beliefs from others is an essential part of improving your self-confidence.

You have to in essence reprogram your subconscious thoughts. You’ll develop a higher self-esteem and self-respect slowly but surely as you purposely change your thoughts through positive affirmations and visualization.

Your commitment to eliminate fear of success is a personal choice. When you experience rough times, discouraging words from others or negative self-talk, don’t let yourself get down. Face the challenge and keep moving forward. Believe in yourself and use encouraging self-talk to help you become enthusiastic about changing your behavior and attitude.

Three Ways To Overcome The Fear Of Success

#1: Continually tell yourself that you welcome challenges. Stand ready and willing to challenge yourself. Move forward in your internal communication by removing all negative self-talk.

#2: Believe that whatever you set out to accomplish, you will give it 100%. Stop providing excuses to blame yourself, becoming disempowered from achieving your goals and increasing your self-esteem. Believe that your "pride of accomplishment" motivates you to eliminate all the "should’s," "ought’s," and "must’s," from your vocabulary.

#3: Be the best you can. Continually "see" yourself in an evolving way. Stretch every mental, emotional, and physical fiber within you. Believe and feel that you are one dynamite, ecstatic, and powerful person. Remember, your beliefs impact the way you feel and act.

When we consider actually moving toward our heart’s desire, a part of us automatically looks ahead to the possible consequences, especially the negative ones. It’s only natural to want to stay in our "comfort zones." We have to deal with this as being a reality and simply look to question our beliefs.

Remember you have the choice control negativity and self-sabotaging behavior by creating positive beliefs and envisioning positive outcomes. Try a strategy called "thought stopping". You can use this to change the direction when you find yourself slipping into a negative thought pattern.

Say to yourself, with a loud and firm inner voice: STOP! Once you’ve done this, it’s important to replace your previous thought with a more positive statement and image. Clearly acknowledge which statements cause you to feel pain or threat, and which statements allow you to feel success, joy and happiness.

When you unnecessarily stress yourself by thinking you have no control over a controllable situation, use your inner voice to shout out the word "STOP." Then, change track and think about how the situation can be redirected.

When you attach specific positive words to positive feelings and experiences, you can recall positive feelings at will by using those words. Try to apply a positive affirmation for yourself. Use a positive statement; attach it to feelings of success, joy, and happiness by making the effort to feel these emotions. For example, "When I challenge and encourage myself, I consistently move toward my goals with a success attitude, I Can and I Will."

Recite the statement to yourself several times. Each time, experience the positive feelings the statement generates. When you anchor positive words or statements to positive feelings, you can recall the positive feeling anytime you desire and create more positive outcomes, consistently.

Challenge yourself to stop your self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors. Practicing thought stopping on a continual basis allows you to eliminate negative thoughts to become more aware of your feelings of accomplishment, self-acceptance, and of positive choice and change.

Follow These Simple Steps To See Success In Your Weight Loss Program

#1: Don’t sabotage your best efforts to be fit with negative self talk/behaviors.

#2: Take responsibility for your thoughts, your health, and your actions.

#3: Focus on simple, daily steps that will help you reach your goals.

These three strategies are the solution to every self-sabotaging habit that interferes with your goals to look and feel your very best. We are often our own worst enemies, declaring that we want to lose weight, eat better, or have more energy, and all the while continuing to eat foods that work against our efforts. Manufacturing excuses for why we don’t have time to exercise, or blaming others for our eating habits only diverts us from reaching our goals.

What you need to realize is that your long-term success doesn’t require an immediate total life overhaul. Yes, it requires a change in your priorities, but be patient with yourself. Just accept the fact that we are all living reflections of our priorities. Very simply, when health is a priority, we eat well and exercise. Rest assured that you will be able to maintain lifelong healthy eating habits once it means enough to you.