Are you ready to lose weight? If you’re ready to make changes in your life, then perhaps you are. You’ll need to make changes in what you eat, the amount of exercise you do, the way you look after yourself, and more. However, sometimes although we want to lose weight, we’re not ready.

I’m a dietician, and weight loss counsellor, and when I meet a new client, we discuss their expectations, and their readiness to follow a weight loss program.

If you can answer YES to the following five questions, you may indeed be ready to lose weight.

1. Do you want to change your eating habits? To lose your excess weight, you’ll need to change what you eat. If you have a family, this means that you may need to shop for special items for yourself, if you can’t convince the family to join you in eating healthily.

2. Will you make time for exercise? Yes, you can lose weight without exercising, but developing an exercise program will stand you in good stead for life. Exercise relieves stress, and stress leads many people to overeat. You need to make time for at least 20 minutes of exercise a day, every day.

3. Can you commit to keeping a food journal, so that you know exactly what you’re eating? It’s easy to develop unconscious habits in what you consume each day. Perhaps you eat very little, but even that little adds pounds, if you’re eating a lot of sugary and fatty foods. You need to be willing to track each meal, and snack.

4. Can you commit to taking time for yourself each day? Often we put on weight as a way of comforting ourselves. We eat to relieve stress. There are better ways to enjoy yourself. Think about the things you like to do (or used to do) which don’t involve food.

5. Are you ready to be thin? Think about what life would be like as a slim, attractive person. Do you want that? Sometimes we just don’t. If you don’t want that, because you couldn’t cope with the pressure, that’s fine.

Losing weight will change you. It will also change people’s reaction to you. Often slimmers report that their partners and family don’t seem to like the changes. You can’t lose weight for others. You can only lose weight for yourself. However, you should be ready for others’ reactions to the new you.

Did you answer YES to all five questions? If you did, you’re ready to lose weight. If you’re not sure about the answer to some of the questions, think about changes you can make to make losing weight easier.

Are you looking for fast weight loss? Julia Denham offers her simple guide: “30 Days To A Brand New Life! Get Lean, Trim And Terrific”, which helps you to drop pounds quickly. As a weight loss counsellor, Julia’s dedicated herself to your health. Get daily motivation from Julia’s weight loss blog.