It’s always difficult at the beginning of the journey towards a new goal you have set yourself. The very first time you launch yourself at a weight loss program is fraught with failures and insecurities whether you are doing the right thing. All new goals require you to put up with some failures.

Have you ever listened to somebody try their hand at playing a violin? This is probably the most difficult instrument to try to play. Any instrument where there is an invisible point at which the note is played, such as a violin that does not have the frets that a guitar has, will give the learner some horrific sounds to start off with.

You have to move your finger up and down the string to find where the note is hidden. The same applies to wind instruments that don’t have that many holes to cover. The note is determined by how much air you blow into the hole and at what pressure. That takes a lot of practice.

It takes a fair amount of failure to learn something new. Whether it’s learning a new eating programme or adding an exercise regime that works for you. Trying something new can bring with it some spectacular failures.

As adults we find it very difficult to be seen to make mistakes. We hate it if somebody laughs at our attempts. We can’t cope if somebody ridicules us because after many weeks of our new diet we have hardly lost any weight. So we give up at the first signs of failure. We do not fight our way through those first awkward steps.

You give up on your weight loss goal because the first diet you tried didn’t work. You shrug your shoulders and forget about the dream of fitting into last year’s clothes again. There must be something wrong with the diet, the advisors, your doctors, your body etc.

You are obviously not meant to be thin. Your metabolism is all wrong and nobody can fix that. So it’s really not worth trying to diet. Not going to work for you. You didn’t make it past the first few steps. Your mind talk finds all sorts of excuses so that you don’t feel like a failure.

You give up because in your mind it was embarrassing and you felt a failure. Sometimes these experiences are so powerful that we don’t listen to other people who tell us that we were in fact ok and that with just a few tweaks we could make a real go of it. In our minds we are convinced that this was the worst thing that could ever happen.

Everybody fails at the beginning when trying something new. We all have to work our way through those initial awkward moments. It’s the people that cope with those awkward moments and work through them that make it in the end.

People who work their way past these small failures are not necessarily more skilled than anybody else or better dieters. They just put up with those bits of failure, learn from them and move on to the next step. Learn to do the same. It will make a huge difference to your personal development and the successes you are able to achieve.

Don’t buy any of the snack bars at the supermarket. That’s the secret. And I could stop the article right now because that is really all there is to it. But I suppose you would like to know a bit more than that.

You see the big problem with all these supposedly low carb health snack bars is that they are not really healthy and they are generally not that low carb. If you want to do low carb because you are serious about abandoning that extra body you are carrying around with you, you will have to make your own.

Grilled bit of chicken, boiled egg, bits of super fresh and yummy veg, a slice of an apple or pear and all the bits that you don’t normally consider to be that yummy. Or at least they are not on a par with the delicious taste of donuts, muffins, cream cake, steak and kidney pie and packet of crisps to mention but a few.

It’s that sugar buzz that gets to you doesn’t it. I get the same from a fruit smoothie I must admit. It’s a real shake the body moment when I have one with berries.

So what to do about the low carb snack before I get too carried away with smoothie recipes etc. And they are truly good for you. Don’t go overboard with bananas though. Those are fairly high in carbohydrates. Stick with berries, kiwi fruit, pineapple, papaya and any other fruit you can think of.

Alright, back to low carb snacks. Make them yourself. Best bit of advice I can give you. Yes it does mean you have to plan your day and you can’t just pop past the pizza place or hot dog stand to get your munch of the mid-morning. You got to do some thinking ahead. Difficult I know. But so much cheaper and so worth it – for the wallet as well as the health.

Did I tell you about this fab book I found? Low carb recipes that make your diet feel like you are dining at the best restaurant. And the food certainly doesn’t have the cardboard flavours of normal low carb meals that I have lived with for years.

I’ll let you have more recipes next article. Mind you if you wait for a year, you might just be able to get the whole book from me. Actually you might have to wait longer. There are 300 recipes in the book.

I discovered this great low carb meals recipe book. And I’m working my way through the first recipes. After just a few I am already truly enthusiastic and inspired.

Why on earth get excited about a recipe book?

If you’ve spent the same amount of time, in my case years of my life, eating grilled fish and munching your way through carrot and celery sticks, then you might appreciate the enthusiasm for haute cuisine recipes directed at the eternal dieter – of which I’m one.

So I’m going to share two with you. You wouldn’t even be able to guess that these are diet meals. But they are true low carb meals with a touch of imagination thrown in.

Try this one:

Ultimate Deviled Eggs with Crabmeat

Ingredients:

3 Tablesps butter, soft
6 hard-boiled eggs
2 Tablesps mayonnaise
1 Tablesp low-carb ketchup
1 Teasp lemon juice
2 ounces cleaned and finely flaked crabmeat
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Peel and cut eggs lengthwise once they have cooled down. Scoop out the yolks. Set whites aside on a plate and prepare the yolk mix by putting them into a mixing bowl. Combine the other ingredients. Mix well. For the smoothest filling, press the mixture through a sieve.

For the most elegant presentation, you can put yolk mixture in a pastry tube and select an interesting, large nozzle before you fill the whites with the mixture. Otherwise, fill the eggs with a teaspoon creating a smooth mound. For a touch of color, dust the eggs with paprika. Refrigerate until ready to use.

One serving has 0.9 gram of carb.

Or have this heavenly one as a main low carb meal or as a side dish.

Fabulous Cheese Spinach

Ingredients:

1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup crumbled gorgonzola or blue cheese
2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1 large egg yolk
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 10 oz. packages of fresh spinach, coarsely chopped.

Preheat the broiler to medium. Lightly butter 11-by 7-by 2-inch baking dish. Mix the cheeses, dill and egg yolk in a large bowl. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, and then add the garlic. Stir for a minute until fragrant. Pour into the prepared baking dish.

Add the spinach to the pot and sauté until wilted. Transfer spinach to strainer; drain well. Pour over the garlic in the baking dish. Toss to coat with the oil and spread out evenly. Sprinkle with cheese mixture. Broil until cheese is golden on top, and the spinach is heated through.

Makes 4 servings. Total Carbohydrates: 24, Carbohydrates per Serving: 6

Get your own Low carb recipe book here. If you enjoy good food (who doesn’t?) but don’t want those bulges, then this is definitely a book for you.

Low carb meals are the way forward!

It always amuses me when I read about exercise regimes that will knock off the pounds/kilos in a few days. Or reading about the juice diets, the eat only watermelon diet, or only grape diet even the munch your way through only carrots and celery diet. I’ve just about seen them all.

There are many diets out there and except for such faithfuls as Weight Watchers not many of them are really going to work for you. You see there is just no such thing as instant weight loss.

How could it? You’ve spent years putting it on. How do you expect it to all go away with a few days of only eating grapes or a skipping exercise regime that’s designed to give you a heart attack rather than knock the bulge off.

The other thing the snake oil diet sales people never tell you about is the damage you do to your body by subjecting it to these strange diets. What does it do to your system to only eat grapes for a few days, or just drink fruit juice with no roughage for your digestive system?

What’s worse is that you will knock off some weight which you will instantly put back on because at the end of four or so days of just drinking fruit juice you are ready to eat a whole cow, a block of cheese, consume five pizzas in one sitting and in general attack food like you’re a hurricane.

So how to go about it? First of all stop thinking in terms of how much you want to lose. That alone is going to depress you and send you straight to the freezer for your favourite ice cream tub.

Secondly start packing in some low carb meals. Replace one of your meals, possibly per day, but at least every second day with a low carb meal. Do yourself a favour though, don’t load all the carbs your are going to skip, onto the other meals. You know better than that!

And one other thing. Try and pick the dinner time as your low carb meal. It’s going to make the night time so much easier than giving your body that huge load of stuff to digest.

Get yourself a little bit of help with this recipe book. Why would this help? Because a bunch of innovative recipes will let you create exciting meals. Sounds a lot better than having to consume dried out grilled fish. Get this well priced low carb recipe book to make your low carb meals something to enjoy rather than to endure.

Goals are nothing without affirmations. Flood your mind with new thoughts, sounds, images even video of you at the moment you have realised your goals. It will help you reach your aspirations. This process is called an affirmation.

There are many ways to create your affirmations. You can compile a short sentence that describes you living in that moment of your achievement. You can also create an imaginary scene in your mind. Maybe you prefer to feel and see your affirmation or just watch a video of it on your computer or TV.

Whichever one of these types of affirmation works better for you there are nevertheless some considerations to take on board. When using a sentence as an affirmation make sure it is compact, positive and in the form of a jingle with a bit of rhythm and rhyme.

Post notes to yourself where ever you can and read them rather than glancing past them. These can be the money target you wish to achieve or the number of sales you are wanting to make.

To add to this create a visual story board of your goals. You can create a paper based vision board where you pin, staple or glue photographs, drawings, any type of item that can be placed on a board all of which represents what you wish to attain in the future.

Some people might prefer to use images off the internet, or cut out pictures out of magazines. You might find inspirational words in poetry, or write your own. A love poem could be as strong for you in attracting a partner than a picture of a person.

Select and collect whatever feels truly comfortable for you and which resonates with you at some level. It will feel right when you see it. If you prefer your computer then make a slide show with PowerPoint or Keynote. Add your favourite uplifting tune to it and play it as often as you can.

If video is your big thing then make a video of your vision and edit in sound and photos to make the experience of viewing your affirmation as true to what you wish to achieve as you possibly can.

Thinking of where you would like to travel? Imagine your trip to Asia and work out which countries you wish to visit. Find your images of Vietnam, or Indochina, Maylasia or Japan. Create your trip by seeing which cities you want to visit, find pictures and other snippets of information to add to this collection.

Make sure you create reality around this vision by working out how many weeks you will stay in each place, what you will be doing there such as snorkeling, visiting temples or just plain site seeing the many physical attractions on offer. Be specific as to where you want to go and what you would like to experience.

What about that weight loss goal you have set yourself? Affirm your goal by visualising yourself fitting into that smaller size of clothing, looking good in a swim costume, or being healthy enough to go for a jog in the park and actually enjoying it.

If you want to visualise and affirm your new home then decide on the style, size, area where it has to be, and how the road it is in looks like. Do not spare any details.

Use the power of affirmation to add impetus and focus to your goals. Make them real for yourself. Imbue them with emotion such as pleasure, happiness, well being and contentment. Use every tool that you can to make sure that you reach your goals. It will be worth it.