The Four Keys for Weight-Loss Success

Exercise physiologist and certified personal trainer Bob Greene has helped millions of people slim down, most recently with his online program TheBestLife.com. The best-selling author shares the sure-fire strategies for losing weight, protecting your health and living your best life.

You've already made the commitment to lose weight -- now, what's your next move? It isn't addressing poor eating or exercise habits. If you want to transform your body, you need to start with a strong emotional foundation. Everything you build thereafter, including healthier eating and improved fitness, will stand tall and firm.

So how do you build that foundation? It begins with four cornerstones: Honesty, responsibility, commitment and inner strength. Take this self-exam and see if any of these are standing in your way of success.

Honesty
It's essential to be honest with yourself about your weaknesses and past failures in order to succeed.

Self-exam
Are you always looking for the easy way out?
Do you always have a "reason" for not making good on your commitments?
Do setbacks routinely knock you off course?
Are you impatient if you don't see results right away?
Do you always find someone or something else to blame for your actions?
Do you procrastinate?
Do you blame your current life on something that happened a long time ago?

The point of this exercise is not to beat yourself up about your shortcomings, but to learn something you didn't know about yourself -- or to finally admit it. When you make these discoveries, don't just gloss over them. For instance, if you can't stick to a fitness plan, try to figure out why.

Responsibility
Successful people take responsibility for their past actions. They vow to change and make good on that promise. To begin, stop pointing the blame elsewhere for being overweight.

Self-exam
Do you avoid making healthy dinners because your spouse won't like it?
Do you fault your kids' hectic after-school schedules for not being able to get to the gym?
Do you feel work stress is the culprit for your unhealthy cravings?

Remember the responsibility to succeed is yours alone. Own up to your failings and then you can move past them.

Commitment
People who struggle with weight loss are good about keeping commitments to other people -- just not to themselves. Your commitment to yourself needs to be just as sacred.

Self-exam
Have you set a specific and realistic goal for yourself?
Does your goal go beyond simply reaching a number on the scale?
Have you written down your goal(s)?

Make a firm, unbreakable commitment and write it down so it serves as a powerful reminder. And make sure it's a realistic goal. If you're looking to drop a lot of weight, for instance, set smaller, interim goals, such as increasing your workouts by one day a week or losing 5 percent of your weight.

Inner Strength
Inner strength is often what tilts the scale from failure to success. It's all about making conscious healthy decisions and not giving into temptation.

Self-exam
Do you struggle with willpower?
Do you give into temptation?
Are you easily persuaded by others to do something that's not in line with your goals?

Try the "10-second delay" talk: Take 10 seconds to reflect on your choices when unhealthy desires or excuses whisper in your ear. During those 10 seconds, you'll have a chance to weigh your options, and hopefully you'll opt to do what's going to get you to your goal.