Discover the 4 Stages of Temptation to Avoid Giving In

There are 4 stages of temptation and if you become aware of them you will be able to short circuit your tempting thoughts before they cause you to act in a way that sabotages your diet.

1. Temptation Starts With a Thought
Tempting thoughts cannot be avoided and everyone has them, and while you cannot prevent them from popping up you can keep from acting on them. If you don't dismiss the tempting thought as soon as they come up (I will show you how at the end of this article) then you move into stage 2.

2. Temptation Progresses When You Entertain The Thought.
Entertaining the tempting thought means you allow the tempting thought to stay in your head, you begin to focus on it and the temptation grows. This moves you into stage 3.

3. In Stage 3 You Start Believing Your Temptation is Valid.
If you tell yourself over and over again that something is right or justified, then you are likely to start believing it, even if that something is negative and potentially harmful to your health. It is at this stage that you start making up stories about your temptation such as, "One little cookie won't hurt." "I can just eat tonight and get back on track tomorrow."

There is only one place to go after you begin believing your temptation story and that is the final stage - Stage 4.

4. In Stage 4 You ACT.
You abandon you diet and exercise and go out for a greasy burger because "It's just too tempting" at least that is what you tell yourself.

This is the predictable path of temptation and it is one that will destroy your best laid weight loss plans, unless you short circuit it, and here is the simple way to do that. Learn to identify your tempting thoughts, you might have so many running through your head that you have stopped paying attention to them, so your first step is to tune in.

Once you are good at identifying your tempting thoughts, say CANCEL and replace them with positive reminders of your goal. This is simple yet it takes practice but just like learning to play a musical instrument, the more you practice the better you get.

Tempting thoughts will sabotage your best intentions but only if you allow them, practice cancelling your tempting thoughts and you will pave the way to weight loss success.

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