The life lesson: There’s more than one way to lose 10 pounds – because we all have different weight loss personalities. The successful woman: Julia Cameron, author of The Writing Diet — in which she shares her best ways to lose ten pounds.

“I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something,” says Cameron. “Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.”

Whether you want to lose ten pounds or write a bestselling novel — you have to commit yourself by saying you’re doing it! Click on the cover for more info on her book, The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size. And, read on for Julia Cameron’s interesting weight loss tips and dieters’ stories.

10 Ways to Lose 10 Pounds  – Julia Cameron

1. Know when you eat to please others. Do you overeat at your mom’s or when you’re with your sister-in-law? Be aware of eating to make other people happy – especially your partner. Many women gain weight after getting married or moving in with their partners, because they tend to mimic their partner’s eating habits. According to Cameron in The Writing Diet, if you stop eating to please others, you’ll find it easier to lose weight.

2. Eat clean. “For optimum weight loss, it’s best to eat clean – that is, to shape your diet so that refined sugars, flours, and starches are kept to a minimum,” writes Cameron in The Writing Diet. “Three days off sugar, and you no longer lust after sweets. A piece of fruit will satisfy what used to be a candy-bar craving.” Eating clean is a newish way to lose ten pounds.

3. Open your “Pandora’s Box of Emotions” and express your forbidden feelings in healthy ways (not by binge eating). Write out your feelings to help you identify why you’re eating. Are you sad because of your brother? Are you stressed because of work? Writing – especially while you’re eating – can help you identify and deal with your feelings.

4. Let go of “quick weight loss” advertisements. “What we are after is the permanent shift in lifestyle, not the quick fix of an extreme diet,” says Cameron. “If we lower our consumption by 250 calories a day and raise our exercise by 250 calories a day, that’s a moderate shift that results in a pound’s loss weekly.” A pound a week may seem slow – it can lead to permanent weight loss.

5. Know your trigger foods. Do you love fat, salt, sugar, crunchy, soft, bitter, or warm? Some foods trigger an eating binge. Knowing what to avoid or control can lead to greater weight loss and increased self-confidence.

6. Live one day at a time. It’s not a sexy, glamorous way to lose ten pounds – but it works. Take one meal, one afternoon, one day at a time. Eat well for today. Exercise for today. Sweat a little and move your body – just for today.

7. Scale back on the scale. “Freed from the tyranny of numbers, we begin instead to focus on ourselves and our own perceptions,” says Cameron in The Writing Diet. “When we release ourselves from the daily use of the scale, we find ourselves able to embrace a more “easy does it” approach to weight loss. We begin to see that as long as we are moving in the right direction, the speed at which we reach our destination matters less.” One way to lose weight ten pounds is to let go of your obsession with the scale.

8. Drink 3 glasses of water to overcome temptation. When you’re tempted to tear into that bag of Lay’s or Oreo chocolate chip cookies, drink three glasses of water first. Don’t deny yourself the potato chips or cookies; just drink the water first. You may wash away the craving…this is my favorite way to lose ten pounds! Water fills you up and make you less likely to eat “bad” foods.

9. Look at your diet relapses. “For many of us, a diet is an exercise in futility and self-flagellation,” writes Cameron in The Writing Diet. “We set a plan in motion and then we sabotage it. We take a step toward our goal and then we relapse. We undo the good we’ve done.” Figure out why you sabotage your weight loss efforts. Do you relapse at night? What are you favorite relapse foods? Who are you with? Effective weight loss motivation involves canceling out your relapse with hobbies, exercise, writing, and self-awareness.

10. Learn to let yourself be pretty. “Many of us have to get over a “martyred” mode of dressing. Overweight and oversize, we tend to think of ourselves ad draft horses – good workers but little else,” writes Cameron. “It is a shock to find that we are still sexually appealing. Not all men are attracted to skinny women.” Wear lacy undies, and discard your “low self-worth” undies. That will create an upward spiral that’ll make it easy for you to lose that last ten pounds – and keep it off!

Do you have any thoughts or questions about these ten ways to lose ten pounds? Please comment below…

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1. Finding the Motivation to Do What You Love – Julia Cameron
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3. 5 Ways to Increase Self Esteem for Overweight Women – Queen Latifah