Can you have too much optimism? The answer is a resounding YES. Are you overly optimistic because you think this will help you do better? Are you over-the-top optimistic because you want your optimism to come true as in a self-fulfilling prophecy? Maybe you’re so optimistic because you’re taken with the great weight loss plans you’ve made. Or could it be that you’re afraid not to be overly optimistic so you won’t lose any of your weight loss momentum.

Well, if you’re any or all of these things, guess what? The big deal about taking yourself down this road is that you’re not including the past. But what’s so good about the past anyway, you might say challengingly? It’s old and has nothing good to tell. It’s laden with so many diet failures that thinking of them only drags you down, reinforces the bad, teaches you nothing good, and it interferes with what you’re trying to accomplish now.

Excessive optimism is based on unrealistic predictions of success. Past experience should be always be added to the formula, not subtracted from it. Past experiences are what keep beliefs, judgments, predictions, and all the rest of the components of your optimism more realistic. Counting on optimism as your ally is realistic just so long as you carefully and wisely include your past in arriving at your optimism.