Research has shown that change occurs through a process, through a series of stages.

There is a certain readiness to the change process.

Knowing what stage you are in is helpful to create success with any kind of change.

If you attempt to make a change you are not ready for, you are setting yourself up to fail.

If you think about the way you have accomplished change in the past, you dont just go out and make it happen. You may not be aware of the process, but it is still there.

Here is a brief description of the stages of change (Prochaska, et.al.):

1. Precontemplation You dont see that you have a problem. You are in denial. People in this stage have no intention of changing themselves and usually only seek help with strong pressure from others. They resist change and are often demoralized as well because they view the situation as hopeless.

2. Contemplation You acknowledge that you have a problem and begin to think about solving it, but you feel stuck. People with food and weight issues often hang out in this stage. You know you have a problem. You may even know what you need to do to change it, but you are not ready to commit to action.

It is not unusual for people to spend years telling themselves that someday they will lose weight.

Fear of failure (or focusing on past failures) can keep you stuck in this stage for a very long time. It can look like searching for the perfect solution and reading lots of diet books, but not actually doing anything about it.

3. Preparation You are planning to take action within the next month. You start focusing more on the solution than on the problem. You also start thinking more about the future than the past.

You are committed to action, but havent necessarily resolved all of the mixed feelings you may have. For instance, losing weight requires letting go of some behaviors that may have provided temporary comfort in the past.

4. Action You take visible action steps. You may purchase certain foods you plan to eat or remove foods from your home that you plan to avoid. You take the steps you have been preparing for. However, the change process does not end here.

5. Maintenance You work to maintain the strides you have made in the previous stages. If you dont have a strong commitment to maintenance and a support structure in place, you can relapse back to a previous stage.

Its the stage that no one wants to think about for fear of relapsing. If you go on a crash diet, you are ignoring the fact that maintenance is a long, ongoing process.

6. Termination the ultimate goal. Your former problem behavior is no longer an issue and you have complete confidence that you can cope without fear of relapse.

Successful people often cycle through these stages several times before they finally exit the cycle.

Most people struggle for years to find effective solutions. While it may seem hard to appreciate the process, recycling through the stages gives you opportunities to learn.

If you take action and fail, you are much more likely to succeed the next time around than if you take no action at all.

So if you feel like you have been here before, you are not alone and you may just be on your way to getting out of the cycle for good!