A Weight Off Your Mind

Weighty Words

Weight Loss and dieting are something that will be on the minds of many of you as the weather starts to get better and our thoughts turn to those summer holidays. There are hundreds of diets and exercise programs out there to choose from yet it's more a function of how we think than what we eat. 'Yo-yo' dieting is an all too common occurrence. Why do we eat foods we KNOW add weight and inches to our waist and hips? Why do we sit in front of the tube for hours at a time instead of going for that wonderful walk in the park? The answer lies in our MINDS.

You've all heard of the saying "You are what you eat"

WRONG!

You are what you think.

It's not just what you put in your mouth that affects how you look, it's the words that you put in your head that does it. We all have conversations with ourselves though we don't all like to admit it and how often do you take the time to really analyse that self talk? Stop and notice, are the words positive or negative? Do they make us feel fantastic or faulty? Do we tell ourselves how great we are? How awesome we feel? Do we tell ourselves "Hey - I love you, you're amazing!!"

Take a minute now and tell yourself what you like about yourself. You will be amazed how difficult it is to do. We're just not used to it. We're used to putting ourselves down instead. "Look at me still fat" "I can't believe I can't lose the weight" "I can't believe I put it all back on again, I'm hopeless."

If you talk to yourself in a positive way, what do you think happens to your state? What happens to your confidence? It soars doesn't it? Your unconscious mind then hears how great you are and must do what ever it takes to be congruent with your identity, therefore it has to do what it takes to make you great. If it hears that you're a failure, it has to make you a failure. So the words that you speak to yourself with are absolutely key in every area of your life, including your body shape and weight.

The unconscious mind needs to be spoken to in the positive as it does not recognise negatives. Let me demonstrate that to you really quickly. Right now don't think of a pink elephant. Don't think of it. What did you immediately think of? Yep, right before you switched your thoughts you thought of a pink elephant! So, when setting targets be sure to tell it what you want not what you don't want otherwise what you don't want is what you'll get.

Set clear goals for your health and weight. For instance I want to be Xstone and Ylb instead of I want to lose xxxx lbs. I want to be able to run this distance instead of I don't want to be tired any more. Get the idea? Great. Along side those clear goals write down what it means to have achieved those goals, as if you already have. What has it given you? How do you feel? How does it affect those around you? Equally, if you don't reach them what will it cost you in terms of who you are, how you feel? How you look? How is your self-esteem now? Really get some leverage on yourself here.

Finally, only share your goals with people who will support you through the ups and downs, cheer you on and challenge you, remind you why you're doing it and tell you how proud they are of you. You become the people that you spend the most time with so pick your peers carefully.

There is so much more to learn about how your unconscious mind can support you in reaching your health and weight goals. I hope that you'll look out for more information here and ask me about it if we meet.