Weight Loss Begins in the Mind
Not only was I fat, I was in poor health too.
Constantly fatigued, constipated through over-eating, with an aching knee to boot, housework almost left me dead!
The last time I was pregnant, I suffered sleep apnoea, the folds of fat around my neck playing tricks on me at night.After the baby, I returned to pre-pregnancy weight.But don’t congratulate me, I was still over weight!
I hated the way I looked and felt. In fact, I was disgusted. Slim and athletic in my younger years, what had become of me now?As I pondered my plight, I came to one conclusion – I had begun to "think fat".
The only way to undo the damage was to re-learn "slim thinking."
Years ago I had read extensively about health and fitness and had exercised daily. Consequently, I made informed decisions that led to a healthy lifestyle. This in turn manifested in being trim and healthy – the results of slim thinking.
Now I found myself eating "to support my large frame."I knew the benefits of exercise but, like most overweight people, I just "could not find the time." Typical "fat thinking."
So, with renewed zeal (and heightened disgust at being fat), I read all I could find on weight loss. Over time this information was internalized. My thinking was put right and my habits changed accordingly.Once again I was "thinking thin", "doing thin" and therefore becoming thin.It actually doesn’t work any other way.
You could diet all you wanted, and even start an exercise program. But it’s quite unlikely that you’d keep it up, if you’re still thinking fat.
Your inner mental programming would always draw you back, to those detrimental fat-inducing habits, like a thermostat.
Without a renewed mind, you would not be able to sustain the commitment required to reach your goals.This is perhaps why many people find it hard to stay on track.
Losing weight, and keeping it off, is hard work.
Your inner programming must first be changed, and then your actions, and consequently, your results, will be different.
Many people work on their actions in order to change their results. But as you can see, they’re missing the most vital step.
The battle against weight loss must begin in the mind.
A safe place to begin is with re-education.
Albert Einstein once said, "You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it." You’ve got to change, or renew your mind on the issue.I learned the way the body works at burning and storing calories. What I needed was not some magic potion or some miracle Get Thin Quick scheme.
I needed to consume fewer calories, and burn more up.I achieved this by gradually trimming down, or totally cutting out, unwholesome foods and cooking methods, and by taking up daily exercise.It might surprise you to know that I lost most of the weight taking a daily thirty minute walk. Nothing fancy!
Of course there are still days when I don’t feel like it (today for instance!) but it has reached a point where I don’t listen to my feelings any more.
I pay attention to what I know: Burn calories, stay slim. Don’t burn them, get fat!And I never, ever want to be fat again!
In summary, my mental re-programming revolves around five facts:
1) Being overweight or obese is a serious, life-threatening condition, not a mild aesthetic problem. We’re talking survival here. Many die from obesity-related conditions each year, so wake up! My major goal with weight loss is my health. Any other reason – to fit into a wedding dress, to get attention etc – is a short-term goal. And once you achieve such goals, you go back to Fatland. Survival, or self-preservation, is a life-long goal. The consequences of neglecting it are startling enough to get and keep your attention.
2) Your success with anything is up to you, including weight loss. You need to accept that, barring any medical conditions, or weight-gain-inducing medication, you are responsible for your weight. I had to be blunt with myself and accept that I over-ate and "under-moved" and this was why I gained the weight. The sooner you take responsibility for the problem, the easier you’ll adjust to responsibility for the solution.
3) While you don’t need a plan to gain weight, you definitely need one that works, to lose it! Unfair, isn’t it! Without a plan, any success will be temporary. When the hard times come, you’ll quit. With a plan, you know exactly what you need to do, when and how. You even have a back-up plan for if you slip up! And if ever the "Don’t-Feel-Like-It" days come, you don’t need to figure anything out, just get with the program! You’ll soon reach the days, like I have, when your feelings don’t have a say in the matter!
4) Healthy weight loss is gradual; after all, you didn’t put it on overnight. You need to run as fast as you can from any Get Thin Quick schemes, or magic potions claiming to melt the pounds before your eyes. These exist simply to part the gullible from their money. Whatever weight you lose with such schemes is most likely water-weight (which could leave you dangerously dehydrated), lean body mass and/or muscle, which you need to function properly. A healthy weight loss program targets body fat. This you should seek to lose gradually, as a drastic drop is unhealthy.
5) Losing weight, and keeping it off, isn’t going to be easy. The key to permanent weight loss is to keep burning up more calories than you consume. To achieve this you’ll need to make permanent lifestyle changes e.g. healthy eating and regular exercise. This is the healthy way to stay slim, and has many other health benefits, such as improving over-all health and giving a boost to your sex life (I can tell you that!)
Keeping these five facts in mind helps me stay on track, and continue to "think slim."
I find that:
? if you re-educate your mind on the workings of weight loss and weight gain,
? if you settle it in your mind that you really do need to lose weight, and you can,
? if you determine that you will do whatever it takes to lose it, you will have programmed your mind to co-operate with your body. You would have won half the battle, in your mind.
Then your inner programming causes you to do those things that shed the weight, and avoid those things that pile it on, even without thinking about it!Much easier and more fun than all the fruitless striving you’ve been doing.
I found that I just did not want to eat certain high calorie foods any more. Previously, I could not do without them! And when my feelings say, "No exercising today," my mind says, "Sorry, just do it." And after I get started, I find that I’m enjoying it!
It’s something you need to try, to believe.
Paying the price will never be easy. But no way would I give up my now healthy, agile body, or healthy energy levels.
Even my skin is taking on a shine! No way would I ever go back to constipation and sleep apnoea.I’ll be exercising and eating healthily for the rest of my life. And thinking slim! For me, it’s goodbye to fat FOR EVER!
Copyright 2005 Oma Edoja
This article may be reproduced, but only if left as is. It must also contain the author’s resource box and contact information below.
Oma Edoja is a published writer, motivational speaker and infopreneur. Having succeeded at weight loss she has packaged a number of resources to help those still in the fight! For help with your weight loss plan, and motivation to stick with it, please email Oma at [email protected] Remember, "You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it!"
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Healing Food Addiction
Hannah was distressed that, with all the inner work she had done on herself, she still found herself binge eating.
"There are times when I just can’t stop eating. I feel awful after, but at the time I just want another cookie and another until they are all gone. Or I’ll intend to take a few bites of ice cream out of the carton and find myself unable to stop until the whole carton is gone. I just don’t get why I’m still doing this! And it seems worse since I married Roger, even though I really love him. I just can’t figure this out!"
I asked Hannah to tune into the addicted part of her and allow that part to speak about why she needs to fill up with food.
"Well, sometimes I just feel so empty and alone inside. I just can’t stand it. The food makes me feel so much better. I don’t feel so lonely when I’m eating and filled up. But I don’t get why I feel this way. I’m not alone. I have Roger and he loves me."
"It sounds like you want to eat when you feel alone inside, when your Inner Child – which is your feeling self – feels alone and abandoned inside."
"Yes," answered Hannah. "That’s exactly what I feel, but I have no idea how to fill that emptiness and aloneness without food. And why do I feel alone inside when I’m not alone outside?"
The problem is that most people think that the empty alone feeling is caused by something outside themselves – such as not having a partner, feeling rejected by someone, being unhappy at a job or not having enough money. Yet that is never what causes inner emptiness and inner aloneness. It is caused by one thing – not taking loving care of yourself, of your feelings, of the child within. And we cannot take loving care of ourselves without having a spiritual source to turn to for love, wisdom, guidance and strength.
A spiritual source can be God, a Higher Power, a guardian angel, an inner mentor or teacher, a beloved relative who has died, or your own Higher Self. We all need a source of guidance to turn to other than other people or our own mind. Our mind is limited to our storehouse of beliefs, many of which are false or no longer supportive of who are now are. Our mind cannot guide us in what is truly loving to ourselves. It cannot advise us in what actions support our highest good. So unless we have a source of wisdom to turn to, we may not know what to do to take loving care of ourselves.
We will not even open to this Source until our deep desire is to take loving care of ourselves. As long as we believe it is someone else’s job to fill us up, or that we will get filled up from work, money, food and so on, we will not take the loving action we need to take in our own behalf to take care of our Inner Child and fill ourselves with love.
The first thing I did with Hannah was to help her create, in her imagination, a spiritual source for her to turn to. When I asked her to do this, she immediately imagined her grandfather whom she had dearly loved as a child and who had died when she was five. She said she had often felt her grandfather around her, but had never thought to turn to him for help. Now, as she imagined him holding her and loving her, she began to cry with the joy of feeling his love for her.
"Hannah, while he is holding you, imagine the child part of you that wants to overeat. Imagine that you are holding her while your grandfather is holding you. Ask her how you are treating her that causes her to feel so empty and alone."
Little Hannah: "The thing you ALWAYS do that I just hate is you just go along with everything that Roger wants. What he wants and needs and feels is always more important to you than I am. You don’t speak up for me. Every since we got married, it’s like Roger is supposed to make me happy instead of you making me happy. I need you to make me happy by taking care of me instead of taking care of Roger so that Roger will love us. I need you to love me." (This did not come out all at once – this is a summary of what the Inner Child eventually said to adult Hannah).
As Hannah learned to turn to her grandfather for love and guidance and started to take care of herself instead of giving herself up to Roger, her binge eating gradually diminished.
About The Author
Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author of eight books, including “Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?” She is the co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Learn Inner Bonding now! Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course: innerbonding.com or mailto:[email protected]. Phone sessions available.
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