Did you start a new year’s resolution to lose weight and failed? Perhaps you started a diet, and exercise program and were not able to keep up. Perhaps by now you started again, and failed again.
If you have been struggling to lose weight and you keep trying diet after diet, just to find yourself frustrated and falling of the program just to begin a new again and again…Read on. (yes this is a long post but it will help you).
Every day someone is starting a new diet. Every week it seems there is a new diet in the market. I don’t even want to guess how many are out there…Being in the health and fitness field, I was always interested in nutrition and I have personally tried probably over 100 diets myself. Here is just some I have experimented with: Atkins, Paleo Diet, The Eat Clean Diet, Bloor type diet, The Zone, The Biggest Loser diet, Crack the Fat Loss Code, Vegetarian, Vegan & Raw diets, South Beach diet, Mediterranean Diet, Weight Watchers, LA Fitness diet, Okinawa diet, the Orgin diet, the Fat Loss Solution diet, the P90X diet, the Cabbage Soup diet, 4 Hour Body Diet, from to low carb, high carb and low fat…)
In all fairness right now, I don’t really need to lose weight, but dropping 5lbs doesn’t hurt me either (although there was a time I did need to lose a lot more!). Having to lose only a few pounds is actually a lot tougher than having a lot of weight to lose. When you have a lot of weight to lose even the smallest adjustments will help…when you have a few , not so easy. But that’s not the point here. What I wanted to do what primarily educated myself, see the similarities and differences between the different diet programs, see how effective they are, how easy they are to follow and what happens in the long run when you stop…
The truth is most of these diets worked even for my body, so I imagine all would work for someone looking to lose more weight. Yes, some had faster results than others, some I have to say were better in terms of nutritional benefits than others, some I enjoyed more than others.
Okay, so if this is the case, why is that people are still looking for that one best diet that will help them lose weight and never seem to find it. If you are like most dieters you try one thing, you lose a bit of weight, you stop, gain it back, and then you pick another diet and repeat the cycle.
The reason why people fail on diets is not the diet, it is because people do not stay on the plan. When my clients ask me what is the best diet for them, I tell them pick the one you like (sometimes I make recommendations about the ones I find easiest to follow), and stay on it for life. That’s the truth.
They often look at me in horror…”I can’t do that!”
Why not?!
You see most of the diets I tried worked, until I stopped the diet…
You are right; it’s may not seem easy to stay on a “diet” forever. But it can be. And really if you want the best for your body you do need to follow a guideline or a plan or at least be aware of how much food you should be consuming.
I recently started competing in fitness competitions and have had to go one fairly strict diets and workout plans. My friends were amazed that I carried food around with me, timed all my meals exactly, drank water all day, trained twice a day, and of course gave up all restaurant food and even a glass of wine I would have here and there…They were amazed at how in the world I did that. But you know what, it was easy. I made it easy.
Why was it easy for me to do that? Am I one of those people that takes no interest in food, forgets to eat and have always been slim? Yeah we all have those friends… Nooo, that’s not me! I love food, in my youth I was always borderline chubby even though I was always active, and in university I even gained 30lbs…
But then in my mid twenties I discovered something amazing that changed every my life. I discovered hypnosis. I actually found it in my desperation to quit smoking, something that I had picked up in my teens and dreaded the fact that I was inspiring to be a fitness role model and could not kick this habit. I was so amazed at how successful it was that I really got interested in learning more about it. I wondered what else can I “control” with hypnosis. And I discovered…anything! I started using hypnosis for everything, success in love, success in business, managing stress, sleeping better, stage fright, and then finally I began experimenting by using it to enhance my fitness training and dieting. Now I should mention that I initially got fit and lost my extra weight before this time (though a lot of effort and hard work!), but when I started using hypnosis I finally freed myself from food controlling me and my attachment towards food. This is when I really started experimenting, and every diet I tried I was easily able to stick to. I would set timeline how long I will test the diet, and stayed on each one for that duration of time…This is when I decided to take it to the next level. Can I use hypnosis to get me even further? I wanted to get my body so fit and lean that I can stand on stage and be judged buy the audience and judges. In four short weeks, I was competition ready and up on stage. I have never been on any kind of stage before… Also I should mention that most (already fit) people train hard and diet 12-16 weeks to compete in fitness.
Okay I know you are thinking now, well how does it all work? How did I do this? Did I put myself into a trance where I hated the taste of sweets and only desired healthy foods? Ummm sort of but not really…
You may be thinking at this point, how you don’t care to compete and what does this have to do with the 20, 30, 50 or 100lbs you want to lose. A lot actually…
Bare with me while I give you a bit more background…
You see in our natural world, food is an energy source that we need just like the gas we put in our car, it’s nothing more…I basically programmed my mind to view food as that, if I want to drive a high performance car, I will put the best gasoline in that car. If I want my body looking and functioning at it’s best, I need to fuel it with the best and train it to it’s highest capacity.
So if naturally we are meant to eat food as an energy source why is that people do not just do that? Well two reasons: 1. lack of knowledge or 2. Lack of willpower or motivation.
The first one is easily dealt with. Most people trying to lose weight actually have a general idea what to do, and if they don’t there are many resources now days available right at our finger tips – from nutrition to exercise, that’s not the hard part to get educated on. (If you really don’t know feel free to email me and I will send you some info how you can get started).
However, most people trying to lose weight will know for the most part what they should and should not be eating. Most people know when they are full, but continue eating. This is the real mystery now. Why would they do that? There are actually real reasons why…
You’ve probably heard that success for weight loss is based on a 80/20 rule – 80% what we eat and 20% exercise. There is some truth to that, but the real success formula for weight loss look more like this:
25 % Confidence/Belief: This is the most important element in reaching any goal is life. Without self confidence and believing you can archive your goals, you will not have the motivation to implement the right choices in your life to get you there.
25% Mindset/Motivation: It really all needs to start with motivation, because the truth is nothing will get you to your goals without that. Most people have a hard time getting into the mental zone to help them get there.
25% Food/Nutrition: Optimal nutrition is a very important factor for weight management, health and energy. This is the knowing what to eat.
25% Exercise: While you may lose weight with dieting alone, you may not be losing actual body fat. Aesthetically you will not have the defined, sculpted sexy body you desire and you will not reach all the health benefits of physical exercise. Besides by simply adding some lean muscle mass to your body, you will burn more fat even when resting! (this only happens with exercise)
The last two mentioned above (food & nutrition), and the knowledge, so lets assume that you know what to do but you just don’t do it.
The real problem why someone is unable to stick to the nutrition/food or exercise program is lack of confidence, belief and the motivation. One cannot and will be successful in following a sound nutrition or fitness plan if your mind is not allowing you to get there. So what do I mean, the mind won’t let you get there?
So many people will admit they are emotional eaters. They can contribute overeating to anger, sadness, boredom, anxiety and such. If you ever eat for any reason other than hunger, you are an emotional eater.
You must train your mind to detach from emotions or beliefs that are triggering you to eat when you are not hungry or pick the “bad” foods, and then get the clear mind in sync with your body. You will then be able not only to achieve your goals, but become in love with the process of getting in shape, and being fit. This is what will drive you to fuel your body with the best food, and move your body to get and stay in shape.
Our mind is such a powerful tool. You have heard of stories where people cure themselves of illnesses. You’ve heard of amazing accomplishments by athletes, business people etc. How do you think those happen? Our mind is so powerful that it can create anything we desire.
By now you may have of “The Law of Attraction” – you attract into your life whatever you think about.. Our mind and our thoughts can paint our future. You can choose to live it feeling good healthy and fit, or overweight, or miserable. However even when people know this, often they choose negative thoughts, they simply can’t help it. Why is that?
Well, it’s because of the way our brain works…
Think of the brain in three distinct parts -- the conscious mind, the subconscious mind and the unconscious mind . We will leave the discussion of the unconscious mind for another time, but now lets take a look at two major areas that affect our relationship with our body (and really anything else in our present lives).
The Conscious Mind: This is what one may consider your “thinking mind”. Your conscious mind is responsible for short term memories, your analytical/logical thinking. Your conscious mind uses willpower to control behavior, your conscious mind decides to go on a diet and your conscious mind knows right from wrong. It knows I should not be eating this cookie, or I am full I should stop eating now, or I really need to go to the gym, but you don’t.
Now your subconscious mind is the mind is your “emotional mind:. Your subconscious mind deals feelings such as joy, love, happiness, stress, sadness. Your subconscious also mind hold your beliefs, that often stem from early child hood.
Many people who try to lose weight simply hold a subconscious belief they will never get there. They can never even see themselves fit and thin. They do not believe they deserve that.
These beliefs can stem from innocent incidences like being rewarded with treats as a child for doing something good (where one may create a belief that eating is associated with feeling happy), or being picked on at school as a child that may have led to insecurities in our adulthood that we are not even aware of. They are usually things we are not even aware of, or remember, and can be very innocent or in some cases traumatic. You see a child’s brain before the age of 7 can not distinguish if something is true or false, it simply takes information as is and carries it with us later in life.
If someone thinks they aren't good enough, it doesn't matter how much they're told otherwise, the subconscious mind default to that belief and sets our conscious behaviors to behave in such matter.
So there these negative feeling or beliefs we have developed early in our life lead to self-destructive or sabotaging behaviors. This includes not only over eating, and other additions like smoking, alcohol, gambling, over-shopping, also low self-esteem, or even failing at relationships, careers, etc. Think about it, you likely do a couple of these things. As a result we create behaviors that create “destructions” that keep us from dealing with our emotions.
So no matter how hard we consciously try to do something, eventually we default back to our true belief held in the subconscious mind.
So to see permanent change on the outside, you must first create the change of belief on the inside. You must remove the clutter of emotions and beliefs that hold you back. Failing to do so is the reason people go on diets and fitness programs and frequently gain the weight back finding themselves exactly where they first started from and sometimes in even worse place. Using willpower to change our habits is really just a band aid solution that only gives temporary results, since we can only “force” ourselves to behave in a certain way for a short period of time. We are left with dealing only with the symptoms without dealing with the actual cause of the problem to begin with.
So how does one remove this clutter & these obstacles to overcome this self destruction & be successful?
There are different methods, one evolves practicing by continuously thinking positive thoughts, traditional psychology can help with issues that are of traumatic nature, and one I favor is hypnosis as it accelerates the process since it directly deals directly with the subconscious mind.
Through a rigorous system of hypnotherapy techniques, you can unlock the barriers in your brain that sabotage your efforts, and find the solution to your overeating (and over/under doing anything really).
Hypnosis helps clear the clutter of emotion that holds us back, and places positive suggestions that make eating healthy and exercise a enjoyable natural process. As you begin to shift your self image, and beliefs all the corresponding behaviors naturally follow.
What kind of results can those who undergo hypnosis for treatment expect?
- If used for weight loss you will be free of
- Easily be able to still to a healthy nutrition plan
- Eliminate cravings for sweets, carbs, and fatty foods
- You will have the power to eat less and feel satisfied, you will be enthusiastic about exercise and keep your body moving at greater intensity
- Develop coping skills, motivation techniques and methods that lead to long term behavioral change
- It will improve self-esteem and body image
- It will change a negative mindset that is setting you up for failure
- Even if you are dealing with just weight loss, often it results in doing better in many other areas of your life
While I believe that almost anyone can benefit from hypnosis in some way or another, I do not recommend hypnosis to all my clients. Some of clients are simply looking for help with terms of fitness training, such as learning effective exercises, or need a change in their exercise program. This is where personal training or my boot camp classes come in. As I mentioned before some clients just need the right tools and knowledge to succeed. With those clients when I train them I use other psychology techniques to ensure they are staying positive and keeping up with the work they are doing. Those that I feel are struggling and unable to stick to the program or see results, I may recommend hypnosis to. Often, I find those that are truly motivated and can see the best results are those that inquire about it directly as there is already a sense of optimism and belief this method will help. There are many great hypnotists in Toronto, and I have found we all share the same passion of helping people. While I do take other cases from time to time, I tend to focus on weight management and fitness for women because this is an area I am close to and enjoy this work the most. Other times when it comes to different issues people want to work on, I will usually connect them with another hypnotist that may be a better match for them.
If you are you would like more information about hypnosis for weight loss or are interested in my fitness training programs, feel free to visit my website http://www.buildmybodybeautiful.com/ or contact me directly at info@bmbbeautiful.com or 416-996-2664.
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