howcaniloseweight
Success
Why Your ‘Diet’ Brain Is Pre-Programmed
For Failure, And How To RESET YOUR MIND
For Success…
You already know about a few crucial things to avoid if you expect
lasting fat loss and staying leaner for life, but you may be alarmed
to realize that the very word you’re probably using when
talking and thinking about your weight loss goals has
pre-programmed your mind to fail!
And by the end of this post, you’ll not only know how to eliminate this problem, but how to reprogram your brain so your chances of success are almost certain…
So, the weight loss killing word is none other than D-I-E-T…
Here is why:
When you tell yourself that you are on a diet, your mind can automatically dredge up a variety of painful and frustrating feelings from your past failures…
The word ‘diet’ also implies that you will be denying yourself things that you like, and as you know, this can only last so long before it leads you to rebelling and to a full out binge on unhealthy foods.
This is something both Kalen and I struggled with (especially Kalen) and is easily one of the top reasons almost everyone fails at lasting weight loss… your ‘diet’ was sabotaged from the inside out before you even started it!
The more that you connect your fat loss efforts with the negative connotations of the word “diet”, the harder it will be to succeed. You may have heard the phrase ‘ like attracts like’, and it’s never been more true here…
…so the more you focus on this negative term, the more negative experiences will accompany your experience in losing fat and keeping it off.
This negative diet mindset phenomenon has recently been supported by research:
Jane Ogden, Ph.D., a health psychologist at Guys Kings and St. Thomas’ School of Medicine in London has recently found that people who lose fat and keep it off not only change the way they eat and exercise, but they modify their minds too…
She studied a group of women, one-third of whom had lost weight and maintained it for more than three years, and compared their habits to women who didn’t lose weight and those who’d lost and gained it back (the other 2/3 of the study).
What they found:
The one huge advantage of women who can keep the weight off permanently was that they had changed the way they thought about diet, eating and exercising.
They also found several important psychological factors in this study that helped these women change their mind-sets about diets, losing fat and keeping it off.
You can pay close attention, because the following factors may mean the difference between your own success and failure…
The 4 attitudes to get you into a successful fat loss frame of mind (and how to RESET YOUR BRAIN):
1. Realize you are in control, and don’t blame something else (like your
genetics)…
While genetics play an important role in how you end up looking after the weight loss, Ogden found that the women who believed their weight problems were caused by their own food and lifestyle choices (instead of blaming genetics and metabolism) were simply much more successful.
2. See healthy foods as desirable and don’t deny yourself of your favorites once in a while…
The women in this study who successfully lost weight and kept it off had almost permanently changed the way they view food, seeing healthier foods as desirable foods. The women educated themselves about good nutrition and made a commitment to enjoying healthy foods. Since you’re reading this newsletter and blog, you’re doing this already! They also accepted the FACT that denying themselves certain favorite foods will only sabotage their success. No specific foods should become forbidden. You can still have them, but in smaller amounts and less frequently.
3. Set a SHORT TERM goal (avoid long term goals)…
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine studies have shown us that setting an easier goal of losing just 5-10 percent of your body weight gives you a far better chance of success than if your mind is locked into an extreme weight loss goal.
And this makes sense because larger long term goals alone fail to motivate DAILY behavior changes as they are just too far away. If you want to ultimately lose 30 pounds, focusing on that goal will make a weekly loss of, say, 2 pounds of fat seem small and likely crush your motivation.
4. RESET YOUR BRAIN… stop thinking ‘DIET’ and start thinking ‘Living Fit & Healthy’…
In order to make your mind work on your behalf, stop using the word ‘diet’ (as mentioned at the beginning of this post) and go ahead and pick a different phrase, like ‘Living Fit & Healthy’. Focusing your thoughts on what your lifestyle changes have given you gets you excited and feeling motivated… this works… try it!
Now, truly resetting your brain for weight loss success is easier than it sounds… I know this from experience.
If you’re still having trouble getting out of the ‘diet’ mindset and unleashing the power of positive focus toward changing and keeping healthy weight loss habits, you’ve probably realized you are in need of some help…
And perhaps the best way I know of to truly re-program your brain for weight loss success is by resetting your subconscious mind…
