Lose Unwanted Pounds Effortlessly
Have you struggled to lose weight? Shedding a few pounds only to acquire the same weight back again and even more? Weight can be a difficult issue. It’s a whole lot more than just calories in, calories out. It’s nice to think of it as a math problem. But when our intellect comes into the mix, it’s a whole different story. Here are the top 5 causes for gaining additional weight.
1. Consuming the Unhealthy Foods
2. Lack of Regular Exercise
3. Anxiety & Hormones
4. Habits of the Mind
5. Unconscious “Programs”
1. Consuming the Unhealthy Foods – The problem with counting calories is that it tells you nothing about your nutrition. When most people think of weight loss, they think, “If I only eat less, I can lose weight.” True, our serving size has escalated over the last 20 years. But even more vital than serving size is the kind of foods we are picking.
Eat better, not fewer. Healthier choices are not always obvious. Our food has evolved so much in the last 20 years with preservatives, additives, artificial colors, artificial flavors and more. Where do you start at even discerning what options are better?
Eat the Way our Predecessors did. Our food has evolved in the last 50 years. By no means has such elevated sugar and high fat foods been so obtainable. The major illnesses we are seeing now are due to unwarranted consumption of high fat and sugar foods, obesity, heart ailment and diabetes. Simplify the food you consume. The less it’s dealt with – the healthier! Making the change to having whole foods will enhance your nutrition, your energy, your wellbeing and aid your body release the additional weight. Most whole foods are low glycemic with the exception of potatoes, popcorn and a few fruits.
Dodge the Big White Five. Stay away from processed foods and refined foods. Processed and refined foods have much of the bran and fiber stripped off, along with natural vitamins and minerals. A good key is to dodge white foods: white flour, white sugar, white rice, potatoes, and popcorn. Although potatoes are not refined, they are primarily starch. These high starch and refined foods convert to sugar rapidly in your body, causing a spike in blood sugar. Your body counters by releasing insulin (the carrier molecule that transports sugar into your cells). Now, the body has more sugar in the cells than it can utilize so it stores it for later as fat!
2. Lack of Recurring Exercise – With developments in technology, our conveniences have exploded. At the push of a button, we can order a book, correspond across the world, switch the channel, open the garage door and even have our groceries provided at our doorstep. Our bodies need action and exercise to be fit and healthy. Even if we are experiencing more convenience with technology, it’s also requiring us to be more inactive; splurging our time sitting in front of computers instead of walking and moving.
Create a Fixed Fitness Plan! One of the best things you can do is to have a fixed work out time in your schedule. Choose activities that are fun and engaging. Include your friends and family to improve your motivation and your social health network. Start with activities that are a match for you, walking, stretching, biking and work your way up to more challenging activities.
3. Tension & Hormones- When we are stressed, our body engages the fight or flight response. It increases blood flow to the muscles (and away from the brain), increases heart rate and blood pressure and releases hormones adrenaline and cortisol. Your nervous system prepares the body to fight off a threat or run away. Our body’s natural response is physical activity. However, in our culture, getting physical is rarely a fitting reaction to pressure. So, we sit at our desk, swimming in our chemical anxiety soup. Elevated levels of cortisol have been found to actually cause us to gain weight.
Exercising helps the body recycle the anxiety hormones, go back to natural levels, reduce anxiety and even mentally feel more balanced and clear. Taking breaks during the day, like walking during your lunch break, is a great way to help relieve pressure, get in more action and even raise your metabolism. The majority of the stressors we undergo now are imagined or perceived threats rather than tangible and immediate risks. One way to diminish the stress you are experiencing is to coach your brain to counter in a different way in taxing conditions. This can include breathing exercises and NLP can be incredibly helpful in training your brain to react calmly rather than triggering the fight or flight response. You can find more resources at www.ExpandingPotentials.net/stress.html.
4. Habits of the Mind – Your brain is constantly picking up and storing messages. We have a whole history of messages regarding food, physical condition and our body. Depending on your history, your food correlations and meanings, your past can impede your daily choices and your capability to stay on track.
One way our history can interfere is found in the meanings we’ve connected to foods. This is revealed through the work of Pavlov, a psychology researcher who would jingle a bell before he brought his dogs food. He observed that the dogs began to drool when he rang the bell, even before he brought them food. The dogs created a link, bell = food. We all have various food associations in our history. Case in point, when we were rewarded as kids, we normally had sugar, candy and sweets. So now, in our mind, when we have done a magnificent job, we feel it natural to reward ourselves with something sweet.
If you were part of the Clean Plate Club, that’s another correlation you may have in your history. The cue to discontinue eating was superseded by the craving to clean your plate. Over time, this grows to be a habit where although you may feel full, you don’t feel you can stop eating until your plate is spotless.
5. Unconscious “Programs” – Another less obvious tactic our mind may interfere with our objectives is through unconscious beliefs or programs that are to blame for self-sabotage. Whenever we try to make a change, it’s as if one part of us wants to change and another part of us doesn’t. We then go through struggling against ourselves, fighting childhood patterns and impulses.
Occasionally, the unconscious mind has secret motives for prolonging old patterns and behaviors. We call these “programs.” If you learned through your past history that there was a return in having additional weight, the brain will run that program as a default pattern. For instance, one colleague was picked on as a teenager by older kids. At the time he thought, “If only I were bigger, they couldn’t push me around.” His mind then began a program for being bigger, which translated into gaining additional weight.
Every one of us is unique in our experiences and our views about those experiences. Here are just a few “programs” my clients found working against them, until we replaced them by means of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). NLP is simply instructing the brain to craft new links, patterns and correct deep-rooted programs.
· If I lose weight, I won’t be able to handle the extra attention (safety program)
· If I lose weight, I won’t be like my family and I won’t belong anymore (belonging program)
· If I lose weight, I won’t be as cuddly and loveable (love program)
Using imagery and metaphor, the language of the unconscious mind, help you let go of the deep-rooted reasons at even the unconscious level. It’s not enough to identify that we shouldn’t be doing or thinking something. Our brain needs to discern what to do instead. Hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) are amazing means for educating the brain to learn new patterns and rapidly set up new habits and programs.
By helping the mind to establish new links and habits, making changes become even easier. These leading 5 causes are what most people need to deal with in order to shake off weight and keep it off. By changing our mental habits and patterns, we allay the struggle, find it easier to stay on track and get the results we desire. It’s time to stop struggling. It’s time to help your mind and teach it to work for you rather than against you. With the tools of NLP and Hypnosis, it’s easier than ever before!
