Habit Change Archives - Page 6 of 7

6 Ways to get motivated to Drop the Weight

October 3, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Today I wanted to share with you my personal secrets, what I do to stay motivated to lose and keep the weight off. These 6 steps have also helped my clients overcome their food issues. It is important to realize that losing and keeping weight off is a lifelong process. I don’t want you to view it as a struggle. Did you know that 85% of people who lose weight regain it? That is why I am sharing these steps with you. These steps work for any habit you are trying to break and change.

Tip # 1 to get motivated to drop that weight.

Ask yourself why you want to lose weight? Find the important motivating reason or the meaning in your goal. It should be something that really matters to you. For me it is vanity and health. I like to look and feel good. Looking and feeling good is more important to me than eating foods that put weight on. Sometimes you need to go beyond vanity as it can be de-motivating if you are trying to lose weight to please someone else. The motivation should be important to you and not culturally imposed. Many people stay overweight and don’t’ change because they are secretly angry about our cultural obsession with thinness or if you’re significant other thinks you should. .

Tip # 2 to get motivated to drop that weight.

Focus on the negatives of what you are trying to change. Get clear about the negative effects of staying the way you are or getting worse. Often times we can get into denial and ignore or do not want to see how being overweight or eating unhealthy foods is harming us. You have to be unhappy about the negatives effect of overeating and/or of making unhealthy choices. You need to see that the negatives outweigh the so called positives or immediate gratification.

Tip # 3 to get motivated to drop that weight.

Think before you act. Once you are clear about what and why you want to lose weight, and the negatives of staying the same, you have to think about these things before you eat unhealthy food or overeat. When I was trying to decrease my coffee consumption, since coffee like processed food containing sugar, flour and fat, is addictive, you will get cravings. See my post on Overeating is Like a Drug Addiction. You want to notice the craving, and hit it hard with why you don’t want the negative side effects. After a while, you don’t get the cravings anymore and it becomes easier.

Tip # 4 to get motivated to drop that weight.

Share your goal with a friend. Research on how we change shows when we tell people about what we are doing, it keeps us more motivated to stay on course. You can also find a buddy and motivate each other.

Tip # 5 to get motivated to drop that weight.

Find a touchstone that empowers you. A touchstone is something that gives you power, keeps the motivation alive for you. Do you have a picture of yourself at a more ideal weight you can keep handy? Take a picture of yourself now and keep that next to it. You have to want what you are trying to change more than you want what you have now to stay motivated.

Tip # 6 to get motivated to drop that weight.

Keep a journal or a log of your weight loss progress. Your attitude is everything. There is no such thing as failure. It is all what am I learning? This includes not getting despondent and letting the old negatives internal dialogue de-rail you. Ultimately progress is motivating in itself.

Personally I find it empowering to break free from a habit that no longer serves me. What we are all looking for is more freedom. Can you imagine not having to really obsess about your weight anymore? What would you do with all that wasted energy? That alone is motivating isn’t it?

These are my best practice secrets on how to get and stay motivated to lose weight. The Nirvana Diet™ Guided Meditations I have created can give you the extra help you need to make the most of your motivation. The home study program I developed literally takes you through the whole process. For more information on this unique approach to weight loss and if you are looking for steps you can implement today, click here. Start seeing results immediately without feeling the struggle. Print this out and share it with a friend and better yet…work these tips together.

If this has influenced you in a positive way, OR if you have a suggestion I have not mentioned please add a comment below. Let’s heal and prosper together.

Research Proves Theory Right: Overeating can be a Drug Addiction

September 29, 2011 by admin 6 Comments

If you struggle with your weight and have obsessional thought about food you could have what the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) is now calling an addiction. The ASAM recently changed the definition of addiction which now includes food along with other addictive substances such as drugs and alcohol. The important new thought is that addictions are now considered to be a chronic neurological disorder or disease of the brain. Addictions “high jack” the brain and create obsessive or compulsive thoughts that lead to weight and health problems. Despite the negative consequences the addicted eater seeks out and keeps using and over-using the very substances that are so harmful to them.

It is important to understand that an addiction is not a willpower problem. Research shows addictions are usually inherited. Genetics make it 50% more likely you will have an “addictive personality.” That means there is an increased tendency or predisposition for addictive substances to get you. Using addictive substances heavily before the age of 21 increases the odds especially for someone at risk. Using large quantities of it can also trigger a problem. This coupled with an inability to deal with the up’s and down’s of life or to deal with feelings makes matters worse. This disease overwhelms the pleasure reward circuitry of the brain and can over time cause a mood imbalance. Could this be a reason why so many people are now on antidepressants? Can healing our food issues begin to change our mood problem?

The most important piece of information to understand is that according to Scripps Research Institute, compulsive eating shares the same addictive biochemical mechanism as cocaine and heroin abuse. Processed sugar used in packaged foods is the prime offender. All snack food, baked goods and even processed/packaged foods are in this category of food.

Because an addiction is a chronic disease, it does not go away and can only be managed. Managing it includes increasing your coping mechanisms and learning how to express and feel your feelings. Relapse is part of the disease. By understanding the nature of the addiction, those who suffer from it can move away from the shame. Shame and guilt are low vibration emotions. They bring on more addictive behavior. Learning how to deal with our feelings, stress and whatever other purpose the addictive eating may be serving is the way out as well as “seeing the food” differently. This is what I teach. I would recommend ordering the Nirvana Diet™ program for weight loss or start with stress reduction. You can also reach out to me if you want to continue this dialogue.

3 Things You Can Do To Disarm a Food Craving

September 16, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Carl Jung said: “you are what you do not what you say you’ll do.” If you want to do what you need to do to lose weight, you have to say the right things to yourself. That’s right, losing weight is not just about what you eat, it is as much about what you think or don’t think before you eat.

Experience has shown me that most people who struggle with their weight do not think, they just act or if they do think first, it’s a thought that is guaranteed to make them eat.

Here is a really helpful strategy adapted from the Four Step recovery process developed by Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz at UCLA, an American psychiatrist and researcher in the field of neuroplasticity and its application to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). If you are a yo-yo dieter, and can’t keep the weight off, you can relate to how food thoughts can seem obsessive and compulsive. Here is an adapted version of the process that has some similarities to meditation and mindfulness.

Become conscious and aware. The thought you have before you act needs to be redirected. Pay attention to the thought as it comes up. This is similar to the skill you learn when you meditate, where you become the observer of your thoughts. When you meditate you let the thoughts go, but in this case you redirect it.
Say to yourself: “It’s not true.” It’s not true that I need to eat because I am bored or sad. It’s not true that I need to eat when I am not hungry.
Acknowledge the obsession. This is just an obsession I have that I think I need to eat when I am lonely. The point of the redirect is to make the addictive urge, craving, thought disappear.

It’s important to understand that the patterns of thinking that lead to the actions you want to change do not go away overnight. They will not go away unless you stand witness to them and call them for what they are. Both the thought and the desire are wired into the pleasure reward part of the brain, thanks to the addictive nature of packaged foods. Paying attention is the first step to changing it.

The important thing is that you are not acknowledging it as a need, but a dysfunctional thought. You have to understand this is a game of persistence, it will come back. It is only because you are determined not to give into that you have a shot at rewiring your brain.

This is the first step in a four part process to end yo-yo dieting. The rest of the steps are outlined in the Nirvana Diet™ Home study program that you can use at home.

So remember…the key to successfully losing weight is changing the way that you think. The best way to manage your weight is to learn how to manage your mind first.

Best way to lose weight…learn the tools that break habits

September 10, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

If you want to learn how to lose weight, get familiar with some powerful tools you can use on your mind that will strengthen your willpower. The truth is many people are overweight because the food they have learned to love or eat due to convenience and habit is addicting. There is a new book out Anatomy of Addiction by Howard Markel who explains how Freud overcame his cocaine addiction.

Everyone knows one of the hardest things to overcome is a cocaine addiction, but did you know research on rats showed the same changes in the brain from eating sugar as from cocaine.

Back in the days when Freud was doing cocaine, it was not known how powerfully addicting cocaine was. Someday we may look back on packaged and convenience food the same way. You may not know this, but the original formula for Coca Cola contained cocaine.

Most recovering addicts claim there are two keys “touchstones of successful recovery…daily routines and rigorous accountability.” So how can you create your version of this touchstone?

1. Get conscious about it. Some call it mindfulness and yes meditating can increase your ability to stay focused and concentrate which is key to gaining control of your actions. Just like in meditation, when your mind wanders, every time you come back to your point of focus, you dissolve the habit’s power just as you do a thought. Whether it is the breath or a mantra, when a thought comes up in meditation, by putting your attention on something else, you put distance between yourself and the automatic action.

2. Consider signing up for a website such as www.habitchanger.com. They send you frequent texts that cause you to think twice before acting. That is the problem…most people do not think! If they do think, there is this internal voice that can be negative and ends up having the wrong effect. You need to become aware of how you sabotage yourself and be prepared.

3. Try having a dialogue with the sabotaging voice. It is well known in the field of psychology that we have what amounts to a cast of characters within us that appear to be a life of their own. Next time you notice the sabotaging part of you that tries to tell you it doesn’t matter, engage with it until the impulse to eat inappropriately loses power over you. Repeat a preplanned mantra to yourself like “that is just the addicted part of my brain sending me a false message.” Remind yourself or think about vividly why you do want to change or how breaking this habit is more valuable than some fleeting gratification that causes you to feel bad in the end.

I recommend you try some of these strategies and put them center stage in your plan to lose weight. It is not just about the…diet and exercise. Successful weight loss involves the ability to do a mental tete a tete with your mind, have structured daily routines that work and to be

Overeating, obesity, and the 7 biggest myths about happiness

September 10, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Many people overeat and can’t break free from their bad habits because the habits are serving a purpose. What we really want is to find more meaning and purpose in our lives which makes us feel happier.

Research shows that we are not that good at figuring out what makes us happy. There are a lot of myths about happiness. So if you think that by losing weight or fulfilling any one “goal” you will be happy, think again.

The real goal is to find a bigger meaning to what you want and focus on that; such as improving your health, or having more energy to do fun things with your loved ones. Most of the myths you will see are around the fact that we seem to misinterpret pleasure for happiness.

Happiness Myths:

1. Happiness is a final destination…you aren’t suddenly happy one day. Taking care of yourself and your “happiness” factor requires a daily commitment and certain habits you were not necessarily born knowing.

2. Being happy depends on how your day is going. When you understand nothing is bad or good, it’s all how you see it you’ll understand how happiness is an inside job.

3. I’ll feel good about myself after…having a daily spiritual practice like sitting in meditation and or journaling will help you feel a deep sense that things are unfolding “perfectly”…as they are without feeling tossed about by the “ups and downs” of life.

4. Eating and pleasure is happiness. The fleeting happiness that is pleasure based will never satisfy you in the long run.

5. Denying my feelings makes me feel better. Your feelings serve an important function, to serve as an internal guidance system. If you make a habit of listening to your feelings, they will give you clues as to what you need to do to get back on track.

6. You’re really okay with the way things are and don’t like change. Why have a life that is just ok? If deep within you sense there is something more…it never too late to get on the right destination that will help you fill what is missing.

7. You either are happy or you are not, it’s a character trait. There are actually skills, and ideas you can learn that can help you turn lemon in lemonade, enrich yourself by learning from your life, and feed what your soul is really hungry for…and it’s not what gets talked about on TV or in the media.

So what is it that makes us happy? Finding meaning in our lives and doing things that bring meaning to our lives. If you figure out how to do this, you will find it becomes easier to lose weight, and to change any unwanted habit that is really a cheap substitute for what you really want. Let me know what you think makes you happy.