Using Your Mind For Weight Loss

How often have you asked yourself “Where did I put that?” or “What was her name?” and after a short while, usually when you'd forgotten the question, the answer came to you.

This is a simple demonstration of how powerful your subconscious mind is — ask it a question relevant to yourself and it’ll dredge into its store of every experience you’ve ever lived through to give you an answer — in words and pictures.

So if you ask your subconscious mind

“Why do I always fail with weight loss?”

or

“What made me start overeating?”

What answer and picture will you get?

Don’t expect the answer quite as quickly this time — you’ve set your mind a much more challenging question and it may take some time before it’s ready to offer you an answer. Ask the question before you go to sleep then forget it and give your mind time to consider. You might want to have a pad and pencil ready to write down anything that comes into your head next morning.

Chances are you’ll find you start thinking about something that happened in your past, probably something that made you unhappy or anxious, and as you continue to think about it you’ll realize that you can associate the event with food, specifically with over eating as a way to make you feel better. And it did make you feel better.

So next time you felt bad about something, your subconscious mind reminded you that eating had made you feel better before, and you reached for that muffin. And before you knew it your subconscious mind had a created a defense mechanism that became a habit.

At present your subconscious mind is working against you, undermining your weight loss efforts because it's still trying to protect you from those past hurts and anxieties. You know it’s been very successful in this, but what you may not realize it that it can be equally successful in helping you to achieve your weight loss goals if you get it working with you, if you start actively using your mind for weight loss.

To do that you need to convince your subconscious mind that its actions are no longer helping and need to be changed. You need to give it a different picture to search for, one that shows you at your ideal weight.

Believe in yourself — really believe you CAN do it - and you will succeed. Whenever you're doing something without believing in yourself chances are you won't make as much effort as you could; or you might use your lack of belief as justification for not sticking at it ('I never expected it to work anyway').

Other overweight people have successfully lost weight and if they can do it, so can you. But you have to believe this. You may not like mantras, but something as simple as 'I CAN, and I WILL lose 20 pounds by Christmas' said out loud several times a day can be very effective. Hearing yourself say this out loud is more powerful than just saying it inside your head.

Stress the words CAN and WILL, put real emotion into them to help you. Think about a time when someone told you that you couldn't do something you really wanted to, and you decided to prove them wrong. How did you talk to yourself then? It wasn't in a feeble tone, or a voice that sounded unconvincing. You were strong and determined. 'Just watch me, I'll show them all!' you said. And you did...

Both your conscious and your unconscious mind hear what you say, and more significantly, your subconscious mind accepts it as a command and gets started in helping you to make it happen. So make sure your mind believes your weight loss can succeed and it will help you make it happen.

Your mind is good at imagining things — you do it all the time in lots of different situations from the everyday to planning holidays, birthday parties, buying a new car, whatever. If you're like most people, you're probably pretty good at imagining bad things — the 'what ifs' of life, but less so at imagining good things, like what it will be like when you've reached your ideal weight.

Do it now by answering the following:

Now I am at my ideal weight:

What am I wearing? (be very specific: put yourself in something you want to wear after you lose weight, not something outrageous that you wouldn't want to be seen in; what color is it, what fabric, how does it fit)

What am I doing? (is there something you've either found difficult or completely avoided due to your weight, despite it being something you want to do? Let a scene unfold in your mind that shows you being successful after your weight loss)

Who am I with? (who will be there with you when you're enjoying life having reached this fantastic destination of your ideal weight? Who will be helping you celebrate, joining you in the new things you're doing)

How do I feel? (what is it going to feel like when you have succeeded? Happiness, pride, a sense of achievement, more energy?)

If you don't think you can see these things, relax. If you struggle to make pictures in your mind then describe the scene to yourself using words and talking to yourself out loud.

Even after you start using your mind for weight loss there could be obstacles put in your path by others, so it's worth sitting back and thinking about the people around you and what their reaction may be when you reach your weight loss target.

We're not talking here about those people who will genuinely congratulate you on your success, but those people who have a vested interest in you staying as you are. Can't think of anyone? Just sit back for a few minutes and take stock.

Is there anyone who relies on you to do things for them or be there for them? Maybe they believe that if you lost weight you would be off doing other things and wouldn't have time to give to them. If so, you need to consider how you can reassure them that they won't lose out, and prepare them for any changes so they can get used to how it's going to be. Otherwise they have no reason to want you to succeed with weight loss.

Is there anyone who might be piggybacking on your situation, using your failure to lose weight as a justification for them not trying to overcome challenges they are facing, as a way to divert attention from them? Your success will undermine their comfortable situation and expose them to the truth: what they choose to do, or not do, is in no way determined by you — except in their mind, of course. They may not be ready to face up to this and could try tactics to discourage you.

Are you using your weight to manipulate someone? The opposite of the above — there may be people who would love to see you lose weight, but maybe you have reasons not to give them what they want.

Maybe a parent who had little time for you as a child, for example. You started to gain weight to get their attention. Now you have both more weight and more attention (nagging you to lose some weight). But if you were to lose weight maybe you'd lose the attention as well. So you could easily sabotage your own efforts.

It's time to take an adult stance:

Do you really want to stay overweight to keep someone's attention?

Wouldn't you prefer that they gave you time and attention because they respect you as a person and care for you?

You may not be able to change their attitude and so, yes, the result of losing weight could be accepting that your relationship with them will change. But which is better — a manipulative relationship with excess weight, or a redefined adult relationship as a result of your successful weight loss?

Now you understand how powerful your subconscious mind is, you'll see why using your mind for weight loss needs to be part of your overall weight loss program.

These are just some of the ways in which using your mind for weight loss can help you to succeed.

But sometimes the challenges you face from your subconscious mind are difficult for you to overcome without extra support. Check out this using your mind for weight loss program to make sure your mind is playing for the home team and not the opposition