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I recognise that just thinking about why you're feeling hopeless about your weight loss goals isn't going to take away your desire to eat or you'd have worked out how to deal with this long ago. However, it is true that in order to begin a shift away from negative, self-defeating thoughts you must first recognise them. When we persist with negative thought patterns we are destined to keep repeating the same life experiences over and over again because we will never view reality any differently. Our lives will never improve and our weight will never change. Make no mistake - our thoughts and emotions are not only part of our mental programming, but have a physiological effect on our bodies. You are what you think you are. If you've eaten more than you planned today then FINE. The one guaranteed way to make yourself feel even worse is to carry on eating uncontrollably. You know this – you've done it again and again and the pleasure is fleeting compared to the pain of remorse and self loathing that follows. Go right now and do anything at all that's not related to food for the next 30 minutes. You're committed to this remember? If you haven't hit your weight loss target for this week then FINE. Your goal is not to lose x pounds, your goal is to stick to your new lifestyle programme. And you can bet that if the word 'life' is in there you're going to experience good days and not so good, joy and pain, progress and feeling stuck. How about feeling overwhelmed? Doesn't that happen to all of us whatever we've taken on? New job, new course – anything that expands our current comfort zone. Whoa! Rein in that crushing sense of being unable to cope and just focus on what you can do today, what you can do right now to move you a little closer to that bigger ideal that feels so unattainable right now. A 30 minute brisk walk will do much more than take you away from the kitchen – with each step you'll be moving closer to the life you committed to when you embarked on this whole weight loss endeavour. And what about if you're totally hacked off at the thought of all the fun draining out of your life now you're set on these lifestyle changes? Yes, there will be temporary discomfort whilst you develop and install new habits but the fitter and slimmer you become, the more activities you will develop the confidence to try. In fact, life will be more fun than ever. So the key is to be mindful of your thought patterns as much of the time as you can and not allow yourself to wallow in negativity for too long when thoughts often turn to food. To snap instant attention to your thoughts try this: place a rubber band around your wrist; as soon as you notice negative self-talk creeping in, pull the band away from your skin and let it snap back. The ensuing sting will serve as a sharp reminder that it's time to halt your current line of thought and flip your thoughts into something much more positive. |
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