Change Your Thinking and Lose Weight

Are you a ‘look-and-lose’ dieter? Have you studied every diet
ever created, read a zillion diet books, and yet are still
unhappy with your weight?

Has your quest for the holy grail of dieting become a substitute
for actually making changes required to take the ill health out
of your current diet?

If so, you may not realise your thoughts are key to your
happiness and success.

Do you look at yourself and say, “I’m fat”, or “My hips are too
big”? Many of us look in the mirror and immediately compare
ourselves to those ‘perfect’ human specimens we see every single
day on TV, in magazines and in the newspapers.

Often we talk to ourself and make excuses, “It’s my genes”, “I’m
much too busy to get fit”, “I like myself this”, as a way of
protecting yourself from the way we see ourselves now and the
way we want to be.

If we were to be truly honest with ourselves most people
actually want to lose a few pounds – if we only knew how.

The good news is you CAN achieve your desired body shape with
the right thinking about yourself, an understanding of how to
get optimal nutrition, healthy eating habits and how to
incorporate activity into your lifestyle to keep your muscles
toned.

But most important of all, you need a regular mental workout to
keep your self-image in shape.

Self-image is closely connected to the success or failure of any
goal you choose to seek after, but none more so that the goal to
get yourself fit and healthy.

So how do you go about strengthening your self-image? Well
fortunately your self-image, just like your muscles, will
respond well to a regular work out. You can actually strengthen
your self-image with a few daily exercises.

Exercise One – Self Examination

Start by compiling a list of all those negative thoughts your
have about yourself…I’m undisciplined, I can’t manage my time, I
let people down, I can’t succeed, I don’t exercise enough. You
will need to decide before you start this process that you won’t
get discouraged….these are things that you will admit to
yourself but they most certainly don’t have to control your life.

Next, compile a second list including everything you LIKE about
yourself. Keep going until this list is LONGER than the first
list you compiled. You might include things such as, I am a good
cook, I can make people laugh, I contribute to the soccer club,
my daughter loves the way I decorate her room.

Then, take your ‘negatives’ list and turn it into your
‘potentials’ list. You do this by creating a positive self-image
to every ‘negative’ you listed. Instead of “I can’t succeed”,
write a counter belief, “I will succeed”.

Ceremonially throw out the ‘negatives’ list – you are saying
goodbye forever! Burn them, trash them, destroy them….they are
no longer going to be a part of your thinking about yourself.

Now, keep your list of potentials in a prominent place. On your
refrigerator door, in your daily journal, or in a picture frame
on your desk. Make sure you have them in front on your every
single day so that you are reading them constantly and
reprogramming your daily thoughts.

Exercise Two: You Can Be What You Want to Be

Now that you have your list of potentials… run your own
visualisation stories so that you can ‘see’ yourself in a new
light. For example, if your list of potential includes “I eat
just the right portions”, visualise yourself with a moderate
portion on your plate, and feeling completely satisfied at the
conclusion of your meal.

Read through your list of potentials every day taking a few
moments of personal quiet time to reflect strongly on your
visualisations. Try starting your day first thing in the morning
and finishing as the last thing at night with visualising
yourself being the person on your list, and doing the things you
want to do.

Exercise Three: Keep a Journal of Your Daily Successes

Keep a record of all the positive changes in thoughts you have
about yourself. We all have triumphs and ‘failures’. You must
record and remind yourself of the positive changes because our
human nature will replay the negatives – sometimes blowing them
out of proportion. It’s important to nurture and celebrate the
small steps you make every day.

Exercise Four: Go Easy On Yourself – You Are Beautiful Work In
Progress

Don’t listen to the criticism…not your own nor that of others!
Remember you are the designer of your self-esteem, do not hand
this over to other people. You are way too important to give
this away. Protect your role as creator of your own self-image
and do not, take on board negative criticisms. We all make
mistakes, and mistakes can be used to help us learn. Do not
criticise yourself for being human and making a mistake. The
only last mistake in the one from which we never learn to grow.

Exercise Five: Forget About The Past

The only moment you can live is the current one. You can’t live
in the future and you most certainly shouldn’t live in the
past….the challenge is to take charge of our thinking so that we
think in the same time zone in which we live!

For example we may be tempted to think about yesterday’s
failures…”If only I hadn’t eaten second helpings”, “If only I
didn’t reach for the chocolate cookies”. If we concentrate on
the mistakes of yesterday this will our brains to replay our
failures and reinforce them to us.

Yesterday is over, today is where you live….make sure that today
you do NOT replay yesterday’s failures and make your resolve to
change TODAY.

Exercise Six: Resolve to Change Today

Just as you shouldn’t live in the past, you can’t live in the
future. You can only live or change today. The oldest cliché in
the world is perhaps one of the greatest truisms of
all…’tomorrow NEVER comes!’

There is no better time than now. So, no matter what excuses you
may have to wait to take those healthy steps you know you should
take, none of them are valid. Do it now, do it today. Resolve to
make a different in your own life before you go to sleep
tonight.

Exercise Seven: Write a Plan For your Life

This is your success plan. If you have not already done so it is
time for you to create direction and purpose in your plans for
yourself. Review your list of potentials and record next to each
potential when you want to achieve this by.

Exercise Eight: Carry Affirmation Cards About Yourself

This is one of the fastest tools for your success. You are what
you think. Strengthen your self-image every day by reviewing
your thoughts. One of the easiest ways to do this is to carry
affirmation cards in your wallet and review regularly.
Affirmation cards are short bursts of words in business card
that prompt and remind your self-image of your intentions. An
example might be: I can achieve anything that I put my mind to.
I will be satisfied with single helpings.

Try it, you have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to
gain!

Exercise Nine: Change Your Eating Habits

Now that you have set the groundwork in place, you are now ready
to change your physical habits. You are ready to add a balanced
nutritious diet, healthy eating habits, regular exercise and
relaxation.

By using these nine exercises daily to change your thinking
habits, you will be strengthening your self esteem and unlocking
your internal power to make a change in your life. Before you
can change lifelong eating habits, you must first change life
long thinking habits. We are what we think. We can’t be
something other than what we believe we can be!

So, do yourself a favour, liberate your self-image and then, see
how much more effective your healthy living plan becomes!

(c) Kim Beardsmore

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