Have you had a look at your bookshelf lately?
If it’s anything like mine, it may have become a litany of things you have yet to achieve. That ‘perfect’ body, that amazing relationship, how to ‘Podcast’, ‘make Youtube Videos that Rock’…ya, me too.
A few months ago I was feeling pre-holiday frumpy so I thought I’d take a look and see if there was anything I could pin my hopes on to get this butt-in-gear before Christmas. Something I could do before adding to my collection of plans-that-did-not-work.
My diet and weight-loss books are more like travel guides. I’ve time travelled to the paleo era, I’ve visited South Beach, I’ve discussed why french women don’t get fat with Dukan, I’ve kicked it nineties style with Atkins, I’ve divided my weeks into 5 and 2’s, 1 off’s and 1 on’s, 80’s and 20’s, reds, blues, greens, purples, before 6 and definitely not after 8’s.
Now this all seems pretty stupid because, as a therapist, I should have realized eons ago that like everything else, weight-loss is an inside job. No amount of external diet book travel is going to get me where I want to be, nice distraction that it is.
I learned that if you want to change your relationship with food you have to change your mind-set, its as simple and complex as that. I changed my mind-set by going through and training in the ‘Virtual’ Gastric Band program. Now, of course, you don’t have to train to be a practitioner to lose weight on the program, I lost the weight before I trained. It was by using clinical hypnotherapy, mindfulness and CBT that created the change in the way I thought about food and the way I used food.
When I started engaging my brain to lose weight, things started to shift – my thoughts about food and actual weight. I’ve lost 3 lbs so far. My goal is to lose 10lbs; on average people have lost 21 lbs.
Your brain is the most powerful weight-loss buddy you’ve got, why not use it?
The program has a 95% proven success rate. I believe that’s because the therapy is about creating a healthy, natural weight control system, based on the natural biological signals of eating when hungry and stopping when full, rather than forming an emotional attachment to eating. Hypnotherapy and mindfulness addressed the emotional and psychological issues at the root of my need to begin – and continue – overeating.
Can you get this information online? Some of it. Can you buy books about hypnotherapy, mindfulness and weight-loss? You can, indeed I have. The problem with this was a book couldn’t give me the individual support and the tailored sessions that I needed to be successful in losing weight and keeping it off. In fact, food is not something I even think about anymore. Unless I’m eating or cooking, when thinking about food is a delicious pre-requisite.
I can’t tell you what a relief it is to not be thinking about food and losing weight all the time. I have so much more head space freed up for creativity, I feel healthier and have so much more energy; you could too.
So the one tip that you can use immediately to start losing weight? (Disclaimer – you actually have to do it for it to work).
Chew your food 20 times before swallowing.
“That’s it?”, I hear you say? This simple tip works on many levels.
It gives your stomach a break and let’s your mouth play its part in digesting your dins. Chewing will also help you become more mindful of what you are eating, how much you have eaten, what you are eating actually tastes like and when you are becoming full. Simple but effective; don’t underestimate the power of the chew.
Read some of the results I have achieved for clients here and watch BBC News Coverage for ‘Virtual’ Gastric Band
If you’d like more information on the program, the trial results, any of the how’s or why’s then head on over to the Reveal Weight Loss Program or contact me here.
