Are You Ready for Summer?

By - karengray
05.27.19 11:31 PM

Now that we have kicked off the unofficial start of Summer, we can start to shift our attention to the shape we are in. Even if you have struggled with your weight this last Winter, this is the perfect time to reshape those habits and get stronger, healthier, and feel better.


Here’s the thing - restrictive diets and demanding exercise programs don’t work. Yes, you will probably stick with them for a while, maybe even months. And yes, you will lose weight while you follow those plans. But the moment you stop following the restrictions, you will gain the weight back.


They don’t work because they aren’t sustainable. They aren’t sustainable because they don’t do anything about those habits and behaviors we have about eating and exercise. Those habits and behaviors are things we do automatically, without thinking. They happen because our subconscious mind tells us to do them, and the subconscious mind tends to get what it wants.


Another problem with those restrictive diets is that they force you to focus on the things you can’t have. That means that you will want them more, and be a little miserable until you get them. This has nothing to do with Willpower, or stamina, or desire, or drive. It is simple neuroscience.


Your subconscious mind is the part of you that drives your feelings, thinking, and behaviors. It will make whatever you are most focused on a priority. So if I tell you this,


“No matter what happens while you finish reading this article, DO NOT think of the COLOR BLUE!”


Odds are that you are already thinking about the color blue, and the more you try NOT to think of the color blue, the more blue things you think of.


In dieting, the thing you are trying not to think of might be sugar, chocolate, carbs, or anything else they told you you should never eat. And the more you focus on those things, the more you naturally desire them. The more you crave them, and the harder it becomes to resist them. And then we start to beat ourselves up for not being able to overcome those natural desires.


Professionally speaking, Stop It!


People who are able to succeed with losing weight and keeping it off for the long term have changed the way they think about food, eating, exercise, and their bodies.


1. Think More.  

Have you ever eaten something and it was gone before you knew it? Did you ever eat something so quickly you weren’t even sure you tasted it? When eating becomes a mindless behavior, it is time to be more mindful.


We eat for the experience just as much as we do for any other reason. So allow yourself to enjoy the experience. Eat without distractions. Put away your phone, turn off the TV. If you really enjoy food, make it an event. Pay attention to every bite. You will eat less and enjoy it more.


2. Listen to Your Body.

You now how much gas is in your car by looking at the gauge, so you know when you need to fil up and when it can wait. You wouldn’t try to fill up the gas tank of your car when it is already full. And most people won’t stop for gas if they know they already have enough to get to where they are going.


Listen to your body. Before you put anything in your mouth, check your internal fuel gauge for real physical hunger. If you are hungry, then choose something healthy and eat it slowly. If you aren’t really hungry, have some water.


3. Don’t Eat Your Emotions.

Most of us have had the experience of getting something to eat when we are bored, or sad, or lonely, or stressed. There are a couple problems with this cycle of eating in response to an unpleasant feeling. The first problem is that it makes you fat. Eating in response to emotions means you eat more than you need, and that causes you to gain weight.


The second problem is that there is no food or drink that will satisfy any feeling you have except real physical hunger. Sure, those snacks will distract you for a bit, but the unpleasant feeling will come back again, and again, and again until you deal with the feeling.


When you find yourself wanting to eat when you know you aren’t even hungry, take a moment to look for the feelings behind the desire to snack. If you are stressed, you need help or to take a break. If you are tired, you need sleep or rest. If you are anxious, thre is something that needs your attention.


All of our feelings are good, even the unpleasant ones. Practice taking some time to learn what your feelings are trying to tell you. You will find that you are better able to satisfy yourself, without gaining weight.


4. Move More

As you start to lose weight, your body will look for easy fuel to burn, and it will start by burning muscle. Stop this by gradually increasing your physical activity every day. Invest in a step counter. There is probably already an app on your phone that tracks how many steps you take in a day.


Keep a small notebook in your kitchen and write down your total steps each day. Even though your device will track this for you, writing it down keeps you more accountable. Create a goal for yourself to take one more step than you did yesterday. MAke it a game, or a competition with yourself. Just take one more step than you did yesterday, and enjoy that feeling of accomplishment when you write down your steps for the day.


5. Celebrate Every Victory

When you only eat one cookie, celebrate your control! When you decide you don’t really want the birthday cake at the office, celebrate your ability to choose! When you take the stairs when you really wanted to ride the elevator, celebrate your strength!


Success breeds success, so by celebrating the little wins, you are motivating yourself to do the things that make you win more. Set yourself up for success, and don’t be afraid to praise every little thing you do that gets you closer to your goal.


At the same time, don’t beat yourself up. You are learning new skills, defining new behaviors, and establishing new limits. Give yourself room to learn, which means failing every once in a while.


The Role of Hypnosis

Hypnosis is so successful in helping people to shed unwanted weight because it changes the way you think about food, eating, and exercise at the source. Hypnosis gives you access to your subconscious mind and allows you to create new behaviors and new healthy habits.


We act on beliefs and habits that are stored in our subconscious without even realizing it. Hypnosis helps tap into the subconscious mind for insights into what may be keeping you from successfully having a healthy relationship with food.


Hypnosis brings clarity to the emotions that have been impacting your relationship with food and your body. It can allow you to better understand those emotions and release the hurtful emotions. You feel lighter and clearer, and can reduce emotional eating.


Hypnosis literally creates new neuro-pathways in your brain. If your default response to stress is to eat ice cream, the feeling of stress is linked physically in your brain with the response of eating ice cream. In hypnosis, you are able to break that connection and create a different automatic response to stress. This process is called neuroplasticity and changes the way certain brain cells communicate with each other.


Hypnosis uses your own imagination as a blueprint. See yourself as a smaller size and imagine living in your lighter body. Hypnosis lets you say to your mind and body, “This is the path we’re on. This is where we’re headed!” Because you are using your own thoughts and feelings, the changes you want to achieve are accepted by the subconscious mind as true, and you see results quickly with less resistance.


Keep in mind that hypnosis itself doesn’t change who you are or what type of person you are, but it does help you to remove the barriers that may have kept you stuck, and gets back control over those parts of your life that you thought were out of control before, returning you to your strong, healthy self.∎

 

Karen Gray is a Certified Hypnotist, a Registered Nurse, and the Director of Green Mountain Hypnosis. For more information on how you can use hypnosis to change your life, contact Karen at karengray@greenmountainhypnosis.com, or (802) 566-0464.

karengray