If you're struggling to control your own shape and size, you might have noticed that weight loss seems to be incredibly complicated. There are hundreds of diet plans and programs, meal planners and activity trackers, and thousands of opinions about what the best method is to lose weight and maintain that weight loss.

The reality is, the basic formula for weight loss is simple - eat less and move more.

If you want to lose weight, you need to make small, reasonable changes that you can live with. If those changes are too drastic, or too difficult to maintain, then you won’t stick with them, and your weight loss plan will derail. The ideal weight loss plan is one that you can adapt to fit into your life, rather than making you change your life to fit the plan.

Change It Up

Your body is programmed for survival, and that means maintaining the balance of your current state. So, whatever you’re doing right now is maintaining your current body. Those automatic, subconscious behaviors that determine the amount you eat and the amount you move are maintaining your current shape and size. If you want your shape and size to change, you need to eat less and move more. Begin by setting reasonable goals that you know you can reach.Set one or two goals each week, and celebrate your progress.

Emotional Eating

I’ve heard people call it “stress eating”, “eating their feelings”, and even “zombie eating”, and it’s all the same. Eating in response to feelings is problematic for a few reasons. First of all, it makes you fat. Eating in response to feelings causes you to eat more than your body needs and causes you to gain weight. Second, eating doesn’t satisfy any feeling other than real physical hunger. Eating might distract you from the feeling for a while, but the feeling will come back, and so will the urge to eat. Keep a bottle of water handy, so that whenever you have the urge to put something in your mouth when you know you aren’t even hungry, you can take a long, satisfying drink of water instead.

Eat Less

We eat too much. There’s no other way to say it. We eat way more than our bodies need for fuel. Try this quick example. Go get a dinner plate, and set it in front of you. Now make a fist and put it over the plate. Your clenched fist is about the size of your stomach. Even though it expands as you eat, once you feel full, it is overfilled. Pick one meal and eat half of what you normally would for a week, then pick another meal until you’re eating half of your normal portions for a full week. Then you can cut those portions in half again. Eat only until the feeling of hunger goes away. Then you’ll know that you’re eating only as much as you need.

Move More

For a lot of people, myself included, exercise can be a source of stress and frustration. We all have busy lives, and finding time to spend an hour at the gym or pool can seem impossible. Remember though, you just need to move more. Rather than trying to  work in a complicated exercise program that doesn’t fit in with your life, take advantage of the movement that you’re already doing, and do it more! Park farther away, take the stairs, or take the long way to get to where you already need to go.

Any successful weight loss program depends on your ability to stick with it. Small, reasonable changes, like the ones in this article, allow you to easily adopt healthier habits that stick with you and naturally lose weight - and keep it off - without dieting or depriving yourself!

How Hypnosis Can Help

Sometimes we all need a little help getting motivated, or letting go of limiting beliefs, or breaking out of bad habits. That’s where hypnosis can help you lose weight and maintain your ideal weight more effectively. Hypnosis uses proven techniques that can change the way you think about food, decrease your stress, and put you back in control of your own shape and size.  Hypnosis can eliminate the cravings that lead to snacking, and let you feel more satisfied with much smaller amounts of food, making it easy for you to shed those extra pounds.∎