If you can vividly imagine it, you can have it!

Visualize your healthy and fit body!

I wondered whether I might find success using visualization — a meditative technique used by athletes, celebrities, and people like you and me to relax, improve performance, and achieve personal and career goals. I'd used visualization to solve other problems in my life, such as relieving headaches and quitting smoking, so I decided to try it for weight loss.

1. I visualized my ideal body.

I targeted my weight problem through visualization by creating a vivid image of my ideal body. I imagined myself thin and fit, with defined stomach muscles and tight skin. Anyone who knew me at that time would have thought I was insane: This ideal body seemed like an impossible, crazy goal to set for myself. However, I didn't care how unrealistic this image of myself seemed. I wanted to make sure that I had a clear vision of where I was headed. Eventually I became the exact image I visualized.

As it turns out, picturing clear, vivid images is the perfect way to communicate to your brain. Research found that when your mind enters the state of deep relaxation brought on by visualization and other mind-body practices, it becomes primed for suggestion.

2. I used visualization to help reduce stress.

One thing obesity studies have clearly established is that stress can drive weight gain. When we're under constant pressure, the body releases stress hormones that spur hunger, slow down metabolism, and encourage our body to convert calories into fat. What I later discovered was that visualization, meditation, and other mind-body practices are proven tools for reducing stress. Even though my daily life was still filled with challenges, visualization helped me stay calm and kept me relaxed and immune to potential stressors. As a result, the stress hormones that were causing hunger and fat storage in my body started to dissipate.

3. Visualization helped me work through my emotional issues.

When I reached my heaviest weight, I was working alongside an extremely angry, aggressive business partner. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was using my weight as a protective barrier between him and myself. While he wasn’t a physically violent person, he triggered past memories of being abused as a child.

Many people unconsciously use weight as a barrier when they feel threatened, but I found that I could use visualization to create a proactive barrier that helped me feel safer. I would imagine being engulfed in a column of light that was impenetrable. It created a safe barrier around me that others could enter only with my permission. Yes, this was all in my mind, but when I created this barrier using visualization, I was able to convince myself that I was safe and didn't require the excess weight to insulate me from the world. Once I felt safe, the fat began to melt away very quickly.

4. Visualization helped me eliminated my junk food cravings.

Once I figured out how suggestible my brain was during visualization, I tried an experiment. I had always been susceptible to sweets and sugar, and I wanted to see if I could eliminate this craving. Once I reached a state of deep relaxation during my visualization, I imagined that sugar granules were actually pieces of ground glass. I pictured what would happen if I put these sugar granules — which were ground glass — in my mouth. They were tasteless. Worse, they would cut up my mouth and destroy my insides. I was repulsed. After just a few days, I didn't want sweets or anything with sugar in it. The effect was so strong that I haven’t craved sweets or junk food of any kind for almost 12 years now. I've since taught this method to other people, and they've found it equally effective. One woman wanted to control her chocolate cravings. During visualization, she imaged that chocolate was in fact stinky, foul mud. Within two weeks, she no longer craved chocolate.

5. I activated the “Get Thin or Get Eaten” adaptation using visualization.

Way back in our evolutionary past, certain adaptive behaviors helped us survive. People who lived in cold climates with long winters and scarce food supply survived by developing the ability to slow down their metabolism and conserve the fat stores in their abdomen and thighs. Conversely, our ancestors who faced the threat of large predators developed what I call the “Get Thin or Get Eaten” adaptation: They were able to go at a full-out, life-or-death sprint to escape the jaws of a bear or tiger. When the Get Thin or Get Eaten adaptation is activated, your body wants to be thin for survival reasons, because the thinner and faster you are, the better your chances of surviving an attack. This adaptation still exists within all of us — we just need to activate it. The problem is there aren't too many tigers out there chasing us anymore. But you can activate this primal survival response with visualization.

I discovered the power of using visualization to activate the Get Thin Or Get Eaten Adaptation by accident. One day while I was riding my bike a dog started chasing me, barking ferociously. Before I knew it I was at an all out sprint with this canine snapping at my heel. I escaped, and then discovered over the next two weeks the weight just melted off my body. I never got chased by that dog again, but while I was biking I would visualize that I was being chased. I imagined the dog was chasing me, and I would experience the same surge of adrenaline, and then I would imagine myself outpacing the dog with a smile on my face. This worked really well and my weight loss continued to accelerate. Sometimes I wouldn’t even exercise, I would just image I was biking really hard and the dog was chasing me and that still yielded results. That’s because our survival brain doesn’t know the difference between a real and imagined experience, so when you visualize your being chased, to the body it still feels real. If being chased by a predator feels too threatening, you can achieve the same effect by imagining yourself being chased by a friend in a game of tag, but still running really fast to escape.

In these various ways I was able to use the power of my mind, through visualization to help address the real issues that were causing my body to hold onto weight and get my body to once again want to be thin, naturally and sustainably, from the inside out. 

Visualization is uniquely suited to retraining your body to be thin, much more so than dieting or exercise are, because it works from the inside out to change your biochemistry and neural pathways. With regular practice, visualization will ease the stress in your body, and you’ll build up the defenses to protect yourself from deadly diseases.

Now, here are 7 simple steps to help you create the perfect visualization.

STEP 1: GET INTO SMART MODE

The first thing is to get your mind into the more powerful, highly programmable state of SMART Mode. All you need is to find imagery that relaxes you simply and relatively quickly.

STEP 2: MAKE AFFIRMATIONS

You can use an affirmation to make any desired change you’d like, whether it’s to change a habit, belief, or food choice; break an addiction; or anything else. Just make sure that the words you use in your affirmation focus on the positive and take place in the present (not future) tense.

STEP 3: MELT THE WEIGHT OFF

There are lots of ways you can imagine weight melting off your body, but I like this imagery a lot. See the excess weight being transformed into life force energy and being stored in your body as a much purer form of energy than fat. You’re storing it as invisible, healing life force energy.

STEP 4: CREATE YOUR IDEAL SELF

Now that the fat is melting away and becoming energy, turn your inner attention to your ideal self. Picture your desired body shape, and imagine what it feels like to be sitting inside that perfect shape. Feel your skin tight, muscles toned, belly flat, and a lightness of being.

STEP 5: ENVISION COMING DAYS AND MONTHS

After you’ve imagined scenes from your day-to-day life, turn your attention toward the future. Picture scenarios that you want to happen. See yourself becoming fitter, healthier, calmer, more confident, and more desirable. You may want to envision more success in business, more loving relationships, or healthier boundaries.

STEP 6: MAGNETIZE YOUR FUTURE

As you see yourself months and years down the road, in your perfect, ideal shape and body, imagine that this future version of you becomes a magnet that’s pulling you toward the direction of total success.

STEP 7: BRING IT BACK TO YOUR BODY AND GET RECHARGED
Finally, bring that bright image of your future self back to your body and imagine that super-successful future self becomes you right now, as you’re sitting there. Feel the new you that you’ve just created charging every cell of your body with success.

And then, just before you open your eyes, feel and affirm that the visualization you’ve just done will change your life forever. Say to yourself, With the power of my mind, I’ve created my ideal body. My excess weight easily and effortlessly melts off me, and I allow myself to achieve success in every area of my life, now and always. Below is a visualization exercise you can do to help fast track your weight loss.

She first started imagining pac man type beings eating all the fat cells from the bits she wanted to lose weight from. She was doing it five times a day. She began to lose weight but then was faced with a dilemma. She said, “The first part of the female body to go down during weight loss is the breasts.” She didn’t want that. She’d always been proud in that arena, she relayed.

So she adapted her visualization so that when the pac men were full, instead of just exploding they travelled up the way and deposited the fat onto her breasts. It seemed to work magic.

After 5 months she dropped 21 pounds in weight and gained half a cup size.  She said, “It’s just marvellous.”

And amazingly, she said, she didn’t have any cravings for chocolate and other stuff she was eating so much of.

In a seminar in Sweden that I taught, some of the ladies were laughing heartily through the breakout session. During group feedback on their visualizations, I asked what had been so funny. One of them said they had created the BEST EVER weight loss visualization. Now I was intrigued, as was the rest of the group.

They shared that they imagined themselves as lollypops and Brad Pitt was licking them. And as he did, they got smaller and smaller. I’ll leave that one to your imagination!

In many ways, the brain doesn’t distinguish between real and imagery. If we visualize something happening then the brain can process it in some of the same ways as if it was actually happening.

Of course, you won’t turn into a lollypop, in case you were thinking of trying out that visualization, but the symbolism of the volume of fat getting smaller and smaller and smaller is what the brain might process as real.

I have come across many people who have used visualization as part of their weight loss strategy. Part of the reason it works, I believe, is that the brain is tricked into thinking that the fat is reducing and so it subtly alters our behavior, cravings, motivation, as well as, perhaps, even how the body stores fat and where it is stored.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University might be onto another novel way of using visualization to control weight.

They asked volunteers to imagine eating before they actually ate.

The study involved 51 people who were asked to imagine eating either 3 or 30 units of a particular food. The food in one of their experiments was M&Ms.

One set of volunteers had to imagine eating 3 M&Ms and they also had to imagine putting 30 coins into a laundry machine. Another set of volunteers had to do it the other way around. They imagined eating 30 M&Ms but were to imagine placing only 3 coins into the machine. A third set of volunteers just imagined placing 33 coins into the machine.

The reason for the coins in a machine was because the muscles used are similar to lifting food into your mouth and it was important that the volunteers all imagined the same number of hand movements.

After they did this, they were invited to eat some M&Ms from a bowl in preparation for what they were told was going to be a ‘taste test’. But it wasn’t really a taste test. It was really so that the experimenters could secretly record how many M&Ms they ate.

Incredibly, they found that those who imagined eating the most M&Ms (30) ate much less from the bowl than the other two groups.

The conclusion of the study was that imagining eating the M&Ms suppresses the appetite to eat more of them, just as if we had physically ate them. It kind of makes sense. It’s almost as if the brain thinks, “OK, I’ve had enough now. I’m full,” even though the person hasn’t actually eaten anything at all.

This is known as habituation. As we eat more, after a point our appetite reduces otherwise we’d keep on eating. It’s amazingly that the same thing seems to happen when we just imagine eating.

So if a person actually imagines the full process of eating – i.e., repetitively chewing and swallowing the food – it produces a similar effect in the brain to actually eating the food.

To the brain, the difference between real and imaginary is a thin line. In fact, in the words of Carey Morewedge, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University who led the study, “The difference between imagining and experiencing may be smaller than previously assumed.”

It might be that we can imagine eating a meal, bite for bite, before we eat and then find that we don’t feel like eating as much and therefore weight loss is a natural side-effect. However, the research is still in its infancy and there is no data yet on whether imagining eating affects any of the body’s other systems, like blood sugar, for instance, or even whether it causes us to eat so much less that the body lacks the nutrition it needs.

You might get a kick out of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5KNoIhir-Q

Source: https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-12931/5-tricks-to-visualize-and-get-the-body-you-want.html

Transformational Effect of Useful Beliefs

A belief is a mental aspect where you are convinced that something is true. A 'useful belief' is a better tool for getting out of a rut and achieving your goals than wallowing in misery.

Our beliefs create our reality. Since many of our beliefs are untrue, for example, an anorexic who believes she is fat, these false beliefs create a distorted reality, a reality that does not help us and keeps us unhappy and unfulfilled. When you realize you have a belief that is not serving you well,  consciously try to remove that belief and replace it with another one. 

Some of us don’t want to believe that unhealthy foods, lack of exercise, chronic lack of sleep, alcohol, too much sugar, stress without relief and regeneration will all contribute to overweight and obesity. We “know” these things but we don’t really believe them. If we learn and are convinced what roles they play in our health, we’ll begin to change our self-damaging behavior.

Acquiring new behaviors requires understanding and examining the beliefs and assumptions that drive new actions. They provide the rationale for our intended outcomes, our best-laid plans, and our expectations for success. Beliefs are deemed accurate when we achieve our intended outcomes; they should be questioned when results differ from expectations.

Many change initiatives such as losing weight fail because people focus too much on actions (dieting) and not enough on their underlying beliefs. New behaviors often are not sustained over time because people’s beliefs have not been transformed, and the principles and assumptions needed to sustain the effort are not deeply embedded in the individual.

Useful beliefs challenge you to look at the helpful things in situations that can't be changed, which can end up making the worst situation manageable.  Each time you catch yourself falling into a negative trap, be conscious that you're doing so and ask yourself: Is this useful?

Boosting the belief that you can do it.

When you go into any situation with the attitude that you will surely fail, you greatly reduce your odds of succeeding.  It is essential to focus not just on behavior, but also on your perception of your ability to make the changes you want.

The best way to improve your belief in your ability to succeed is actually to have some success.  Setting concrete and achievable goals, such as eating a healthy breakfast or replacing an after-dinner TV show with a family walk, can build your confidence to set more ambitious goals.

If you’re looking to improve your sense that you can do it, it also can help to look for people in similar circumstances who have made the difficult changes you are trying to make and to surround yourself with people who will encourage your efforts. Read success stories on the internet. If others have done it, so can you.

Lasting change requires more than a quick fix.

Be thoughtful to yourself!

Are you thoughtful to yourself?

Many people try to lose weight and fight themselves with constant inner commentary on how badly they are doing.  Let’s look at some ways we can change the quality of our thoughts to help us instead of hinder us in our quest.

Identify your negative thoughts. Cognitive behavioral therapy practitioners believe that we have the ability to change our behavior by changing our thoughts. Thoughts are the catalyst which leads to certain behaviors. The first step in controlling your thoughts is awareness of their quality. Are they encouraging, motivating, and goal-oriented? Or are they unconstructive, demoralizing and problem-oriented?

Consider keeping a thought journal.  In this journal, write down the way that you perceive different things: yourself, your work or school, your parents, politics, the environment, and so on. What are you telling yourself, especially in stressful situations?  This will force you to pay attention to the critical voice in your head and listen to what it’s saying.

STOP your demoralizing thoughts.  This is a technique from mental training and is used whenever negative and destructive thoughts pop into your head.  Just say „STOP“, out loud or in your head, which breaks the negative pattern you’ve gotten into the habit of using.

Be grateful

Take time every day to recall things you are grateful for.  Instead of reciting a laundry list of items, research shows that a gratitude journal is more effective, especially when the person writes about a handful of instances in depth. Spend a few minutes reliving and savoring these moments that you write about. The gratitude journal will help you remember the positive things in your life.

Use positive imagery to re-program your brain

Scientists believe that we may experience real-world and imaginary actions in similar ways, explains Aymeric Guillot, Ph.D., a professor at the Center of Research and Innovation in Sport at University Claude Bernard Lyon, in France. Whether we climb up stairs or only picture it, we activate many of the same neural networks—paths of interconnected nerve cells that link what your body does to the brain impulses that control it. For example, imagining yourself doing movements can help you get better at them: Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus executed each shot in his mind before taking it. Simply envisioning a movement elicits nervous system responses comparable to those recorded during physical execution of the same action.

Using visualization makes it clear to your brain in which direction you want to move. The more intense and detailed you imagine, the more likely you are to achieve what you are striving for.

There are two types of visualization, each of which serves a distinct purpose, but for greatest effect, they should be used together. The first method is outcome visualization and involves envisioning yourself achieving your goal. To do this, create a detailed mental image of the desired outcome using all of your senses. The second type of visualization is process visualization. It involves envisioning each of the actions necessary to achieve the outcome you want. Here you focus on completing each of the steps you need to achieve your goal, but not on the overall goal itself.

So, every day, I 1) make a mental picture of myself with the body I am striving for and 2) I imagine eating appetizing whole foods and doing my daily routines of exercise and meditation. This just takes a few minutes but it’s fun and it motivates me.

Try meditation, yoga, or spend a few minutes just taking some deep breaths. Our brains do a lot of chattering and this near-universal tendency is one that meditation has been shown to address energetically. Brain studies have found, among other things, that meditation can deactivate the area of the brain that’s thought to be responsible for mind chatter—the default mode network (DMN). New research indicates that mindfulness meditation actually reduces the subjective experience of intrusive thoughts popping into your head.

Try this: “Become aware of the sensation of breathing…noticing where in the body the physical sensations of breathing are vivid for you, right now…choosing one place to follow the breath… And each time you notice your attention has wandered, gently bringing your attention back to the breath and the sensations in your body…”

And other studies, like one from Harvard (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2840837/), have confirmed that meditation not only reduces activity but also affects the volume of the brain in certain regions—for instance, reducing volume in the amygdala, the seat of anxiety, fear and emotion. And more recently, the same team has found that increases in volume in other areas—those associated with mood and arousal—are linked with more subjective well-being in the participants. That is, they report feeling better and being happier after engaging in daily meditation practice.

Avoid media that causes negative thinking. 

Research shows that negative thinking is supported by media with negative comparisons. (Mulgrew, K. E; Volcevski-Kostas, D. “Short term exposure to attractive and muscular singers in music video clips negatively affects men's body image and mood.” Body Image. Vol.9(4) )

If you notice media making you feel negative, one approach is to avoid that media. If you find yourself frequently comparing yourself to a certain model or athlete, avoid magazines, shows, or games that feature them. Even temporary exposure to media depicting ideal images has been shown to negatively impact self-esteem and self-image.

I even avoid newspapers and newsfeeds including frightening information and pictures. That is the kind of news that produces fear.

Love Your Body

We all love somebody. But do you love YOUR body?!

Feeling good about your body makes you exude self-esteem and helps motivate you to care for the most important body you know.

Live your life being kind to your body. You exercise because you want healthy joints and muscles. You stretch regularly because the muscles, tendons, ligaments are grateful for your care. Your diet is fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and beans because your body needs the best fuel you can find. You give your body and mind ample time to recover and regenerate by sleeping enough and meditating (moments of stillness).

You wouldn't even think about using drugs.  Perhaps you are feeling strong enough to kick the deadly smoking habit.  

I’d like to see a real movement toward kindness, especially to your own best buddy – your body.

When you shower, lovingly smooth on cream or oils to keep your skin hydrated. Take time to pleasure in the sensuous feeling. Enjoy how your skin drinks in your loving care.

Don’t forget your water – lots of times we are thirsty and not really hungry.

You don’t need to take all those glossy photos in magazines and the like seriously. Do not compare yourself with them.  A good friend of mine retouches those pictures as her job! She’s shown me the before & after shots – amazing what a good retoucher can do.  Just not so good for our self-confidence, if we think that’s the way we are supposed to look.

Stand in front of a mirror every day and find something you appreciate about your body. Be grateful for your gifts and DO NOT compare yourself with anyone.  I am always thankful for my muscles giving training a real go.  I feel gratitude when my nose picks up a lovely scent or my ears (plus brain) make it possible to enjoy music or an interesting conversation.  And my feet have spent many hours getting me around the dance floor.

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS FOR HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS

Our minds react to questions like a fish to water – it dives right in and enjoys itself.

Questions are powerful. They shift our focus in ways we can control. Yes, the “wrong” questions can aim our confidence over a cliff like “Why do I always eat too much?”. The brain always finds an answer – not always true but an answer. “Because you’re a pig!” or perhaps “Because you are a complete failure/idiot …” fill in the blank.

Why do you want to lose weight?

What are the reasons behind your desire to lose weight? Make a list of every reason you can think of. Go through the list and “feel” each reason – does the thought bring you joy?

Do you view your new way of eating as temporary?

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the word  „diet“ itself. The root of the word is derived from the Greek diaita, which means “manner of living.” A steady diet is simply something experienced repeatedly and is only good or bad for you depending on what that steady diet consists of.

The connotation behind the word diet is the quick fix. Still, ineffective or not, diets are popular because they do work in the short term, and that is good enough for many. It seems people would rather face temporary discomfort and enjoy immediate (but temporary) results, than face the more daunting task of looking at the hard truths of what has made them overweight or unhealthy. And adopting a lifestyle conducive to good health and fitness in the long run.

Do you focus on why you eat?

When you simplify your nutrition philosophy to this statement ‘I eat to nourish my body so I will thrive’,  you will be more motivated to create a nutrient-dense plate which naturally crowds out the junk. Use this motivation when making meal choices and you will choose more whole foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and other good-for-you real foods. This is also a great way to banish that dieting mentality for good and, instead, celebrate your plate and the food you eat!

Is this the best time?

Is this a good time in your life right now to make changes to your lifestyle?  If you are in the middle of a saddening break-up, have a new job you are trying to wrap your head around, are caring for old/sick parents or a new baby, it is much harder to change habits. Start small and relatively simple like drinking water before every meal or taking the stairs whenever they are an option. Even one flight of stairs is great.

Are your goals realistic?

What do you believe is a healthy rate of weight loss and is this realistic?  Losing weight means shifting behaviors, but keep in mind incremental changes will be easier to manage than a full-out lifestyle makeover. Adding ten minutes of exercise to your day is more doable than adding an hour. You can take it up another notch in a week or two.

What would you do or how would you act if you were at your ideal weight right now?

You say things like, “When I lose weight I’ll be ______” or “When I lose weight I’ll do_____” as if life starts when you reach a certain weight or size.

If you go out and do all of those things now, your dream body will be knocking on your door sooner than later! When you get out and start living your red-carpet dream, and feel those feelings, your dreams it will come speeding to you so fast you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it earlier.

What actions will I take RIGHT NOW?

Weight management should address nutrition, fitness and emotional habits. Make sure your strategy includes specific behavior changes in these areas, like having healthy snacks, biking to the office instead of driving, and dealing with stress by going for a walk instead of reaching for the cookies.

What will be the consequences to your life and health if you don't lose weight?

Are you staring diabetes in the face?  Are you unable to romp with your kids?  Are stairs something to be avoided like the plague?  Do you drive EVERYWHERE?! Are your joints getting stiff?  Do you get breathless easily?

What will this mean for your Future Self. Who is responsible for your Future Self if not you? Are you doing the best you can now for that wonderful person of the future?

What are your stumbling stones?

Your goals will become much more achievable when you consider and avoid the kinks in your plan. My Waterloo is evening after work. I love to stop by the store and buy wine and snacks for a quick mood fix. This alone has added 10 kilograms. And two sizes in my clothes.

What are your “self-sabotagers”?

It has been proven that any sort of change is 80% mental and 20% mechanical, and yet most diets focus on the mechanics. Addressing that self-sabotaging inner voice is a huge part of the equation.

I have found that when you put a name to that voice (mine is Brunhilde) your ability to stop that voice uttering unhealthy suggestions and persist with healthy habits is so much easier.  Slip on your boxing gloves and take that voice down!

What events/circumstances or people are most likely to make you fall off your healthy lifestyle plan?

Are other people supportive of your efforts to lose weight? Some people feel threatened by successful efforts at losing weight and getting fit. They might offer you the wrong foods saying “This little piece won’t hurt you!”. If I haven’t learned anything else at Weight Watchers, it’s that “IT ALL COUNTS!”.  You will not be able to run off that candy bar or piece of cake. It would take hours running at full speed. Get enough people on your support team and avoid the tempters and nay-sayers at all costs.

How will you mark your progress?
How will you measure your progress (centimeters, kilograms, time spent, kilometers walked)?

If you are watching the scale numbers, be sure to weigh yourself at the same time every day, even though the scale may not give an accurate picture of your progress. Weight doesn't always drop at an even rate. And if you're gaining muscle as you lose fat, it may not dip much at all. Still, you need to get feedback often. Hence the scale.

An even better sign that you're likely doing well is if you're sticking to your plan. Watch for clothes that feel looser, a sign your waist is shrinking. Keep a journal to track increased energy.

Most important, be sure to acknowledge your success, every step of the way. When you take note of your progress, you're likely to stay on track. Just don’t celebrate with a donut!

What types of exercise or ways of moving your body do you enjoy? Think of when you were younger.

You don’t have to go to the gym to lose weight. Sitting on an elliptical for an hour might not inspire you. Did you ever play badminton or volley ball? How about touch-football. Loads of young people like to swim or dive. Do you remember playing tag? How about hopscotch?

I quit my fitness center in February and have enjoyed training with the wonderful videos on YouTube.  As a matter of fact, I am more regular with my training than when I tried to fit it in at set times. Now, I can train a 6 am or 4 pm.  I can do a full hour or only 20 minutes.

How do you usually eat your food?

If you pay more attention on HOW you eat instead of WHAT you eat, shedding the weight no longer feels like you are depriving yourself.

Of course, what you put into your mouth matters, but so often when we eat the right things we still don’t lose.  If you are always distracted when you’re eating (watching TV, reading an email, checking your phone, reading, distracted),  your body, 1) has no idea you’re eating because your mind is so distracted, and you could end up overeating. And 2) might be stressed! When you are stressed you often increase fat intake yet your body burns less fat.

Do you eat enough veggies?

Get five to six cups veggies (raw or cooked) daily for good health and energy.  Increasing veggie intake not only boosts general health, it helps to prevent disease, too.  Plus, veggies also make excellent hunger tamers. Deeply colored veggies naturally suppress appetite and increase fullness from their fiber and essential fatty acid content, making these nutritional gems something you should aim to include at every meal! It helps to have veggies like cucumbers, carrots, red peppers, fennel, etc. cut up and ready to eat in your fridge. Add a cocktail tomato or two and you are set.

Are you still eating white „foods“?

Want to start losing weight immediately? Vow to rid your kitchen of the white stuff—white flour, pasta, and rice. Refined carbohydrates like these are basically empty calories and eating them too often can cause weight gain and even metabolic disorders. After you’ve cleaned out your kitchen, restock the shelves with whole grains. Unlike refined grains, whole grains deliver powerful nutrients and antioxidants that bolster immunity, help prevent cancer and heart disease and slow aging. Healthy selections include barley, oats, brown rice, polenta and quinoa.

Do you get enough sleep?

Make a resolution to get seven to eight hours of sleep every night. Sleep deprivation causes ghrelin, the hunger-stimulating hormone to go into overdrive while simultaneously reducing levels of leptin, the hormone that suppresses appetite. In short: When you’re tired your hormones work against you, stimulating hunger even when you’re full which can lead to overeating and weight gain.

Do you vary your life?

Resolve to do something that’s both healthy and new once a week. Try a new way of preparing vegetables, participate in a Cross-Fit, Zumba or cooking class, go on a guided nature walk, or join a CSA [community-supported agriculture group] early to help with planting. The options are truly limitless, and doing new things is fun. It engages your mind, keeps you active, adds excitement to your life and helps you meet new people and develop supportive friendships. Plus losing weight!

Do you meditate?

The practice of meditation (or just plain stillness) can help make you calmer and less emotionally reactive which, in turn, can help you lose weight. Make a commitment to meditate daily for ten minutes. Even 5 minutes of mindful stillness works wonders.

A 2014 study found that individuals who meditate are less apt to have bouts of emotional or binge eating. In another study, individuals that meditated lost more weight (and kept it off) than their counterparts who didn’t take time to relax. Remember, a thought always precedes a bite of food. Train the mind to change what you eat for the better.

Do you lift weights?

Lifting weights challenges the muscles to grow, ultimately increasing their fat-burning power and you become leaner and stronger while you’re at it. Weekly weight-lifting sessions are key to promoting a strong metabolism and healthy blood glucose levels.

Do you still have an „all-or-nothing“ mentality?

Don’t think: ‘Well, I ate one piece of candy, so I may as well eat the entire package.’

This type of all-or-nothing mentality gets us in trouble when it comes to weight loss and maintenance. Almost nobody can eat healthy 100% of the time.  Strive to eat right 80 to 90 percent of the time and allow yourself some limited dietary indulgences. If you fall off the bandwagon, hop right back on.

What are three things you need to begin doing to lose weight?

1)

2)

3)