Burn Fat, Lose Weight Fast, Melt Fat Now: Enough Already. . . !

Learn to pay close attention to your behaviours around food, and you won't have to succumb to fad diets and marketing trickery ever again.

Everywhere I turn (probably because my mind is focused on dropping a few pounds right now) there are magazine and television ads touting their best advice on how to lose weight fast. "Look over here, our product kicks butt! This is the best way to lose weight! Buy now!" "Twenty pounds in three weeks, thirty pounds in one month. . ."

C'mon people. Are you kidding me?

I've been on holidays for the past couple of weeks--in more ways than one: too much food (good and bad), too much wine and beer, and not enough exercise have left me with an extra five pounds. (I don't really know for sure, because I no longer weigh myself--that became an obsession that's a topic for another blog). I just know that everything feels tight.

I'm not happy about it, but I know that I can fix it, and I'm doing that right now. I'm back to my regular workouts, which are pretty tough, and I've cut back on my food consumption. I eat healthy, whole foods, limiting my carb consumption, eating when I'm hungry, stopping when I'm full, blah, blah, blah. . .

How do I do it?

Over a lot of years, I've learned, through various techniques and trial and error, to quickly correct my bad behaviours, and settle right back into healthy, normal eating habits. These good habits are so ingrained that it's easy to retrieve them, and, as such, I'm feeling better already.

My point is that it didn't always work this way. Unfortunately, overindulgence is a nightmare for millions of people who struggle with food addictions and weight loss. They lose control once, and it's game over.

It doesn't have to be that way.

The power of our minds is not to be taken lightly. We're victims of our own conditioning, the food and marketing industries, and our addictions. (And, bad, crappy food contributes to our addictions to fat and sugar.)

I say victims, because at lot of what we think and do is out of our control. It's buried so deep within our subconscious minds that it feels like there's no hope. I know, 'cause I've been there.

One way to dig yourself out of the crap is through education. I know things now that trigger certain good behaviours that easily correct bad, unhealthy behaviours. I know things now that make me repulse at my old eating habits, so that I no longer indulge. I know things now that keep me on track and on target with goals and aspirations related to health and fitness. If I didn't know these things, through my personal education and experience, I'm sure I'd be spiraling through the same hell I suffered so long ago.

One of my goals for this blog -- and my writing -- is to educate. I strongly believe that on the other side of education and knowledge is freedom. That freedom is what we all strive for. No matter what our thing is, we want to be free of it. Free from the pain; free from the suffering; and, free from the aversion it brings.

We all strive for health and happiness. All of us. We're no different than the rest. But we're rooted and trapped in our minds and don't know the way out. There is a way out, though, but it's not through the door we used to.

The way out starts from within. Sadly, we're conditioned to relieve our suffering through outside sources. Things. But until we begin to look inside, at ourselves, we'll never find relief for our pain and suffering.

Something to think about. Something to ponder. . .

Please let me know what you think. Share your story. Feel free to comment on this and other posts so that we all know we're not alone!

Cheers
Janet

Beginning Steps: Starting Your Weight Loss Program

As mentioned in the previous post, the best weight loss program is one that helps to create and maintain healthy habits for life. Sounds easy, but it's not. Our minds are complex machines with highly, refined tools that enable us to operate safely and efficiently in our chaotic world.

Unfortunately, those very tools that allow us to drive a car, ride a bike, or move through our morning routines without thinking, are driving our obsessive, compulsive behaviours around food. But there is a solution.

Behaviour change starts with the understanding that our behaviours are subconsciously, mastered programs that lie beneath the surface of our selves. By now, if you've read my previous posts, you get what I'm talking about. Our chemical addictions and subconscious, emotional drives are making us fat, unhappy, and feeling out of control.

Can we change?

The good news is that all behaviours can be changed. That includes our impulsive drives to eat too much bad food (high in salt, fat, and sugar).

The first step to changing any behaviour is to become aware. We have to know and understand what triggers cause us to react; what behaviours are present when we act; and, what emotions are at hand when we indulge. All we have to do is stop and think. Here's how to begin.

Taking Charge: Overruling the bad guy

When we fail at talking ourselves out of the cheesecake, or side order of fries, were acting (or reacting) with our subconscious minds. Remember, the decision to indulge isn't really a decision at all. It's a deeply ingrained, automatic behaviour that was created over time, with lots of memory and repetition. It's a habit. It's beyond our control.

So, in order to change, we need to take control. We need to step into consciousness. When we're conscious, the subconscious mind can't operate. What a great opportunity to work on creating new habits. Because, really, that's all we're trying to do: replace old habits with new habits. We do this by waking up. By becoming aware of our thoughts and actions. And, we begin to consciously contradict what we're about to do, or, sometimes, what we've already done.

Waking from a dream

Our subconscious minds rule ninety-five percent of our days. Frightening, so let's change it.

Say you're at a social event, or the cottage for the weekend, somewhere where there's lots of food (usually bad) and drink available. It's difficult to resist. Our drive to overindulge comes from our subconscious. But this is the real world. This is how you have to live. Temptation is all around, and it's going nowhere fast.

So, instead of politely pretending that you don't want to dive face-first into that bowl of ice cream, you need to take control. You need to consciously replace the old wants and desires with a new perspective. In order to coexist with the triggers and stimuli that temp us into overindulgence, we need to learn how to master new behaviours around food. It's not easy, but it can be done. And, it's the only way to stop the dieting and compulsive eating cycle for good.

Permanent weight loss means in with the new and out with the old

Changing behaviours is simply creating new habits while fizzling out the old ones. Say you have a routine (or habit) of picking up a disgustingly, calorie-dense snack, loaded with fat, salt, and sugar every time you stop at your favourite coffee shop. You can't go in and just buy a coffee. You know you shouldn't get a snack. You're not hungry, because you just had lunch an hour ago, but you simply can't resist.

The first step in changing that automatic behaviour (or habit) is to become aware that you're doing it. As soon as you walk into the coffee shop and say, "Hmmm, every time I come here, I come out with a snack that I know I shouldn't have and deeply regret it later. . ." you're changing your brain. You're halting the automatic behaviour, even for a second, and creating new connections in your brain.

Let's go deeper

Thinking about your feelings of disgust and regret and consciously knowing how you'll feel about your purchase all contribute to the act of awareness. This is good. This is the beginning of change. Even if you absolutely can't stand the temptation and buy a donut, you've momentarily short-circuited the neurological process of the bad habit.

Furthermore, each time you go into the coffee shop with those conscious thoughts about the emotions, actions, and consequences of your temptation, and you leave with just a coffee, you're neurologically strengthening your new behaviour and weakening the old one. So, guess what might happen over time. . . ?

My challenge to you. . . O.K. I dare you!

Try this for a week, and then another week, and before you know it, you'll have mastered a new behaviour. If you give in to temptation, that's O.K. You're human, and this is hard. The same chemicals and brain centres that are responsible for drug addiction are active here. We need to start thinking of this as the addiction that it is and treating it as such. 

With constant effort and repetition of new behaviours, though, you will prevail. I'll continue this discussion in the next few posts, but, for now, I urge you to begin your journey by challenging yourself this week. Take one bad behaviour (one at a time), and practice replacing it with a new behaviour of your choice.

It helps to turn the old behaviour into the enemy. For example, every time you go to eat foods laden with sugar, fat, and salt (highly processed, unhealthy foods) tell yourself how disgusting they are, and that you can't possibly put them into your body. Tell yourself that your body is precious, the only one you've got, and it deserves better.

Eventually, with time, effort, and consistency, your new behaviour will become habit and you'll react to it subconsciously, just like the old one. Oh, and by the way, the old behaviour is now quashed, not gone, mind you, but quashed!

Good luck with your challenge. Please comment or email me at info@janetjstone.ca if you have any questions about any of this. I'm happy to help.

Cheers, Janet

The Best Weight Loss Diet: How to end the dieting cycle for good

The best weight loss diet is a combination of making permanent change for life, and changing our behaviours around food. The hunt for weight loss diets that perpetuate the dieting cycle continue to consume people in their desperate search for a solution to weight management.

Weight management starts with the internal belief that you are a thin, healthy person, and, from there, you can adopt lifestyle behaviours that fit with who you really are. I've heard so many overweight people say that they're a thin person on the inside. "This fat person is not who I am," they say. So how do we take that conscious belief and make it a reality? We begin on the inside where our behaviours around food originate.  This is our control centre, where our current eating habits lie.

Becoming Conscious: Why are we overweight?

How can we possibly find a solution for change until we know how we got where we are, until we understand the behaviours that continue to drive us to overeat and crave the wrong foods? I believe there are two primary influences (outside of psychological convictions) that have contributed to our society of overweight over-eaters:

1. The reward centre in our brains is overloaded with the proliferation of high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt, processed foods. We're so far gone (physically addicted) when it comes to gaining control over our chemical drives around processed food that these bad, obsessive behaviours are ingrained. So, we're forced--over and over--into desperate, dieting techniques that merely add to our demise.
   
   These behaviours will not go away until we consciously change. So, unless your new weight loss diet begins with the foundation of permanent change, you'll, inevitably, go back to your old ways. Eventually the weight will come back, and you'll begin the cycle again.

1. We eat too much.
   One reason we eat too much is that we simply can't stop for the reasons I've stated above: we're addicted. Secondly, because portions sizes and portion control are out of whack, we've become completely out of touch with our bodies. We no longer know what it feels like to be hungry; to feed our bodies simply because they need and are asking for nourishment.
   
   We clean our plates no matter how much food is put on them. Unfortunately, super-size has become the norm. And, we eat as though we can't get more, forgetting that there is an abundance, and we'll eat again in four or six hours. We forget that any excess will get stored as fat and that we'll work twice as hard to get it off than to have pushed ourselves away from the table.

What we need is an attitude adjustment

Dieting is dieting. It's deprivation and starvation. No wonder it takes so much will power and strength to begin a "diet" on Monday morning. It's horrible! And no way to live. 

My question to you is this: When you start that diet, do you think about what will happen after it's finished? When you've lost the weight, how will you eat? What will you eat? How will you deal with grocery shopping and temptation and celebration? How will you react when bad food is available to you? How will you choose what to do?

I can answer all of those questions for you. The only behaviour you know is what got you in this mess in the first place. The overeating, poor decisions, and bad reactions to situations will not change unless you change them.

Dieting is not a long-term, permanent solution.

Dieting doesn't create new, positive behaviours around food. It doesn't teach you how to say no and feel good about it. It doesn't teach you how to enjoy a treat now and then and get right back to healthy eating--not dieting--the next day.

Dieting only makes you want food more because you've suffered and deprived your body of what it needs to be healthy. The only successful weight loss plan is the one that embraces whole, healthy, unprocessed foods as a permanent way of life. A plan that changes core beliefs about food and teaches us how we can enjoy food as the beautiful, nourishing part of life that it is.

Healthy Eating Made Easy

I’ve often heard people complain that buying and preparing whole, healthy foods is hard, expensive, and takes too much time. In truth, healthy eating is no more difficult than what you do now. The way you currently shop, meal plan, and prepare food is a conditioned response to your subconscious beliefs and preferences about food that have been reinforced over the years. In other words, habit.

Any new behaviour that is reinforced over and over again eventually becomes a habit. A new habit takes about twenty-eight days to create. So, in about three weeks time, you can replace your old shopping and eating habits with new behaviours.

Creating Healthy Eating Habits: Start small 

Pick one behaviour to change each week. For example, if you usually purchase frozen, prepared foods for most of your meals through the week, choose one or two days that you think you can comfortably prepare a home cooked meal from scratch. Pick up fresh vegetables, whole grain pasta or brown rice, and boneless, skinless chicken breasts and you’ve got a healthy, low-carb (sugar) meal. Make extra and you have an easy lunch or dinner for the next day. If you currently buy lunch every day, prepare lunch for a couple of days of the week, gradually increasing that number over time.

Each visit to the grocery store is an opportunity to explore unfamiliar territory. If you normally spend more time in the frozen food section, you can switch it up for a week. Ban yourself from frozen, processed foods, and take a look at what’s available in the produce isle.

Practice, practice, practice

Practice makes perfect, but it takes conscious effort. Plan your strategy before you leave the house. Set a goal and have an action plan ready for shopping day. Know the specials of the week ahead of time and plan healthy meals accordingly.

Remember, one step at a time. Before you know it you'll have a handful of new healthy eating behaviours that will enhance your life. Once new behaviours become habit, they require little or no thought and begin to match the old habits in ease and comfort.

To your health.

How Can Understanding Behaviour Change Help You Lose Weight?

Why is change so darn hard?

I suppose if it were easy no one would struggle with weight and food. We'd all stay at our ideal weights, exercise regularly, and not have the horrible, emotional attachments to our bad diets that we do. But change is difficult, and there's a reason.

Every thought and behaviour we have is defined and controlled by biological and neurological connections in our brains and bodies. When we do anything, whether we're brushing our teeth or grocery shopping, we're operating on a subconscious set of connections that were formed when we first took up the behaviour, and they were strengthened and solidified (with repetition) over time.

We've all had the experience of arriving at our destination while driving without consciously remembering how we got there. That's because our brains and bodies were driven (pun intended), subconsciously, by a fixed set of neurological connections while we thought about something else. It's the same with all behaviour--good or bad.

What do emotions have to do with it?

Behaviours come with emotional attachments. When you end up on the couch with a bag of chips, and you don't know how you got there, it's because the simple thought of the chips created an emotion that caused you to react.

When you thought about the chips your body released some feel-good chemicals in anticipation of eating them--a reward. That initial thought and the emotional response to that thought are what drive our behaviours. Eventually the process reverses and the chemicals begin to drive our thoughts, which drive our emotions . . . and we have a viscous, addictive cycle  So, even though we might want something badly (a healthy lifestyle), we're struggling against some pretty, powerful connections that control our thoughts and actions on a subconscious level. Sounds a bit hopeless--but it's not.

Can we change?

The good news is that nothing is written in stone. All behaviours can be changed. I didn't say it was easy. But it can be done, and your life and happiness are worth the effort.

When we attempt to create a new behaviour--deviating from an old routine--we create new connections in our brains that didn't exist before. So, for example, if we go to the grocery store and decide that this week we're going to scrap the white, starchy carbs (that are very bad for us) and buy whole grain bread and pasta, we've literally changed our brains. New neuronal connections are formed based on the new behaviour.

Let's say that making this healthy choice makes you feel good. Now you've attached a positive, emotional response to this new behaviour. (Don't forget, everything we do is emotionally and chemically driven.)
If you performed this new behaviour once and reverted to your old ways, those new connections would quickly fade and die. However, if you kept at it (despite any obstacles), each time you made healthy choices those connections and the emotional chemicals attached to them would grow stronger and stronger, eventually solidifying the new behaviour. The best part is that the connections to the old behaviour grow weak from lack of use, just like our muscles. Eventually the new, healthy behaviour takes over, becoming a subconscious way of life.

Use will power while you've got it.

As I've said before, will power will only get you so far. Eventually it will fade. It does help during the tough beginning stages of change, though, as your brain and body learn the new behaviour. When the behaviour becomes habit, the connections are then fixed and become part of who you are. You no longer think about it. It becomes a way of life, and you don't need will power any more.

This is how permanent change takes place. It takes time, effort, repetition, and consistency. When you begin to understand how change is part of our neurological and biochemical makeup, it's easier to pursue. Can you understand why going on a fad diet doesn't help you make lasting change?

We need to think long-term here. It's not about losing a certain amount of weight in a short period of time, gaining the weight back, and repeating the process. It's about lasting change. Because, the powerful chemical (emotional) and neurological responses that are attached to bad, unhealthy behaviours will always pull us back to our old ways. We can't help it; we're wired that way. However, we have the power to rewire our brains and change our lives forever.

In future posts, I'll help you move through the necessary steps for lasting change .

Let's Talk Jillian Michaels, Shall We?

If you follow "The Biggest Loser", you may know that Jillian Michaels has a new show. In "Losing It With Jillian", she follows families that are struggling with weight and health issues (she actually moves in with them for a week), and turns them around. Kinda like "Biggest Loser", but on a more intimate level.

I like Jillian. I think she's one of those celebrities that you either love or hate. Now, I don't agree with everything she says or does, but then again, I don't agree with everything anyone says or does. However, I respect her for a couple of reasons.

When I was actively working in the fitness industry, I was continually frustrated with the lack of response (from the entire industry--club owners to sales to trainers) to people's emotional reasons for wanting to get healthy. There was no time or structure or training available to get to the real issues. By ignoring the emotional side of the equation, people dropped out of their programs like flies.

Emotions drive our behaviours. Jillian's main focus in all her episodes is to get to the root of the emotional crisis in people's lives. We're so stuck in a dreamy-fog that most of us need either a catastrophe or a Jillian to get us off the couch. Her "in your face" style pushes people beyond the surface until they finally see how they're killing themselves and their families. Everyone has pain. Everyone has something that drives them toward bad behaviours. This is where we begin.

Jillian's tough guy approach in the gym goes way beyond simply getting in shape. When these people accomplish physical feats they believed were impossible, they move to another level of self. It's like a tipping point. They move past the place where they've been stuck for a long time, and they change. The blockage is gone, and a new core belief sets in, allowing them to do what they came to do.

The other reason I like this show is that Jillian leaves these folks on their own for six weeks. They're forced to work together and with themselves to reach the individual goals they've set. This teaches them real-life behaviours, under real circumstances, that will go a long way to solidifying their new habits. Each time we stick with our goals--despite challenges--we're strengthening and solidifying the connections in our brains that will turn our new behaviours into habits, and, eventually, into a way of life. Jillian taught them how to workout, how to eat healthy, whole foods, and then left them alone to handle the day-to-day reality of their lives. This is how we create permanent change.

But in order to move to this place, we always need to get to the root of what drives our behaviours. We must become aware, and learn to point the arrow inward. Only then will we change our core beliefs from "I can't" to "I can".

Aligning What We Want With Who We Are

Who are you?
Changing something about your life without knowing who you are is like trying to get to a destination without knowing where you are. You can't do it.

We're made up of ideas and beliefs and values that blend together and represent our lives. They tell us how to behave, how to work, how to think; basically how to live.When we have an idea that something's not right and we begin to think about change, we can easily get sidelined (sometimes through desperation) into pursuing change that fits more with someones life other than our own.

How does this happen?
Let's say your weight's started to creep up a little and it's affecting your life, negatively. You decide you want to lose some weight. Great. So what do you do? Maybe you had success on a particular diet before, or you go online and see what's knew and quick in the weight loss arena.

You find one you think you'll like, buy all the specific foods, join a gym so you can do the workouts, and you get started. Fantastic. The first couple of weeks go well, and you've actually dropped a few pounds. This is working!

However, in the third week, you find you're motivation lagging, your enthusiasm for the workouts waning, and you start to crave what you used to eat. You cheat a little on the diet, start skipping some workouts, and begin to get down on yourself. What happened?


Aligning your goals with your values
Usually when we decide to act on something we go in feet first without using our heads. We don't take the time to really examine why it is that we want something, and we fail to look beyond the obvious: 'I need to lose weight, so I'll diet and go to the gym.'

Simple? Not really.

Let's say, instead, that you sit down with yourself and go through the question and answer process that we discussed in the previous post. What did you find out?

You hate the gym; you hate all the fit people prancing around, showing off their bodies; and you despise the thought of showing up there. Secondly, you really miss all the good food you were eating, and when you thought about it, you really do eat healthy food, you just need to cut back a little and remove the junk.

Through your analysis, you discovered that the weight gain was do to stress at work. Food became an elixir when exercise would have been a better choice. Which, by the way, you prefer to do outside, alone, in nature. It brings you peace.

So what values can we take from this exercise? Easy. You value good food and exercise as a way of life; you value health; you value nature; and, you value time for yourself. Now take this information and build a weight loss program, based on YOUR values, lifestyle, and capabilities, and take control.

Motivation pulls us either toward or away from something. The key to successful change is finding out what is truly motivating your desire for change, and building a plan that fits your life--not some imagined life.

The Power of Goals

Life is never what it appears to be, so having specific goals and a solid vision of where you're headed (your radar) will help you correct any circumstance that tries to blow you off course.

One of the greatest lessons I've learned is that nothing in life is permanent. But as long as I have a clear focus and a goal, I can stay on course no matter what. When life gets in the way, instead of giving up, I change course--shifting, adjusting, or adapting to a situation in order to stay afloat.

I usually have a clear idea of the number and types of workouts that I want to do each week. And, I'm very aware of the purpose of those workouts: interval workouts will build my cardiovascular endurance so that I can enjoy my longer bike rides and hikes, and resistance training will strengthen my muscles, decreasing fatigue and workload when I'm out on my adventures. But sometimes life gets in the way, and I have to make other plans.

I recently had a spontaneous weekend away, and instead of postponing workouts until we got back, I decided to improvise a little. I had planned a weight workout for Thursday night, but since we would be on the road, we got up a little earlier Thursday morning and did a short, intense, interval bike ride before work. Friday night was supposed to be a longer bike ride, but instead, we took exercise bands with us and did an intense, twenty minute, full-body workout in the hotel room before a day of shopping.

It was important for me to stay on schedule with my workout plan; I had a goal and remained focused. With a couple of modifications and adjustments I was able to stay on track, and instead of feeling guilty for passing on the workouts, my body and mind were grateful.

Remember, a change in plans doesn't mean failure. It simply allows us to use our creative skills to adjust our course and navigate towards our vision. Staying connected to our goals gives us power and options when life gets in the way.

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
--George Bernard Shaw

Who's Benefiting From Diet Plans? Not You!

Guess what? Fad diets, cleanses, and programs that stray too far from the norm simply don't cut it when it comes to permanent lifestyle change. The only ones benefiting from these diets are the commercial enterprises that create and sell them. "Dieting is a multi-billion dollar industry. Our constant failure is their success.

Why Don't Diets Work?

Why don't they work? Because they don't address the basic model for behavior change. Let's face it, we all live in the real world with real temptations, stresses, and time constraints. Diets don't teach portion control and balance while eating real, whole foods available to us every day. If we don't learn how to function in the real world, we're doomed to repeat that all-too-familiar dieting cycle each time we "end" a diet.

What happens when you finish a diet plan? You've stuck to your diet, reached your goal weight, and . . . now what? Where do you go from here? Right back to your very real subconscious beliefs that constantly pull you in the wrong direction. Let's say that the "diet" was super low cal, devoid of carbs, and deprived you of every goodie you love: chocolate, wine, artisan breads . . . . Need I go on?

Commercial diets may help you drop the weight, initially. But they are missing a vital ingredient that is crucial to long-term, weight management: Permanent behavior change. You need to train your mind and body to behave around food in the very circumstances that make you weak, eventually changing your core beliefs about food.

The only way to change bad habits around food is to create new, positive behaviors that eventually become permanent ways of being. This teaches you how to cheat occasionally, recover from bad days, and love food for its beauty and nourishment, not as a quick psychological fix.

We've all heard the saying, "It takes twenty-eight days to create a new habit." Well that's true because, when we consistently think, act, and become our new behavior, it becomes fixed in our brains and bodies. New neuronal connections are formed and strengthened over time (with repetition), solidifying the new behavior, making it automatic. This is how we change.

What Do You Want?

Ask yourself what you really want? Is it to continue with yo-yo dieting: losing and gaining, losing and gaining for the rest of your life? No one wants that. I'm making an assumption here, but I would think that most people who have suffered with food and weight management simply want stability. I did.

My dream was to stop obsessing over food. I wanted to enjoy and be grateful for beautiful food, eat healthy, and learn to think of food as fuel my body instead of my emotions. I've fulfilled that dream, and so can you.

Any diet plan that takes you away from normal daily life will fail in the long run. Consistent practice in the basics of healthy, food choices (which means you can eat anything), portion control, and an active lifestyle will not only teach you how to live in the real world, but will change the way you think and react around food. You will learn to love and appreciate good food, and you will be in control of your weight, for life.

You deserve it!

Why Awareness is a Vital Step in Behavior Change

In the last post, I introduced you to the concept of awareness. Now let's look more closely at why being consciously aware of our behaviors is so important to your weight loss efforts.

Awareness gives you the power

You can't control your behavior, therefore, your life, if you're not aware of what you're doing. When you become present, your thoughts, actions, and behaviors are controlled by your conscious mind, not the subconscious beliefs that run the show when you're not looking. And, let's face it, most of the time we're not looking. When you slow down and become aware of your thoughts and behaviors, you're better equipped to create new, healthy behaviors and make them stick.

Here's how it works. Let's go back to our donut example from the previous post. Instead of grabbing the donut and unconsciously wolfing it down, I pause for a second. The fact that I pause means I've moved into a conscious way of thinking. I've temporarily stepped out of my subconscious programming. Yay!

Now I ask myself, 'Do I really want this and why?' My answer: Yes, I want it. Because it tastes sooooo good, and will make me feel darn good right now. As soon as I eat the donut dopamine will flood my brain and I'll feel fantastic, for a mere second. Who am I kidding . . . ? Bingo--wrong reason to eat a donut, although I can't really think of a good one.

'Am I hungry?' Answer: No. I just ate breakfast. How can I be hungry?

Hmmmm, and finally, 'How will I feel right after I've eaten this donut?' Answer: Not good. I'll feel guilty and angry and ashamed and my day will be ruined. I'll be cranky and miserable and starve myself for the rest of day. Interesting, all of the things my subconscious mind desperately wants me to feel so that it can validate all those negative beliefs I've had since childhood: I'm a failure; I'm stupid; I don't deserve happiness; I feel bad. . . . Well, I'm simply not playing that game.

Guess what? After all that, I don't want the donut anymore. My coffee's ready, and I'm going back to my desk to enjoy it and feel good about myself.

After years of using this simple weight loss technique, I rarely follow through on the initial temptation.

Now, that's not to say that I never cheat or fall victim to cravings and temptations. I do. But through consistent, conscious effort over the years, my internal belief system says that I no longer need food for instant gratification. Through regular practice, I've changed my brain. More on that later!

If I, a recovering anorexic and bulimic, can do it, so can you. Give it a try. Like anything, the more you do it, the better you get. (I'll explain why in later posts.) Your goal is to make it a subconscious way of being, so that you no longer have to think.

The First Step to Weight Loss Success: Become Aware

We run on autopilot for ninety-five to ninety-nine percent of our day. We operate on pre-programmed (usually negative) beliefs systems that run in the background (our subconscious) and they determine who we are and what we do. The only--and I repeat--ONLY way to change our subconscious beliefs and take control of our lives is to consciously create new lasting behaviours. How do we do this? Well, the first step is to become aware.

What is awareness?

Awareness is simply being present wherever you are at the moment. When we become aware we move from a subconscious to a conscious state. We pay attention to and control our thoughts and reactions to our environment. Here's the best part: when we operate from a conscious state of mind, we can't operate from a subconscious state, which puts our automatic responses and behaviors on hold.

Let me ask you this. If our subconscious mind is a million times stronger than our conscious mind, and it runs ninety to ninety-five percent of our day, without our consent, is it any wonder that we can't seem to change our behavior?

Here's an example: I'm in the kitchen at the office making a cup of coffee. While it's brewing, I turn and see a box of donuts sitting on the table that someone's brought into work. I grab one, without thinking (automatic, subconscious behavior), and before I realize what just happened, it's gone. Now what?

Feelings of guilt, anger, blame, resentment . . . flood into my body. Now the self-talk; 'I hate myself. How could I? I have no control. I'll always be fat . . .'

Sound familiar?

How do we begin to change?

The first thing to do when confronted with food temptation is to pause. This snaps you out of your subconscious mind. Take a moment before you simply react, breathe deeply for a couple of breaths (no one needs to know you're doing this), and begin to ask yourself some questions. Why do I want this? Am I really hungry? Are there better, healthier choices? Do I want it simply because it's there? What are the consequences? THIS IS IMPORTANT. How will I FEEL about this later?

The most important part of becoming aware is that it gives you control over your environment. You can override negative, subconscious beliefs about yourself and your life, and become the creator of your world.

Give it a try. It takes concentration, consistency, and effort, but over time, you'll be amazed at the changes in your behavior.