Reprogramming Your Mind For Weight Loss Success
Hi there. I’m glad you’ve decided to take some action and really take control of what’s going on with your body by starting with the most important weight loss tool – the mind.
So: let me ask you if any of this sounds like you?
- You’re careful for a while, you might lose some weight, and you might even go out and start walking…then you get busy and gradually revert back to your old habits.
- You know exactly what to do when it comes to weight loss, but can’t seem to do it. You feel like you could write a diet book with everything you know about weight loss but you’ve kind of lost your motivation
- You’re always ready to start your diet on Monday
- You ‘fall off the wagon’ and suddenly one sabotaged meal turns into another, then it’s a whole day of it, then before you know it not only are you off the wagon, the wagon is destroyed and you feel like a failure
- You’re busy putting everyone else and their needs before your own so you’re constantly eating on the go, snacking or eating what you realistically know are the WRONG FOODS
- You know you shouldn’t be eating crap food. But you do. You may even crave it or hide the wrappers. It makes you feel awful afterwards, either because you have an intolerance to the food OR you may even feel emotionally EMPTY.
Sound familiar? Well hey, welcome to the club. This was my story too.
SO: before we begin, I want you to know that you’re going to need a pen and paper, so have one handy. Right. Let’s begin.
My story
Some of you may know my story. If you haven’t here’s a quick overview. I was born to my amazing Parents: Morris and Helena. My mum is a teacher of cooking and sewing and my Dad was a motivational speaker, homeopath, naturopath, a healer and astrologer. They met in theatre and I guess you could say I grew up in a pretty dramatic, slightly eccentric household.
My Dad went blind when I was 18 months old. We didn’t know it but he already had type 2 diabetes and blindness is sadly one of the symptoms of the condition. It was pretty rough as he was our income earner and had been working as a painter and paperhanger and music teacher before this all happened.
Around the same time, I was admitted to hospital. Though I could speak in sentences from the age of 1 and had an incredible understanding of words with a high level of comprehension, at 18 months old I couldn’t walk and I was technically, morbidly obese. I was developmentally different. I was put into hospital to have my brain scanned as they thought there was something wrong with my brain. They thought that I was potentially retarded or that there was a growth on my thyroid or my pituitary gland. At the end of the scan, the doctors announced that there was nothing wrong with my brain and that they had worked out what the problem was. They looked at my Dad who was 6 foot 3 and weighed 22 stone, which is around 140 kilos, and my mum who is just 5 foot tall and also a larger woman and announced: ‘The reason your daughter is overweight and can’t walk is that, Elephants don’t make Mice.’
If you said that to someone today, you’d get sued right?
So: I heard this story over and over again and I believe it became my ‘weight loss excuse’. Why try and lose weight when I’ll always be an elephant? I may as well just keep eating chocolate and KFC or Macdonald’s. I can’t do anything about my genes. I’m sentenced to a lifetime of being FAT.
When I was 18, after years of watching my Dad struggle with his health, we lost him. Heart failure, kidney problems and so many complications associated with Diabetes. 18 months prior to his passing, he also got what we call the flu in the heart (viral miocarditis) which weakened the walls of the heart. He had over the years helped so many others with their health, their confidence and their lives but sadly couldn’t heal himself.
It wasn’t until I was 20 and sitting at 110 kilos, which is just over 240 pounds that I started to experience chest pains, sweats and shakes and literally thought I was dying in the same way that my Dad did. I drank coke and high sugar drinks, ate a Quarter pounder combo for an afternoon tea snack, loved chips, hated vegetables and anything healthy, but freaked out so much I started to make radical changes. These changes weren’t about adopting healthy habits: they were induced by FEAR.
I didn’t know at the time that I was actually experiencing anxiety triggered by the post traumatic stress of losing my Dad – as well as my terrible eating habits – and felt to paralysed to go to the doctors or ask for help. I literally freaked out and took things into my own hands. I became obsessed with weight loss and limited my calorie intake to less than 700 calories a day and in 8 months, I was down to just 42 kilos, which is around 90 pounds. It’s pretty safe to say that I was bone thin, always cold, desperately unhappy, isolated, pretty sick and the panic attacks still happened 2-3 times a day, and were also accompanied by severe depression AND the hideous controlling beast called Anorexia.
SO: It’s been a long journey of healing for me since. I’ve done a lot of study around food, health and the power of the mind. I’ve been back up to 90 kilos, back down to 69, back up to 85 and now I’m in a place where I don’t weigh myself. I’m mindful of my food, I tap into how I feel and the best part:
- NO MORE BINGEING
- NO MORE GUILT
- NO MORE ANXIETY
- NO MORE FALLING OFF THE WAGON
- NO MORE SABOTAGE
just a healed relationship with myself, with food and the power and the programming to consciously make great choices every day that serve my health and my body! And now my body is finding it’s way to it’s own healthy weight, naturally. PLUS for the first time in 25 years I no longer feel like I’m on a diet!!
Is that something you want? Do you want that freedom? Are you lacking motivation? Do you struggle with will power? If this resonates with you, I’m going to share with you how I’ve literally re-programmed my mind for weight loss success. I’m always on track, I don’t feel the need to have cheat days and I never feel like I’m missing out.
SO: let’s start with you.
I want to know: What are your pain points? For each of these questions I want you to think about the answers and take some time to write them down.
- How do you feel about you right now?
- How do you feel in your own skin?
- Which area of your body would you say you’re holding your most weight?
TAKE SOME TIME AND WRITE DOWN YOUR ANSWERS
The Factors
Here’s something I’ve learnt since delving into the science behind weight loss.
I believe there are 4 key factors why we gain weight
- Genes: Our genes do play a part in the journey. Look at your parents. Look at your family. You all share similar genes. While you can’t change your genetic makeup you can control your CHOICES. As an example, last year I was tested for carbohydrate intolerance. I’d had IBS for over 20 years and thought it was normal as many of my friends and family had it. Turns out it’s not normal and being tested for carb intolerance helped clarify that. REMEMBER THOUGH: a diagnosis is not a cure. I still have to be mindful of what I eat and if I eat too many carbs, I suffer the side effects. We can literally work with our genes or against our genes. It comes down to your own choices.
- Menu: you could be eating foods that are literally creating inflammation in your body, leading you to fluid retention, puffiness or if your body is toxic from inflammatory foods and can’t process food efficiently, lead to weight gain
- External stressors: stress, ‘busy-ness’, putting everything and everyone else ahead of your own wellness. Chances are you eat on the go and potentially make the wrong choices, or you don’t eat enough! You may live a lot of your life in an ongoing state of low level anxiety and you’re always go go go. Everyone wants a piece of you and you just want some PEACE.
- Internal stressors: OUR MINDSET. This is really a big one for me. Particularly of you’re like me and you’ve tried every diet and nothing’s quite worked for you or you can’t maintain long term results or change habits….or even if you’ve got those little voices messing around in your head telling you you’re not ok….that you’re not worth it…..
The great news is, regardless of which one of those factors sound like you, and if you really want clarity I have a quiz here on my website you can take to find out more.
TAKE THE QUIZ BY CLICKING THIS LINK
At the cor of it, regardless of the factors involved, they all actually come back to one thing: the choices you make every day. And often these are driven by our subconscious mind. Let me explain.
At the core of it, we’re all storytellers. Even our bodies try to communicate with us every day. They tell you when you’re hungry, when you’re cold, if something you’ve eaten doesn’t quite agree with you and given you an upset tummy or bloating….however, that little voice in our heads – and it can be pretty nasty – tells us stories of sabotage or lack of worth, so we eat the foods that we KNOW are sabotaging our success every day.
Here’s some examples of how our bodies tell us stories:
This image clearly shows the effects of our diet be creating fat deposits in particular places of the body. The area affected when you’re the ‘Stress Type’ is around the area where the adrenal glands are located. They are triggered during the ‘fight or flight’ response and those who are living in a constant state of stress often carry this body type.
Sugar and carb intolerant people, or those who drink more beer or wine will often have fat stores in the ‘Sugar Type’ body.
‘Oestrogen Types’ accumulate weight around the bottom and the thighs and testosterone can be the imbalance in
the case of oversized arms with the ‘Testosterone type’.
Again, here’s another great example of how our bodies try to communicate. All different versions of stomach or lower body fat stores, each telling their own story.
Looking at these diagram can you start to see where you’re at? Coupling this with the previous factors, I want you to consider
- what’s been affecting your weight? OR What do you think has led to your weight gain?
- is it internal? Is it external? What’s your trigger?
- which one of these images best describes your body?
Take some time to think it over and write down your answers.
The first step is to admit the things that you don’t like – ALL OF THEM. Be honest with yourself. No-one else but you will read your notes. It’s important that you’re honest. Write down your thoughts. Say them out loud if that helps. Write down everything you do not like about you right now, which may include your current situation. Make sure you leave some space beside it to write your re-programming statements as well.
Becoming aware
What you’re doing right now is actually engaging your CONSCIOUS mind in an activity. And this is an important part of the process. So: answer these questions for me on another piece of paper or clean page:
- What is your current weight, your health or your body preventing you from doing?
- Do you love the idea of walking the Great Wall Of China but you know you couldn’t handle the flight or the walk?
- What’s stopping you from living your best life?
Remember: We’re starting this journey to a new you with the mind. Knowing what you’re unhappy with is a great place to start.
When it comes to you feeling or noticing that you’re overweight I want you to truthfully answer these questions:
- How long did it take you to gain that weight?
- I’m guessing it didn’t happen overnight, right?
- What did you do when you gained your first 5 pounds?
- Were you AWARE that you were going to gain weight?
- Did you start watching your food and exercise, or did you just buy a bigger sized pair of pants?
In that moment, you had a CHOICE. So what CHOICE did you consciously make?
Chances are if you’re reading this blog, you chose a bigger sized pair of pants……
That was the story of my life too.
By now, you should have written a list of where you’re at right now. Admitting this means that you are not only aware about your situation, but you’re taking responsibility for it. GO YOU! Now you know where you are, you’re ready to take action.
Looking forward
Here you get to choose between buying a bigger size pair of pants, and watching what you eat.
SO as I mentioned before: let’s look to the FUTURE.
I’m going to ask you the BIG questions now. You don’t need to write anything down here. This is more for reflection.
- What’s stopping you from living your best life?
- Why are you trying to lose weight?
- If you are really overweight, do you want to end up like my dad did? Struggling with cardiovascular problems? Constantly being unwell?
- Do you want to live for years on medication? Deal with having to have your gallbladder removed? Live with the pain of kidney stones?
- Do you want to struggle with diabetes and end up with vision problems and skin wounds?
All these things happen to millions of people every year, and could happen to you– if you ignore your weight and don’t take care of yourself. I don’t want that for you.
When people make a decision about dieting, they usually think about the process itself and about results. However, focusing on dieting and avoiding fattening foods makes you think about the problem, not the solution. This is negative thinking, because you are focusing on what you DON’T want – losing the food you have always liked and I can guarantee this will not take you very far. I speak from experience here.
Instead, we need to re-focus on what you DO WANT, on your NEW desire, new behaviour, and on your new CHOICE. Here you need a real REASON, a DESIRE which drives you to do that. A WHY that is so much bigger than that piece of cake or processed junk food…….
- Is it better health?
- Is it being better looking?
- Lighter? Sexier?
- More mobility?
- More energy?
- More confidence?
- Better health?
- WHY do you want to lose weight?
- In what way will your life be different after you achieve your desired weight?
Take some time to think this over and write down your WHY. Answering all these questions will help you to create your vision and start moving forward.
OK: here’s the biggest question: What will losing weight give you?
For one of my friends who has lost over 30 kilos, losing weight meant she could play with her kids in the park. For me, seeing what my father went through, it was about reclaiming my health and FEELING GOOD, both physically and mentally.
Take some time to jot down your thoughts.
The science of re-programming
Let’s delve into the nuts and bolts of how re-programming works.
Have you ever driven somewhere and ended up forgetting how you got there? Or do you notice you do stuff, like drive
the car, without having to think about it in the same way that you did when you were learning to change gears, look over your shoulder, indicate and everything else you do automatically…?
That’s your subconscious programming working and it also makes other important things happen, like your heart beating and your lungs breathing. Now that I’ve mentioned them, you’re probably becoming consciously aware of them right? They just happen 24/7 without you consciously having to control them or make them work, however the ability to hold your breath is an action governed by the conscious mind.
SO: conscious and sub conscious – here’s how they work in my words.
Every time we do anything data is sent down a neural pathway in the brain. This happens faster than lightning speed and often without engaging the conscious mind which can be a slower processing unit. This enabled our cavemen selves to look at a dangerous animal and know to RUN immediately.
When we go to make any decision in our life, often our decision is influenced via the programming in the subconscious mind. It’s literally the ‘path of least resistance’ and the best analogy I’ve ever learned is that it’s similar to walking through a field of long grass. You can wade through it OR you can walk through the path that’s already been carved by someone else.
Whenever anything happens in our lives or we learn something new, it carves a neural pathway in the brain, meaning if the situation happens again, the decision is made faster and easier. SO chances are if you’re repeatedly making dumb decisions or sabotaging your success, it’s because your brain is shooting data down the neural pathway of least resistance because it’s EASY. And our job is now to carve a NEW neural pathway to set you up for success.
Let’s take a look at the difference between the 2 parts of the mind.
Were you aware that only 10% of your day is governed by your conscious mind? That means 90% of your daily choices and behaviour come from the stories, or the neural pathways already carved in your brain, making choices FAST.
Our job is to create the new programming that will manipulate your choices when will power runs out. To do that,we use the power of our imagination
IMAGINATION is a key tool to help you overcome a negative habit and move toward your desired life. Sounds really simple right??
We’re going to give it a try right now and enable you to start shifting your mindset into one of positive programming straight away.
Are you ready?
Let’s begin.
I want you now to visualise the way you will look when you’ve achieved your desired weight.
If you can’t see yourself that way, I want you to FEEL how it will feel to love the skin you’re in, knowing you have the confidence that you’re no longer on a diet, that you’re no longer constantly thinking about what you should eat, what you actually ate and all the guilt associated with it.
You’re looking out at the world around you through your new eyes, feeling amazing and you’re perhaps sightseeing, on a shopping trip, having fun with the kids or the grandkids and you LOVE YOUR BODY AND YOUR LIFE.
Imagine yourself DOING that, right now.
How does it feel?
Experience it completely, as if it has already happened.
YOU CAN Live the life of your dreams NOW. You can see it. You can CONSCIOUSLY start taking steps to turn that vision into your new reality.
You can visualise yourself being a smaller size, feeling elegant and attractive.
Imagine how you FEEL buying new clothes. FEEL how they touch your healthy elegant body.
Imagine choosing new styles and colours.
Imagine how other people are looking at you, and enjoy it!
Remember these feelings and let them inspire you.
This is not just about your weight. It’s about your health, better relationships, success in business, and about your whole life! YOUR life.
OK: how did that feel? What if I told you that the brain cannot tell the difference between what is REAL and what you just imagined? This has been scientifically proven and the best story I heard of this was brain training done by a basketball team in America.
A study conducted by Dr. Biasiotto at the University of Chicago was done where he split people into three groups and tested each group on how many free throws they could make.
After this, he had the first group practice free throws every day for an hour.
The second group just visualized themselves making free throws.
The third group did nothing.
After 30 days, he tested them again.
The first group improved by 24%.
The second group improved by 23% without touching a basketball!!!!
The third group did not improve which was expected.
SO: the power of the mind is incredible and where I’m going with this is that if you’ve ever sat down at a table with cakes in front of you and before you know it you’re eating them, that’s your subconscious programming taking over.
WILL POWER is you conscious brain in action saying STOP. No one has cast iron will power right? And with the conscious brain only governing 10% of our daily choices and behaviours, by reprogramming the subconscious mind, when your autopilot kicks in, not only will you not want the cake, you may not even register that it’s there!
Let’s do this
SO: What do we do next?
The first step is to start creating ‘I Statements’. This will help you get into a place of re-establishing your personal power and start the process of carving new neural pathways, focussed on SUCCESS
For everything you’ve previously written about your life that you DON’T LIKE, I want you to create positive responses as ‘I Statements’. These will become your affirmations that you will need to read and repeat multiple times a day to re-programme your subconscious.
Here’s an example:
- I don’t like the fat on my stomach. RESPONSE: I nourish my body with healthy food
- I have a fat bum. RESPONSE: I enjoy going for daily walks to help my body become strong, fit and healthy. I LOVE MY BODY!
- I don’t like my arms. They have rolls and look fat in clothes. I never go bare armed. RESPONSE: I am strong. I am fit. I am powerful. My arms enable me to achieve my goals. I use them to help me power through any activity and pull myself into a place of LOVE.
If you feel like you’re not quite ready to tackle your own statements yet, start by filling in these blanks.
| I am losing weight so………. | |
| I am slim and fit which enables me to…….. | |
| I always take care of my body so I can……… OR because I………….. | |
| I only eat healthy food because…………. | |
| I am motivated to lose weight and become healthy so I can…….. | |
| I am living a healthy lifestyle which enables me to…………..OR so I can……….. | |
| I am dedicated to following my weight loss plan so I can……….. | |
| I am disciplined in my eating habits because…….or so………. | |
| I am strong in mind and body | |
| I am completely focused on losing weight |
To reprogramme you MUST
- Post these up as post it notes around the house in the car OR
- Set these messages as daily reminders in your phone.
- Read it every time and FEEL IT.
Repetition is the key to creating new neural pathways so when you go to make a decision around food or exercise, your subconscious programming will start to take over, helping you move forward to a successful outcome!!
REMEMBER:
- It will take 30-40 days to reprogramme you mind. This is to help you for the rest of your life and it will be worth it.
- You will only get the results if you do the work – it’s worked for me so I know it can work for you.
- Use the conscious mind to reprogramme the subconscious. THAT IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS.
- Don’t wait till monday. Do the work and start now
- Reprogramming is the ONLY way to succeed when the willpower is gone
- If you’re really committed to you, to your partner, your kids, your grandkids and to having a better life NOW, this is your time to start. RIGHT NOW.
- No one can pick you up and do this for you: you are the solution.
And if that isn’t enough, I have a series of reprogramming cards that I’ve developed to help you create new neural pathways right now! THEY WORK! You need to email me directly to find out more: [email protected]
These cards are powerful reprogramming tools for all areas of your life, from helping you rewire your mind for health, to abundance, confidence, finding happiness and even finding LOVE!!
Remember, the journey starts with YOU RIGHT NOW. I’ve done it. Now prove to yourself that YOU are enough.
Wishing you every success,
Hi I'm Monique Bradley.