5 Commandments to Weight Loss & Maintenance.

The following are essential in order to overcome weight challenges and finally beat the battle of the bulge !

You do not need will power more like a willing spirit and an open mind. Patience can also help as it took time to get here so it's going to take time to get away from here.

So to the commandments…..

No.1 Thou shalt change your thinking

Everything begins with a thought. I think I need to lose weight or I think I am unhealthy and need to change. All your thoughts about yourself, your weight, your attitude toward weight loss etc., all stem from your belief system which is your set of beliefs you live by. What you believe makes you think certain ways and what you think then provokes how you feel and this results in your behaviour with people , food, yourself etc.

So as a result of every thought you have , there is a physical reaction. You may wonder what this has to do with losing weight. Surely you just eat less and you lose weight? Right ? Well why then do 95% of dieters put back on the weight plus 10 lbs ?
Usually it's because they change the physical reaction but the cause of this reaction lies dormant waiting to be triggered again. Triggers can be stress, Christmas, a feeling, an occasion, etc., or anything that changes the routine.

A negative thought creates a negative reaction so this negativity can suppress your energy and as a result it is not possible to achieve weight loss, let alone weight maintenance.
So the first key to weight loss lies on your mental level and involves your beliefs, thoughts and your attitudes. Change these and you change everything.

You need to change your thinking to change your weight if you think you will never lose weight or you will put it back on again once lost, then you will ! If you think it will be to difficult or will take to long then it will !

What you think creates your reality so change the thought and you change the result.

If you accept this thinking as true, then you will sabotage your weight loss efforts. You must not be fooled by your own self talk. Despite the fact that you think you are justified in thinking the way you do, you must change your thinking. Sure maybe you have tried several times to lose weight, only to end up at the same point you are now only pounds heavier. Ask yourself did you
Previously think you couldn't do it ? If so why would you expect to be anywhere else but here. You created your current result by your faulty thinking !
Your first commandment involves becoming aware of your faulty beliefs, thoughts and attitudes towards yourself, food, etc. In order to acknowledge them and change them. You cannot change what you do not know is wrong.

Your thoughts program you so change the program to change the result .

An example is for instance if you think ''I do not like exercise'', your body then reacts to this negative thought by suppressing energy and then this results in you not being able to stick to your exercise program You are resisting it and this sends a message to your brain which causes pain. As the brain is designed to run from pain and run toward pleasure, then automatically you end up not wanting or sticking to your exercise program Later we will look at the importance of exercise for weight loss and maintenance.

Exercise no. 1 ============== So what do you think about ………….. Yourself… Your weight loss…. Your weight maintenance Food Exercise Life People Other.

When you have written down what you think about the above also write down any other thoughts that you have that may be stopping you losing weight. When you have completed this list then you must ask yourself

1. Are these thoughts true ?
2. Can you prove them ?
3. Are your thoughts working for you ? (if not they are working
   against you )
4. Do these thoughts support weight loss ? (if not they are
   preventing you losing weight )
5. What can I think instead of these faulty thoughts ?

If you think you are a failure what evidence do you have ?
Was it something someone said to you and you choose to believe it or do you really think you are a failure?
You may have tried to lose weight before and failed and this make you feel like a failure. Did you think previously that you were going to fail ? If so why are you surprised you did. Remember what you think creates your reality.
If you had thoughts you were going to succeed would you be at this point now ?
If you think positively and rationally then this energises energy in the body to achieve.

If you think negatively and irrationally then this suppresses energy in the body and this makes weight loss impossible.

Become aware of your self defeating , negative thoughts and observe and correct them. Do not be a victim to them.

No. 2 Thou shalt heal your feelings

As previously stated , each thought creates a feeling and this results in physical behaviour. Each thought provokes a feeling and many people use or abuse food instead of accepting these feelings and dealing with them. This is what I call emotional discipline, where you have an appropriate response to the feeling, as opposed to an inappropriate response i.e. Food. These emotions can be anything from anger, guilt, fear, resentment, sadness, loneliness, stress, anxiety, even happiness. This commandment asks you to stop looking to food in response to feelings that you don't like or cause you pain. Often it is resistance to these feelings and not the feelings themselves that drive people to use food to cope with them. Many are actually unaware of what they are feeling and use food to deal with this confusion. The answers lie within you, its just a matter of healing the feelings to make the behaviour with food obsolete and put you on the road to successful weight loss and subsequently weight maintenance. Many feelings trigger emotional eating and this results in changes in brain chemistry which results in more food cravings.
To be alive means to experience feelings painful or otherwise.

Are you an emotional eater ?
Do you eat when you are bored, sad, stressed, lonely, guilty depressed ?

Exercise no. 2
==============

1. Acknowledge and accept your feelings.
2. Do not react, respond to them instead.
3. It is your interpretation of these feelings that could be causing you the pain you are experiencing. Examine what your interpretation is and reinterpret where
possible.
4. Slow down your responses to ensure a better result.
5. Some emotions may need closure, forgiveness may be
necessary here.

6. Deep breathing is a great de-stressor and your brain responds by releasing endorphin's into the body which reduces the tension on a physical level. Simply take fuller and deeper breaths for a few minutes and see for yourself. Breathe in for the count of 7, hold and breathe out for the count of 7, letting go of stress, anxiety and tension out of the body.

7. Be open to new ways of handling emotions or feelings other than food. Ask yourself what other way could I handle this ? Look at the feeling food is giving you i.e. Pleasure, comfort, calm relief, acceptance, etc. Look at other ways to elicit these feelings and your weight automatically will come off you.

No. 3 Thou shalt clean up your environment

No this does not mean you must take to the streets ! This commandment asks you to look at your immediate environment - kitchen, office, bedroom etc. Because it is here that many have countless opportunities to snack, overeat, or binge. On a material level many keep oversize clothes in their wardrobe ''in case they put the weight back on '' ! Talk about an accident waiting to happen. This is the type of thinking that ultimately sabotages weight loss success. Creating a no fail environment or re engineering your environment for success is the next step in weight loss success. So to your food environment first….
You can't eat or overeat food if it isn't there ! The best way to see it is our of reach, out of sight out of mind !
This strategy does in fact work. Removing access to food in your environment will reduce self destructive behaviour and you will stand a better chance of dealing with whatever is happening more effectively. Replace high fat and high sugar foods with healthier alternatives and reduce the temptations.

In regard to your material environment i.e. Bedroom remove all clothes that are to big for you or you haven't worn in over six months. These are creating a sabotaging attitude toward weigh loss.

No. 4 Thou shalt look at healthier nutritional choices.

You can eat a lot of the right types of food and lose weight and eat very little of the wrong type of food and gain weight !

This step is about better choices to encourage weight loss and weight maintenance. Certain foods (high sugar or high glycaemic), create cravings for more and this results in weigh gain. Eating foods that are low or moderate glycaemic levels allows you to control your food so you are not a prisoner to body chemistry which results in binges,cravings, and episodes of overeating.

All foods have what we call a glycaemic level i.e. Low, moderate and high. These deferent levels regulate the rate at which sugar is released into the body . Low and moderate ensure a slow steady release , whereas high sends a quick burst of energy which creates a false high. Unfortunately what goes up must come down and when the blood sugar level falls, you crave another high and hence a blood sugar imbalance is born. Blood sugar imbalances must be dealt with before weight loss can happen successfully as many overeat or binge in response to sugar imbalances.
When sugar and refined carbohydrates are eaten, then chromium, zinc , magnesium, vita b6, and folic acid go out of the body. This creates great vulnerability to nutritional deficiencies. Folic acid deficiency also causes depression.

Proteins have no glycaemic level as they promote the pancreas to produce glucagon which enables fat to be drawn out of the fat cells to be used for energy. High glycaemic foods on the other hand promote the pancreas to produce insulin which sends a message to fat cells to remove fat and sugar from the blood and store it as body fat or in the fat cells. In regard to proteins i.e. Meat, fish, eggs , cheese, milk and legumes, care must e taken to watch your intake of high fat proteins. Dairy and red meats are high in saturated fat and must be monitored on any weight loss program

There are also foods that stimulate your metabolic rate which is the rate at which you burn food for energy. These include……

Green tea
Cayenne pepper
Salsa
Mustard
Apple cider vinegar
Cabbage
Celery
Brussels sprouts
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Lemon
Vinegar
Vinaigrette dressing
Apples
Grapefruit
Berries
Fatty fish
Soup
Oatmeal
Ginger
Garlic
Parsley
Cinnamon.

Have enclosed an a - z glycaemic index listing of foods. A more detailed listing is available from any book on the glycaemic index of foods.

No. 5 Thou shalt get mobile.

And by this I don't mean buying a cellular phone ! This final commandment is about unlocking the door to body control. Exercise or getting mobile is one of the top lifestyle changes to help your weight loss and more importantly weight maintenance. Getting mobile gets you body control and is a powerful fat fighter.

Simple changes like parking further away from your destination, climbing stairs instead of using the lift moving around more, all increase the level of mobility your body is subjected to. This in turn creates weight loss, control, and management and may also protect from heart disease.

You can lose a pound of fat in 5 to 10 exercise sessions, providing you are not taking in excess calories. Exercise increases your metabolic rate, which is the rate your body burns food for energy, and also creates a toning effect on the body.
Physically getting mobile or exercising………
Reduces body fat
Increases your metabolic rate
Tones your body
Maintains weight
Increases energy
Increases strength
Increases flexibility
Increases your immune system
Decreases the risk of heart disease
Decreases the risk of diabetes
Decreases the risk of some cancers
Slows down the ageing process.

Mentally getting mobile or exercising ………….
Increases concentration and alertness
Improves body image
Improves self esteem
Improves self confidence
Improves self discipline
Decreases depression
Decreases stress, tension,and anxiety.

So there are so many advantages and life affirming reasons to exercise that it's a must of you wish weight loss to be maintained. You need to make it motivating in order to maintain it. If you do not like what you are doing , then you wont maintain it.

All weight loss ultimately involves the person wanting to feel better about themselves. They feel that x, and y, and z will bring this so they attempt to do x, and y and z. If you can realise that what you really want is to feel better about yourself, then let this be your goal and work around this. Do not let a certain number of the scales depict your happiness.

Do not focus on where you are now because your mind needs a goal to work toward. If you focus on where you are now the mind thinks ''I'm already there' so it will not work toward weight loss. If you focus on where you want to go and visualise what you want to look like etc., then the mind has a goal to work toward.

Good luck !

 

Suzanne Horgan
director & founder
Certified Trainer in Practitioner Skills for Eating Disorders and Obesity

Contact Us today..........info@eatingdisorders.ie

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