Why Diets don’t work
If you have ever been on a diet and failed, you are not alone.
A staggering 98% of all diets fail and of the 2% who succeed many go on back to their old
eating habits and gain it all back and sometimes a bit more besides. To lose weight we
need to change our whole attitude to food.
Associating Food with feelings
The minds number one job is not to make us happy but to make us survive on the planet.
It constantly searches for anything that threatens us and always moves us away from
pain towards pleasure. We are born knowing exactly when we are hungry and when we
have had enough. Small children almost always leave some food on their plates, even
when it’s sweet stuff or treats. You only have to look at the left -overs from a child’s
birthday party but somewhere along the way we learn to associate food with rewards,
security and even love.
Time to reprogram the mind
Do you remember being given hot buttered toast and jam at Granny’s and feeling warm,
contented and loved? This severed you very well when you were seven but if you are now
thirty-seven, forty-seven or fifty–seven isn’t it time to start thinking in a different way?
When you are having a bad day your mind thinks “I’ll move you from pain and towards
pleasure, why not have hot buttered toast and jam, you like that, it’ll make you feel
better.”
Emotional eating
Many of us are emotional eaters, we eat when we are depressed, bored and when we are
feeling low. Diets don’t ever change our feelings. Feelings will always overcome logic as
they are so much more powerful. That’s one of the rules of the mind (Marisa Peer –
Rapid Transformational Therapy).
So how do we change our feelings?
Our mind responds to only two things, the pictures we make in our heads and the words
we say to ourselves. We need to change the language we use when we speak about
ourselves.
The word “loss” is a negative term in itself. Loss conjures up images of sadness (keys,
phone, money even death). The word “gain” is a positive word (wealth, confidence, a
contract). The only exception to this rule is the word “weight”. No wonder the mind is
confused!
Feed yourself with positivity
We need to give ourselves positive feedback and tell ourselves that we love eating in this
new healthy way, that it works for us, that it is empowering to take control of our shape,
our weight and most importantly our health.
We can use our imagination (a wonderful tool) to visualise ourselves the way we want to
be and look.
I always ask clients how they want to look and get them to visualise themselves in
something they would love to wear. The most popular longed-for outfit to look good in is
a white shirt tucked into a well-cut pair of jeans! (Oh, the joy!).
When we can see this picture clearly, it excites, thrills and motivates and the hot buttered
toast becomes a lot less inviting!
Contact Me to find out how I can help you