In part two of her series on achieving your ideal body, author Theresa Fowler tells us how to overcome a negative weight loss mindset. The answer lies in positive thinking…
Your subconscious brain can be your own worst enemy if it is mired in negative thinking. This is because it wants to keep you in your comfort zone, which it knows to be safe — or what you already KNOW.
So for instance, when you decide to start a new diet because you want to lose weight, you will have convinced your conscious mind that that’s what you want to do, and through willpower alone, you just might be conscious about what you eat for a few days. But then your subconscious mind will start playing tricks on you to keep you in your comfort zone. So, your subconscious (critical voice) will say, “If I just have one biscuit, it won’t hurt,” (and before you know it, the entire packet is finished).
Or you’ll have a bad day at the office and your subconscious habit to reach for a pizza and bottle of wine will outweigh your conscious mind’s efforts.
Short science lesson: everything is energy
Now, think about the law of attraction, which I’m sure most of you have heard about. The law of attraction is a Universal law just like the law of gravity. It’s a law of manifestation — whether that be of higher or lower vibrational energy.
Now many people have said the law of attraction doesn’t work when it comes to manifesting, but regardless of whether you believe it or not, it does exist —it’s a Universal law. Just like the law of gravity, which you believe works, because if you have a pen in your hand and you let it fall from your grip, it will fall to the floor. It won’t fly. So even though you can’t see gravity, you believe it.
The law of attraction works with the thoughts that you send out to the Universal energy, whether they are of a lower (negative) or higher (positive) vibrational. Thoughts, just like everything else, are also energy.
So, for instance, say you’ve seen an amazing pair of shoes in a magazine and decide you want them. The image of those shoes in now your head, and ‘coincidentally’ you begin to see the same shoes in shop windows and on other people as go about your everyday business. Because you’ve given the thought of the shoes out to the Universal energy, the shoes are attracted to you and you keep seeing them.
Start working on your unconscious mind
This works the same if you’ve been constantly telling yourself for a while that you’re overweight… the law of attraction will work by sending you confirmation of your belief that you are overweight. So, for example, someone might make a derogatory comment about you, or your partner may comment on your ‘love handles’.
That’s the law of attraction confirming what you think and belief.
If you can make your subconscious mind believe that you are healthy and slim (because your subconscious mind doesn’t differentiate between what you can see and what you tell it), you will start to believe it internally and take the action steps needed to achieve a healthy and slim body. Therefore, you’ll choose to eat more nutritious foods and exercise more without mental resistance.
Cultivate good habits to encourage a positive mindset
You’ve not been taught about a positive mindset because you’ve been conditioned by society not to think this way.
Think about it: the media bombards us with Photoshopped images in order to make us desire an ideal that will never be achievable. Meanwhile the diet industry make its profits on the consistent failure of customers so that they keep buying more products — they do not care about your health. Full stop.
Therefore, to be truly successful with weight loss in the long run, it is important to cultivate good habits consistently, which can only be determined by re-educating your subconscious mind.
Tap into the Emotional Freedom Technique
One way to re-educate the subconscious mind is through visualisation.
Take five minutes each day to picture yourself as you would like to look, going about your usual activities and wearing what you want to wear. Do this each day for at least 30 days.
An easier way to re-educate the subconscious mind is through a process called Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or tapping, which is used to overcome negative thought patterns around food or any other issues that are challenging, such as finances.
Tapping works by unblocking the energetic meridians of your body to free any negative feelings and beliefs. And the great thing about tapping is that even if you think it is really woo woo and a bunch of nonsense, because it works on an energetic level, it’s still beneficial even if you don’t believe it. So, you might as well try it, right?
Theresa Fowler is the author of FEEL LIKE SH*T? How to Stop BEING Fat and the UK’s Only No Diet, No Calorie Counting, Real Food Expert.
Follow Theresa on Twitter at @sizedrop or join her on Facebook.
Read the first of two articles, Want To Lose Weight? The First Step Is To Detox Your Mind.
