The Shift. . .For Weight Loss

If you don’t struggle with weight loss, no need to read past this line 🙂

Do you think that people who easily make healthy food choices are stronger then those who don’t?

In reality, those who make the healthy food choices don’t actually want the unhealthy food as much as those who make the less healthy choice.

For those of us that have tried the willpower way, have tried exerting our willpower against wanting an unhealthy choice; the first step to achieving permanent weight loss is admitting that we want the less healthy choice.  And herein lies the struggle.

How much energy, time, money, effort, work, resources, etc have we spent on trying to struggle, battle and fight to become the person who can resist the unhealthy choice?  Even with the help of diets, exercise, even pills or surgery, what is the evidence that this works?  Long term, even permanently.  What is the evidence that it doesn’t work? How many times had we lost and regained weight? How many times have we said, “I shouldn’t have eaten that?”  How frustrating is it to seemingly want unhealthy choices of food that make us happy in the moment, more than we want permanent health and happiness?

The Shift for weight loss is when we decide to stop directing our precious resources (time,energy, etc…) toward trying to become the person who can “fight the food”.  Instead, we decide to direct our efforts toward becoming the person who doesn’t even want the unhealthy choice.

Sound impossible?  It’s not!  When I redirected my efforts on becoming the person who wants the unhealthy choices less, it actually worked!  And, I have seen it happen in other people too.

For the sake of the length of this message, let’s just say it boils down to 2 major categories: Food & Mood.  Food triggers are those that make us hungrier rather than full (see last week’s message).  Mood triggers are those uncomfortable emotions that cause “comfort eating”.  Learning to deal with food & mood triggers takes effort, but at least it works.

To conclude, the shift occurs when we redirect our effort and resources toward what works from what doesn’t.  From trying in vain to become the person who can fight wanting to make the less healthy choice, to committing to become the version of our self that doesn’t want the unhealthy choice.

Peace of Mind does Protect from Piece of Cake!