Are Negative Thoughts Keeping You Overweight?

By the time we are 8 years old we have heard "No, you can't" fifty thousand times. Contrast that with the fact that by the same age we have only heard "Yes, you can" eight thousand times and it becomes easy to see why we feel inclined toward negative thought. To your brain a thought is a thing ...By the time we are 8 years old we have heard "No, you can't" fifty thousand times. Contrast that with the fact that by the same age we have only heard "Yes, you can" eight thousand times and it becomes easy to see why we feel inclined toward negative thought. To your brain a thought is a thing and the more often a thought is entertained the stronger your brain connects that thought to your reality, Therefore, if you continually entertain negative thoughts about dieting and weight loss then you are creating a pattern of thought that will make losing weight very difficult. When this negative pattern of thought has been processed by your brain often enough it moves from being a conscious thought pattern to a subconscious thought loop. And the reason this is significant is because 96% of your habits and behaviors are driven by your subconscious mind. In other words the subconscious thoughts that you have programmed yourself to belief are directly influencing the actions you take on a daily basis, even if those actions are leading to unwanted results such as keeping you fat. If you take a look at traditional weight loss efforts you will notice that they focus mainly on diet and exercise strategies, these are obviously important and necessary components of weight loss but if the whole time you are dieting you are entertaining negative thoughts such as, "I hate diet foods." or "I can't wait till this diet is over." then how long do you expect your weight loss to last? I am not saying that in order for you to be successful at weight loss you have to love "diet" foods or tell yourself happy thoughts about the dieting process. But what you must do is shift your focus away from what you don't like about losing weight to focus on all the positive things weight loss is bringing into your life. Successful weight loss requires that you develop a mindset that supports your diet and exercise strategies. Fortunately your weight mindset is a choice, you can choose to focus on what you hate about losing weight or choose to focus on all the benefits you will get from reaching your goal. The choice is yours. You can make this shift easier if you take a few moments to become very clear on what you would like to achieve. I call this creating a wellness vision. It is simple 2 or 3 sentence statement that describes what life will be like, look like and feel like once you reach your weight loss goal. This vision should be very vivid and produce a positive emotion every time you read it. You job then becomes to focus on this wellness vision often enough that it becomes your new pattern of thought. Losing stubborn weight is not about just eating different foods and moving your body differently, it is about changing the negative patterns of thought that keep you locked in your destructive habits. Make the choice to create positive associations to weight loss by creating a wellness vision and focusing your thoughts on it several times a day. With time and repetition you will create a subconscious thought loop that supports your efforts and finally lose that stubborn weight that in the past had been so difficult to shed.