Weight Loss

News Flash: Other people are full of “It.”

Suddenly, everyone is an armchair expert with loads of “helpful” advice. There are the Movers and Shakers: “Join my gym – you’ll LOVE it!” “Just start walking, or take up jogging.” “Running is the bomb!” “Have you tried sports?” “I know this terrific app with thousands of workout videos!”

Or the calorie counters and portion police: “It’s all about portion control.” “A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. Are you counting yours every day?” “Always eat a big breakfast.” Or “Avoid big breakfasts.”

Perhaps your head is spinning from the More or Less Crowd – more protein, more greens, more fiber. Less sugar, fewer processed foods. And their cousins, the Seesaw Squad:  “Eat more fat” – “Eat less fat.” “Eat only carbs” – “Never eat carbs.” “Weigh yourself religiously every morning!” – “Throw your scale in the trash can.” “Get a nutritionist or trainer.” – “You’ll feel better if you do it by yourself!”

Or you’re confused by the Clock Watchers: “You should never eat in the evening!” “Intermittent Fasting is the answer.” “Eat a small meal every two hours, all day long.”

And the Fad Fanatics: “I’ve got this great diet (only soup, only salad, only cabbage, only lemons, etc.).” “Have you tried the latest fat-burning pills? Guaranteed to lose 20 pounds in two days!”

At this point, you have probably heard it all and tried what feels like everything. It’s not for lack of effort or unrealistic ideas.

Bulletin: You don’t need the yellow brick road.

You’re not stupid. You’re not an idiot. And you have a brain – and a heart.

You’ve tried working out. You’ve been on diets. You’ve tried every new idea that seems to have the faintest hope in heck of giving you results.

But nothing seems to work. Maybe it doesn’t work at all, or it works for a bit, then you hit a plateau and stall out. Or you’ve probably tried a couple of things that caused the pounds to fall off, but, for any number of reasons, they didn’t stay off. Those things aren’t meant to work long term.

It can be easy to get discouraged – especially if your energy level or health is already suffering. Before long, so is your self-respect. You begin to think things will never change or that they can only get worse.

Update: You’re exhausted, not lazy!

Everyone is certain that they know how to live your life better than you, and everything would be ok if only you’d try a little harder, put forth a little more effort, exert yourself more.

If you were just more like them, you’d be super healthy, wealthy, famous, and happy.

Maybe, but these folks sure seem to have a lot of spare time with nothing better to do than give dubious advice.

And they have no idea what you’re going through and how hard you’ve already tried. The truth is – you’ve been working really hard. It’s just that nothing has succeeded.

Revelation: This is NOT your fault.

Every person has a different genetic makeup, so what works well for someone else may not work for you. Likewise, your genetic predisposition isn’t the only thing at play.

Diet, exercise, and genetics get a lot of talk, but those are just a few of the variables. Supplements, exercises, cheap tricks, life hacks, and every manner of thing that has worked for someone somewhere.

Honestly, if that does tell us anything, it’s that weight loss is a solvable problem, but perhaps the way society has taught us to think about it is all wrong. And that’s not your fault.

Our systems are misaligned – toxic.

The food industry gets paid to sell you food. It seems reasonable, exactly what we thought we wanted them to do. It doesn’t take a master’s in chemical engineering and a team of food scientists to create a calorie-dense meal or dessert you’ll happily eat until you’re ready to pop, but rest assured, someone is hiring all those food scientists.

Whether through snacks, boxed meals, fast food, restaurants, or even many of the things you could cook at home, they get paid to persuade you to be just a little bit bigger than you were the day before.

And of course, it’s not just in the food. They’ve optimized every part of the experience to sell you more. From the advertising to the packaging to the product to social buzz – if they can use it to their advantage, they will.

Interestingly, gyms have the opposite incentives. They thrive on selling memberships rather than wanting you to show up and use the equipment.

The deck – even history – is stacked against you.

For most of recorded history, people spent their lives being very physical and needing high-calorie foods just to have a buffer against a bad season, or a failed crop, or an injury.

Once, it made sense to get every ounce of food you could.

But now, times have changed. We’re still eating as though we live in that agricultural society – when we don’t.

But we do live in a culture that often shames and devalues people who don’t look like movie stars or models – yet they only look the way they do after the Photoshop or CGI overhaul.

But this isn’t about all that.

This isn’t about crash diets to endanger your health before packing the pounds right back on just as quickly as they fell off.

This is all about getting your body to a place of health at a safe pace – so you’ll be happy to stay there.

This is because you’ve realized you’re not treating your body as you need to, and you have some weight-related health challenges, pains, or other concerns.

Perhaps your doctor has subtly – or maybe bluntly – let you know he can’t do much for you because of your weight. Maybe it’s a surgery he won’t perform, an ache he can’t do anything about, or a warning that you might need life insurance if you don’t change.

Deep down, you know what it’s about.

But you don’t really need a doctor – or friends, coworkers, and even random people – to tell you you’re bigger than you should be.

Honestly, your body has probably been giving the same message. Maybe it’s how tired you get, or the way your knees ache, or the pain in your back – just from standing.

You envy the energy of lighter friends who seem to be able to go forever without any aches to complain about – when all you want is a chair and a nap.

So how will hypnosis be any different?

The fundamental thing to keep in mind about behavior is this: if you’re doing it, either you mean to be doing it – or you don’t. So, if you’re eating and moving in ways that aren’t in balance with what you want for your body, then there’s a subconscious component to the issue.

We usually don’t pay much attention to the subconscious mind. We live from – and through – our conscious minds in our daily lives while the rest of our mind’s many subconscious systems run smoothly in the background, mostly without complaints.

Unless you have a medical condition, your body breathes for you while you are asleep. Your heart beats, pupil reflex keeps working, your intestines process the food in your body for energy. After you learned how to read, it became natural to read each word and sentence for its meaning without ever having to stop to wonder what that letter is – well unless your doctor is still issuing handwritten prescriptions.

This is where hypnosis comes in.

If the problem were conscious, then you’d have needed only one piece of advice to solve the problem yourself.

But your subconscious mind is in charge, so that’s where you need to make changes. Even if you alter the surface, the new you won’t truly be solid until you bring your subconscious mind fully on board with your new plan.

That’s why you can see limited success at the start of a diet, or you might have total success, but it all comes back and then some – just as soon as you’ve met your goal.

Hypnosis is communication with the unconscious mind. By communicating in the ways that the unconscious mind best knows and understands and listening for what the unconscious processes need to function best, we get all your body’s systems going in the same direction.

Sometimes, it can be obvious things like eating habits and energy to move, but it can also be the less obvious. Maybe it’s the heightening of the physical sensation to let you know you’re full. Maybe it’s handling fears around not having enough – a change in your metabolism – or a traumatic situation from your life.

The point is that it’s not surprising cookie-cutter diets and advice haven’t worked well in your past.

But everything is about to change.

I’ll work with you one-on-one until you get the results you want.

Recognizing that while there may be common themes and trouble spots, you are unique. I will work with you and get you, specifically, set up so that everything is working smoothly, and I’ll stick with you until you reach your goal.

Some of that is with weekly electronic message check-ins to make sure you’re still on track. But if something has gone sideways, including the scale, we will book you in for another session to troubleshoot any issues and get you back on track.

So you can enjoy living in a healthy body.

You know where you want to go – let’s get going.

It’s easy to get distracted by all the chimes, beeps, pleading voices, and demands of modern life.

If you don’t take action now, you know that little will change in any way you want. Perhaps it will be six months or a couple of years before you find me again and get started toward your goal.

Take action before life’s next distraction.

Book your discovery call or set up your session now by calling (206) 339-3439.