Only 45% of Americans believe that diet programs work[4]. This could have something to do with the fact that most people who lose weight, regain more than 80% of the lost weight back within 5 years [5]. This is very discouraging and could have people feeling like attempts at losing weight and getting healthier are futile.
But, there is hope! You just need the right information. For centuries science has been focusing on a dualistic way of treating humans. They were convinced that the mind and the body were separate and they did not need to take the human soul and spirit into consideration. This part of you is very hard to measure because it is not of the material world. It is unquantifiable. It is your beliefs, your values, your passion, your purpose, your personality, your spirit. However, in recent times we, the West have been more open to the influence of the East, where they never castrated the human soul from the equation. These intangible things are very real parts of you that need to be addressed if you want to make quantum shifts in your life (i.e. weight loss & better health).
What’s Ahead
- Implanting your dream-self consciousness into your current self consciousness for quantum change now.
- How and why building self-regulatory skills will help you with your health goals
- How to increase your self-efficacy so that you can have more self confidence, change your behaviors, have lasting weight loss and better health every day.
Forcing a diet and then feeling like you have “made it”, and releasing yourself back to your old habits is how the yo-yo diet stays alive. Yo-yo dieting is a symptom of disordered eating and the longer you do it, the easier it is for you to gain more and more weight, develop worse eating patterns and worsen your health[14][15][16]. You are just going from one extreme to another and your extremes get greater and greater in difference. It is like you are training your body to do this.
This doesn’t work.
So, What Works for Sustained Weight Loss?
Transformation. No more pendulum and sheer force, you must transform from a swinging pendulum to a homeostatic being.
Instead of constantly trying to change your body by sheer force and determination, you must sit with your body, be in your body, accept your body and re-learn how to live, eat, breath and move in your body.
The good news is you can do it! Because, if I can do it, so can you!
I used to want to be anywhere other than in my body. I was constantly wishing that I was different. My weight would go up and down by 15-30lbs on a monthly basis. At my highest weight, I hated myself, at my lowest weight, I hated myself even more! I realized that I could do any diet and it would work, so if all the diets work then what was broken? Me! I dedicated myself to constant growth, and then, boom, 8 years later I am transformed into someone who loves and accepts her body. And I am confident that you can do it much faster if you have the right information.
So, what do scientists say about sustained weight loss? They are basically saying you need to take a holistic and personalized approach[11][12][13]… Finally! Science has caught up with reality.
1.) Your Behaviors Must Change
Imagine I have a magical crystal ball, and in that ball you see the version of you that has the body and the health that you have always dreamed of. Do it right now. It only takes a minute. Imagine it.
What do you see? How does that version of yourself behave? What are you wearing? How are you standing? What kind of activities are you doing? What kind of energy do you have? What do you stand for? What do you not tolerate anymore? How do you feel about yourself?
You can’t solve the problem with the same consciousness that created it.
Einstein
That version of you exists right now. That version of you is becoming more and more real the more you focus on it.
Imagine if all of a sudden your mental state could not go back to the current version of yourself. Something in the ionosphere, or whatever, shifted and that consciousness of your higher self, your dream self got implanted into your current self. How would things be different? What kind of things would you do differently today? How would you behave?
What you focus on increases.
People who have directed their focus to increasing their self-regulatory skills and increasing their self-efficacy are more likely to experience sustained weight loss[6][7][8][9][10].
Self-regulatory skill and self-efficacy play major roles in our behavior. Our energy, our thoughts, our emotions can all determine how we will behave. They don’t have to, however. We can control how we respond to all of these things and ultimately change our behavior.
Self-regulatory skills are the ability to monitor and manage your energy states, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions.
How many times have you attempted to lose weight and been derailed by your own personality? I would guess every time. Yes, it may be hard to eat a certain meal because you feel fear of missing out on something better… that is your personality, not anyone else. It is unlikely that others are physically forcing you to eat stuff that doesn’t get you to your goals. If they are that is abuse and seek help. But the most likely scenario is that you have reasoned yourself out of going for a walk and not that someone has chained you to the radiator.
How to build self-regulatory skills:
If you were going to build your dream house on raw land, you would need to survey the land first. You need to take a real hard look at what you have. The type of soil, clay, sand, where is the water, where will the energy come from, how does the sun track over the land, are there trees, boulders, slopes, etc.
So, if you want to build the dream body on this body that you have now, be the surveyor of yourself. See what your working with. What is the hard wiring of this body of yours? Do you cry at the drop of a hat, do you make rash decisions when your hungry, what things in your life that stress you out? What overwhelms you with joy? What are your greatest strengths?
- Journal
- Do body scans often. Set your timer for 5 minutes and feel what feelings are going on in your body, think about where they are and what emotions they might be.
- Track your sleep
- Track your mood
- For 3-5 days write down everything you eat and where you eat it, are you alone, in a hurry, what is your emotional state when you are eating?
- Meditate
- When do you have the most energy?
- What things make you angry?
Over time you will see patterns and you will become less and less attached to your emotions, your energy, your thoughts, and even your behaviors.
I was shocked at how predictable I could be. Eat crapy toxic food one night, the next day I’d crie, the day after that the rings on my fingers fit really tight, the day after that I’d have pimples, and the 4th day I would need a nap. After watching myself go through that time and time again, I decided, NOT worth it! Maybe once a year, but one cheat day a week was destroying me.
Now that you have taken all the time you need to survey yourself, you are ready for more. But really, this stuff does take time. Don’t expect to read this and have it all stick. I recommend you bookmark this page while you are working on this and visit it as much as you need.
Self-efficacy is the belief that you can do something.
Once you start to observe your thoughts and emotions, your beliefs will start to come to the light. Beliefs must change in order for your behavior to change. You can change your behavior first, but why would you continue to do something long term if you don’t believe in it. You would eventually rationalize that it was a pointless behavior or maybe even become resentful.
Imagine again you are building your dream house. You interview 2 contractors, the first contractor believes that she can have the project complete in 12 months and under budget, the second contractor believes that this job will take 2 years and be double your budget. Which contractor is right? They both are.
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.
hitler ‘aka’ henry ford
You have permission to examine your beliefs and question whether or not they are serving you and your dream self.
Hint: any voice in your head that is rationalizing why you shouldn’t follow your dreams is not serving you. You can make it work, you can find a way to make your dreams work.
How to build self-efficacy:
- Write down some recurring limiting self beliefs on one side of a paper and next to them, write the opposite of that belief. When you start to hear that limiting belief coming in, replace it with the opposite, true and loving belief. Do this over and over and see how your behaviors change.
Example of a limiting belief: I keep failing at diets. I don’t think I’ll ever be happy.
Example of a true and loving belief: Every day I work to make my life happier and healthier.
Note, it may feel silly and you may hear that voice in your head whispering “Liarrrr”, but if you are reading this, today you are working to make your life happier and healthier, so chew on that for a minute.
Lastly, imagine how much nicer you would treat yourself if you believed that you were enough, just the way you are.
In Conclusion…
Holistic, behavior based weight-loss interventions, contribute to “clinically important” sustaining of weight loss and better quality of life.
If you want to lose the weight and increase your health, it would pay you good mind to work on behavior changing rather than simple blunt force starvation and physical exertion.
Remember you have a unique personality and soul that must be examined
If you found this helpful
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If you would like personalized, holistic weight loss coaching…
I offer One-on-One personalized coaching. head over to my 1-on-1 page and follow the instructions there. We will set up a time and date for your free discovery session and see if we are a great fit.
Thank you for your attention. I am honored that you are here.
I love you very much and I’ll see you soon,
Jessica Ray
recourses:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30354042/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29686382/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29265772/
- https://www.statista.com/topics/4392/diets-and-weight-loss-in-the-us/
- https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/74/5/579/4737391
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30462574/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28870208/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22709701/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15655039/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28486342/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31724424/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30544179/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28641912/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25614198/
- https://www.bodymatters.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/DSM_V_Diagnostic_Critera_for_Eating_Disorders.pdf
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25614199/
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