Update Your Mindset
Most everyone now is familiar with the concept of updating your operating system for your computer or smartphone.
Your Fitness Mindset may need to be updated in the same way. Perhaps something in the old program isn’t working for you anymore. I will give you some tools to make it happen. Action Step 1 was your wake up call now it’s time to go deep into reprogramming your mindset. If you haven’t had a chance yet to visit THE TRUTH page make sure you tap the tab and get caught up.
All the nutrition, health and fitness knowledge in the world will not help you if your subconscious mind is still not letting you lose weight.
If you don’t work on what’s wrong in your head then Jack Lalanne, Dr. Phil, Oprah, Richard Simmons and ten other diet and fitness gurus could work with you night and day and you might lose fat and achieve your health goals temporarily only to gain all the weight back soon after.
I remember hearing a story about a 1000-pound man who lost 700 pounds after he was visited and counseled by Richard Simmons. Soon after he was left alone and regained all the weight. This man’s problem is obviously not his lack of knowledge about fat loss and lies instead in his subconscious mind. Food Addiction is much more widespread then most people want to admit. Just like with alcohol, drugs, gambling or any addiction, the behavior is used to make us feel better or cover up or run away from painful feelings, guilt or shame. If you are acting out with Addictive Eating or Emotional Eating then you will need to work on what’s behind this self-defeating behavior that is coming from your mindset.
Somewhere along the line for many people something happens in our life that damages our self-esteem or shames us and causes our subconscious mind to hold onto a false or negative idea about ourselves. This is the cause of most addiction problems and it can be reversed. I will tell you how with a story.
The Sedona Method Story
One of my favorite stories is from Hale Dwoskin-author of The Sedona Method. It goes like this:
“There was a woman who used to be a beautiful model when she was younger but was now a little older and overweight. She had been struggling with her weight for many years and had tried every diet and read every book and still could not seem to get back to having a healthy, normal body. After doing some special work on her subconscious mind she had an A-Ha moment. She suddenly remembered something that happened many years ago when she was married to her first husband that she had completely forgotten about. She had been in the hospital for several days for something that was not that serious when her husband visited her. He explained that he had lost all their savings, which was a substantial amount of money, on a bad investment. She remembered that at that moment she said to herself I’ll show you! And she immediately started overeating after leaving the hospital and soon was very obese and much less attractive to her husband. Many years later the husband was gone and out of her life but she was still trying to punish him! This was her A-Ha moment. Soon after remembering this she was free and she was able to work with a trainer and quickly and permanently diet down to her ideal weight.”
This story is a perfect example of how unresolved experiences from our past can stay buried in our subconscious and sabotage our future. It may be worth digging into your past and finding the unsolved mystery that might be stopping you from reaching your fitness goals and having the body you want and deserve for yourself.
Our subconscious mind can truly become our worst enemy by holding onto false ideas and beliefs about our selves and our bodies. It’s this false feeling of unworthiness that sabotages our dreams and goals.
Habits And Beliefs
It’s the habits and beliefs that we hold in our subconscious mind that create who we are and the bodies that we have. When we are holding onto false or negative ideas it is because the objective mind has been satisfied that a thought is true so it sends it to the subconscious mind where it is made into reality. “The subconscious mind can not argue; it only acts. It accepts the conclusions of the objective mind as final. The subconscious mind can and will solve any problem for us if we know how to direct it. The subconscious processes are always at work: the only question is are we to be simply passive recipients of this activity, or are we to consciously direct the work?” If the subconscious mind has “accepted wrong suggestions, the sure method of overcoming them is by the use of strong counter suggestion, frequently repeated, which the mind must accept, thus eventually forming new healthy habits of thought and life.” – Charles Haanel
The subconscious mind is very resistant to change so you will need to repeat new thoughts and ideas every day to reprogram your Mindset.
I have another Action Step for you that builds on the Fitness Affirmations from The Truth. It seems silly but I can tell you from experience this stuff really works.
Goal Declarations are the best way I have found to reprogram the errors and they have always worked for me to the extent that I use them. I will provide for you here some very powerful goal declarations for updating your mindset and transforming your body. You must read these declarations aloud to yourself everyday if you expect them to work
Tap Below to Download the PDF Worksheet:
Mindset Update Overview
• I am (thinner) (more toned) and successful at fitness every day!
• I love my body and myself!
• I build muscle and burn fat every day!
• I eat healthy, natural foods everyday and feel good about it!
• I enjoy occasional guilt and shame free treats and desserts!
• I have a healthy, happy relationship with food and eating!
• I admire and model (thin) (muscular) fit, and successful people!
• I can have my cake and eat it too!
• I surround myself with loving, positive people who support my healthy diet and lifestyle!
• Healthy foods and meals are available everywhere I go!
• I drink an abundance of pure, refreshing cleansing water every day!
It is very important that you also write your own personalized goal declarations with a realistic timeline for attaining the results. Here are some examples:
• By May 1st of 2020 I will lose 20 pounds of fat!
• By 2021 I will have my dream body!
• By 202 I will have six pack abs!
Copy my list of declarations along with your personal goal declarations onto a piece of paper or small card that you can carry with you and read throughout the day. I promise you this will work. It has worked for me. Your subconscious mind will find ways that you never even thought of for the goals to be attained. Your happy magnetic personality will attract people and things into your life to help you like never before.
The two most important criteria for attaining your goals are that they be measurable and realistic. You will notice that on each of the examples there is a set time for attaining the desired goal. This needs to be realistic in your own mind and it may be helpful to consult with a fitness trainer to help you decide your timeline. If the goal can be measurable too as in pounds or inches this is even better.
• I am (thinner) (more muscular) and successful at fitness every day!
Choose the word that best describes your ideal body. You could say leaner instead of thinner or “successful at dieting”. Customize this into a goal statement with language that works for you.
• I love my body and myself!
This one obviously reinforces your self-esteem. It is very helpful to repeat this declaration in front of a mirror repeatedly. I used to do this when I first recovered from addiction and it was very effective.
• I build muscle and burn fat every day!
Muscle building and burning fat is our constant goal and needs to be programmed into the subconscious mind to turn it into our reality.
• I eat healthy, natural foods everyday and feel good about it!
I have heard many people say, “I love food way too much to ever have a fit body…” Many times people have a false idea that all “health food” tastes bad and is not satisfying to eat. Harmful, addictive chemicals in artificially flavored and scented foods are the reason why many people think processed foods taste better than natural or “health foods”. It’s amazing, for example, how after a short period of time without processed sugar you can really appreciate the natural sweetness of fruits. Get the falsehood out of your head that healthy foods do not taste good with this powerful declaration.
• I enjoy occasional guilt and shame free treats and desserts!
It is very psychologically important to allow yourself to have one day a week as a “cheat day” to enjoy those foods that you just love even though you know they are unhealthy to eat all the time. It will not hurt you or ruin your diet. On the contrary it will actually help you to maintain your sanity and not feel deprived. The staples you eat 90% of the time is what matters in the fat loss game not the occasional treat that you enjoy 10% of the time.
There is only one rule. You must enjoy and savor every bite of the pizza, cake, ice cream or whatever it is. You must not allow yourself to feel the least bit guilty or ashamed for eating it. You must tell yourself that it is OK and that this is a healthy part of your new eating plan. Trust me on this one you will still lose fat!
• I have a healthy, happy relationship with food and eating!
Whenever there is Emotional or Addictive Eating or Eating Disorders there is always a very unhealthy relationship with food. We need to make food our friend and eating enjoyable if it is not. This statement ties right in with the last one as well. It is designed to help achieve a normal, guilt and shame free relationship with food.
• I admire and model (thin) (muscular) fit, and successful people!
Again here it is important to customize this declaration using the words that you are comfortable with and describe your ideal body. Many people choose to admire and model only formerly overweight and unfit gurus or experts who have been successful at transforming themselves. This is OK but just make sure that your choice of role models is not coming from a place of resentment. Nothing good can ever grow from a root of resentment or jealousy. The idea that bodybuilders, fitness competitors and models are selfish and arrogant or just bad people is a complete falsehood that must be smashed.
This is the same way that many people wrongly envy rich people. They think that you had to have cheated someone or have to be a bad person who gained from someone else’s loss in order to be wealthy.
Yes, it’s true there are some very fit, muscular bodybuilders and models that are selfish and arrogant but not anymore than any other people are. This false belief is a holdback from having what you really want-a thin, fit and attractive body. I have met hundreds of bodybuilders and figure competitors from natural competitions with incredible bodies and have found they are in every other way just like everyone else. Some were nice and some were jerks. If you want to succeed in having the body of your dreams you need to admire and model the people that have been successful at this. You need to rub elbows with them and make friends with them.
Some people hold a false belief in the subconscious mind that if they are thin and fit, that they will be bad people because they hold in mind a particular fit person who hurt their feelingsor they dislike. Their mindset will not allow them to lose weight permanently.
I used to work with a wonderful man who was suffering from Type 2 Diabetes and other health problems related to his obesity.
He had a twin brother he despised.
He told me that his brother had always been the hero athlete of the family and even played in professional baseball.
The wonderful man was the intellectual of the family and preferred art, reading and played a musical instrument. He said he had vowed to himself that he would never be like his fit, muscular, mean, alcoholic, womanizing brother.
His vow became deeply ingrained in his subconscious mind and to this day he continues to suffer because he associates fitness with a person he resents. Is there anyone in your life that you need to forgive so you can get on with having the body and health you really want?
• I can have my cake and eat it too!
While conversing with people about healthy eating many people have said to me “I love food way to much to ever be thin or lose weight.” It is completely erroneous to think that it has to be either or. The idea that you either have to be fat and happy because you “love food” or thin and miserable because you don’t is ridiculous. Why on earth can’t you love food and have a nice body? This is just like the popular saying “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
Why the heck can’t you have your cake and eat it too?
We obviously, can’t eat cake all the time and expect positive health outcomes but the idea that we have to make sacrifices to attain our goals needs to be reformed.
Think substitution not sacrifice. You don’t have to deprive yourself, just switch to delicious and healthy treats and once in a while please have some damn cake.
• I surround myself with loving, positive people who support my healthy diet and lifestyle!
You must avoid negative people at all costs. The people in our lives that we surround ourselves with have a tremendous influence on our lives either for the better or for the worse. I have known people who have a very strong desire to improve themselves and change their bodies and lifestyles but have allowed a negative, insecure, unsupportive spouse or partner drag them down and contribute to their failure. Sadly, sometimes people who you think are your friends can often times sabotage your fitness goals too. Guard yourself from people who say they support you but really do not want to see someone else change and succeed because it makes them feel bad about themselves for not doing it. You must surround yourself with loving, positive, supportive people who live and eat healthy. If you keep having lunch with the same coworkers who like to eat unhealthy meals and snacks you are setting yourself up for failure. Seek out new, positive, fit friends who spend their lunch hour taking a walk or at the gym after a quick healthy snack.
• Healthy foods and meals are available everywhere I go!
Sometimes it is difficult to find healthy food on the run with our busy, hectic lives. This declaration will help your subconscious mind attract new food and meal opportunities into your life that you might not have seen or thought about before. You’ll be amazed how new healthy options will appear when your mind is open to it.
• I drink an abundance of pure, refreshing, cleansing water every day!
Adequate amounts of fresh, clean water is essential to any successful diet plan for flushing toxins out of the body and fat cells. One quart of pure water per 50 pounds of body weight is a good rule of thumb. Since I weigh around 200 pounds I often carry around a gallon of water with me and make sure I finish it by the end of each day. Many people are chronically dehydrated and know that they should drink more water but just can’t seem to do it. This declaration will get it done.