Emotions that come in all shapes and forms can leave a huge impact on your dieting focus and goals. Today I thought I would write about how they play a big part in our lives and how you can keep them under control.
Personal Myths
Your personal myths are your beliefs about your current weight. We are interested here in the negative ones that are likely to have led you to becoming overweight and then kept you stuck. Listing your own personal myths will help you to be in control and identify what is subconsciously and unnecessarily holding you back from your goals. I have listed a few below:
• I can’t lose weight, no matter what I do.
• It’s too expensive to eat healthily
The next step is to review what beliefs a.k.a. food viruses you wrote down and notice how they appear to be simply excuses that are holding you back. Just imagine for a moment if none of these statements were true for you. What difference would that make to your goal?
Letting go of negative experiences
If you don’t delve deep into your emotions you won’t be able to find out exactly what triggered your food myths. I have worked with many people aiming to lose weight and some of the situations that have held them back include;
• They were teased/bullied at school
• They were told they were not good enough by their parents/teachers
• They suffered emotional or physical abuse
These are just some examples of situations that may be affecting your ability to lose weight. You can find the connection by looking at your myths and relating that to an eating style questionnaire as shown in my latest book ‘Lose Weight with NLP’. Then ask yourself a few questions and make a note of the key things you learned from your answers;
What negative experiences in your past may have led to your weight issues today?
What negative beliefs about yourself have those experiences generated in you?
How have those beliefs acted as a trigger for your weight issues today?
Believe it or not, you can actually change your past, whatever happened, good or bad. The first step involves being aware of your negative experiences and how they’re holding you back.
There are more helpful exercises in my latest book ‘Lose Weight with NLP’ which is available from Amazon and all good bookstores.
