I think Sheryl Crow really said it best, and even though she was singing about some deadbeat guy, we can use the title of her song for weight loss.
So you want to lose weight. You are tired of looking at your tummy, your hips, your butt, your whatever—you just want all of these areas of your body to change. You want to feel lighter, you want to feel healthier, and you want to feel thin.
In order for all of these things to take place, you are going to have to change, and guess what? Your mind hates change, it hates being uncomfortable, and it just wants to stay in its safe little bubble (even if that little bubble is heavier than you would like.)
So now in order to lose weight, we are told to suffer by cutting out foods and suffer by working out really hard. NO PAIN, NO GAIN! This is actually incorrect. Yes, we do have to get uncomfortable in order for change to occur, but we do not need to beat it off ourselves. You need to be uncomfortable in many other ways, not just in the gym or in the kitchen.
So how do we change? With a strong connection with your body and a whole lot of trust.
1. Ignore your mind chatter. I have mentioned this on several occasions. Your thoughts are always there to keep you stuck, keep you overweight, keep you out of money, keep you unhappy. Your thoughts are not evil, they just don’t like change, therefore they will fight you tooth and nail to make sure you don’t.
2. Live your truth. If your thoughts tell you to stay home and watch television, but you know deep down you love to be sweating at the gym, you must go to the gym. You have to live out your truth, not be masked by your thoughts, or you will do exactly what your mind wants, stay the same.
3. Make a decision. You have to decide that you are not going to listen to this nonsense anymore. You have to decide that you are going to move your body because that is what your body loves. It doesn’t mean you have to run if you hate running. You can dance, do yoga, tai chi, walk, or simply just park farther. Working out in a gym isn’t for everyone; look at France! They are thin, they are healthy, and they DO NOT workout. If that is your truth, then make a decision to live it.
4. Ignore the media. We are told that we have to run, sweat, cry, throw up, to get weight off. We are told we have to burn calories, and push ourselves in the gym. If you are not someone that enjoys working until exhaustion, this approach will not work for you! Not everybody is excited about running five miles. Not everyone is excited about lifting ten extra pounds, if that is not you don’t do it. BUT, find ways to challenge your body in other ways. Maybe you work on finally doing headstand in yoga, or fully meditating during tai chi, or learning a challenging routine in dance. You must get uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to be the type of discomfort the media shows us.
5. Celebrate your victories. If you were able to ignore your thoughts three days in a row and went to yoga each day and meditated all three days, celebrate! That means you are telling your thoughts, we are changing whether you like it or not! When you realize that you were going to eat a piece of cake after already being full just to ensure you don’t lose weight, and then decide not to, celebrate! That is exactly how you change, that is how you lose weight.
The most important thing to take away from this is that if you don’t push through the layer of mind chatter, you will never lose weight. You will stay safe; you will stay stuck. If you want to lose weight, you have to instill change, and that means you have to get uncomfortable. You have to challenge your body in whatever way you enjoy the most, and you have got to celebrate your changes. Change can be easy; every time you overcome a battle with your thoughts, you have everything in the world to be proud of.
And remember, I mentioned this last week, always think of the result. If you are running continue to remind yourself how extremely proud, excited and happy you are when you accomplish the task of running. If you are in yoga, remind yourself how absolutely incredible you feel in corpse pose at the end of class. Let these thoughts fill your head, and push the other crap out.
