Winning the Mental Game of Weight Loss and Weight Control

The following is a brief excerpt from the special report titled
“The 3 Keys to Life-Long Health and Weight Control.” The entire
24-page report is available to you free – request your copy at

http://www.efflearn.com/3-keys.php.

Winning the Mental Game of Weight Loss and Weight
Control Copyright © 2005 Jeff Griswold, Effective Learning
Systems, Inc.

Are you struggling to lose weight? Are your diet and exercise
programs not working for you? Are you finding it difficult to
stay motivated? While it’s essential to have a plan for proper
nutrition and regular exercise, there’s a one more thing you
need to lose weight fast and maintain your ideal body weight.
You also need to win the “Mental Game” of weight control.

Most people ignore the importance of the Mental Game in
achieving your ideal weight. Deeply engrained thoughts and
beliefs are the source of bad eating and exercise habits and can
result in a negative, overweight self-image. No diet or exercise
program can succeed if your mind is working against you. To lose
weight fast or maintain your ideal body weight, you need to
combine proper nutrition and regular exercise with winning the
Mental Game of weight control.

Love Comes First

Many people think, and often say aloud, “I’d love my body if I
could just lose 10-20 pounds.” The truth is that this thinking
is completely backwards. If you don’t love your body to begin
with, it is next to impossible to improve your health or your
weight. Think about it this way, why would you take care of
something you don’t already love?

Let’s explore an analogy to help illustrate this point. Think
about how you treat an old, beat-up car versus how you treat a
brand new car just off the showroom floor. With an old “beater”
you don’t think twice about driving through the mud, over
potholes, or fast over speed bumps. You don’t mind spilling
things on the seat and you put in the cheapest gas you can find.
You feel fine abusing a car like this because you don’t really
care what it looks like.

With a new car, however, you drive very carefully, wash and wax
it on a daily basis, and park far away just to avoid other cars.
And when you see that first paint chip, within 2 minutes you’re
out there with the touch up paint and polish to keep it looking
like new. You care about this car – you LOVE this car – and you
take care of it to keep it looking and running new as long as
possible.

It’s the same thing with your body. Just like the old beat-up
car, if you don’t love your body, you probably won’t take very
good care of it. It becomes very easy to let yourself eat a
whole box of cookies or “super-size” that order of fries. If you
already “hate” your body, you feel like you can’t really do any
more damage, so why not have another cinnamon roll and watch
some TV.

This reasoning applies to more than weight loss. It applies to
all areas related to your health. Smoking is a great example. We
know smoking does terrible things to our bodies. It destroys our
lungs, causes cancer, and kills us. So how could somebody who
truly loves their body do that to themselves?

Do You Treat Your New Car Better Than You Treat Yourself?

But what if your body is already in bad shape? It’s kind of
hard to love your body if it’s already run down and out of
shape, isn’t it? Let’s go back to the car analogy. It may be
easy to love a shiny new car, but a little harder to love
something that’s old and broken down. That may be true, but
think about when a rusted-out, beaten-up 1965 Mustang
convertible ends up in the hands of an enthusiast. That person
loves that car no matter what shape it’s in. With wide eyes and
ceaseless energy, he or she will spend a lot of time and effort
restoring it until it’s back in mint condition. When it’s done,
he or she is as proud as a parent with a newborn baby.

Why do enthusiasts do this? Where do they get the energy to
restore something that to others appears to be a complete
disaster and a hopeless cause? The answer is “LOVE!” Enthusiasts
LOVE the objects of their attention. They see beauty where
others don’t. They see the promise and the possibilities. They
can envision the future and know they can reach their goals.

Be Your Own Enthusiast

Your body is the same way. You can be an enthusiast for your
own health and fitness. Love your body no matter what shape it’s
in. Become an enthusiast! Restore it and be proud of the work
you do!

So, begin by loving yourself. Start today and you’ll find it’s
much easier to succeed in your weight control efforts.

The problem is that for most of us it’s very difficult to change
the way we think about ourselves. This is not something that
comes naturally to us. It requires overcoming years of
programming we’ve received from our parents, friends, the media,
and even ourselves.

Here are some steps you can take to change the way you view
yourself and begin to win the Mental Game of weight control:

* Recognize your negative programming

* Replace your negative programming with positive affirmations

* Apply visualization techniques

* Use guided imagery

You can use these techniques on your own or utilize audio
programs such as those developed by Effective Learning Systems
to guide you in using these techniques.

Learn More

To learn more about each of these techniques, go to http://www.efflearn.com
/3-keys.php to request your free copy of “The 3 Keys to
Life-Long Health and Weight Control,” a 24-page report
discussing the 3 keys to effective weight control:

*
Nutrition

* Exercise

* Winning the Mental Game of Weight Control

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