It's All In Your Mind

Didn’t Einstein say, “Imagination is more important than knowledge?”

It all starts with one thought.  It starts with a simple desire.  It starts with your imagination!

Be conscious and curious and aware of your thoughts related to your body, your food, about your life. 

Pay attention to your thinking.  Pay attention to what you’re “imaging.”   Infuse any images you hold with passion, joy, gratitude, and pleasure.  

And see where you go!

Up Next:  How to Have Fun While Losing Weight

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Resistance

 

I am a world-class resister.  If resistance were a sport, I would be slathered in Olympic gold.  And although I hold a doctorate in music, on some days I feel like I should hold a doctorate in resistance.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about resistance over the years:

First, resistance is a very good thing.  When you feel resistance, be grateful.  Resistance is a blessing.  Resistance is awesome.  Resistance is cool.  Resistance rocks!  Why?  Because resistance points you in the direction where you can make the most profound growth.  Resistance shows you a very specific place where you can create a magnificent transformation.

In my weight-release journey, the one aspect that I resisted the most was moving my body.   I loathed moving my body almost as much as I loathed my body itself.  And I could come up with any number of rationalizations that would allow me to remain entrenched in my sedentary lifestyle.  First, I was too busy.  I had no time.  I was working two and sometimes three jobs, and I just couldn’t find time to exercise.  And then, when I’d get home at night, the last thing in the world I wanted to to was go for a walk.  I also was totally embarrassed about my body and how I had let it deteriorate.  I didn’t want anyone to see me, much less see me moving.

But as I began to intentionally shift my view of my body, and as I began to intentionally think loving thoughts about myself, I began to consider how fantastically strong my body was for carrying around 45 extra pounds of weight.  And those positive, loving, compassionate thoughts about my body slowly began to do a number on my resistance.  As I began to see my body as worthy of attention and love, I began to really listen to her.  

Here’s what she said one day:

“Kristin, if you want me to weigh less, you’re going to have to move me more.”

“I don’t want to,” I whined.

She persisted. “Kristin, if you want me to weigh less, you’re going to have to move me more.  Why don’t we go for a walk?”

“Ugh.  I don’t want to.  I’m at work.  If we go for a walk, I’ll be all sweaty and sticky and gross when we get back,” my whine continued.

“Kristin, dear,” my body said.  “I love you, and I want to be there for you.  If you want us to weigh less, then both of us are going to have to move more.  Let’s go for a walk.  It’s a nice day!”

My resistance was, indeed, futile.  My body and I went for a walk. 

Within a few weeks, that 30-minute walk morphed into an hour-long walk.  Within a couple of months, that hour-long walk morphed into a 15-minute run.  And that 15-minute run morphed into running a half marathon.

What is the truth of resistance?  

Resistance gives you the opportunity for profound change.  

And with that profound change can come the realization of your deepest desires.

Up Next:  It’s All In Your Mind

And check out my FREE limited-time offer at my website:  http://fallinlovewithyourbody.com

 

Celebrate!

 

Here are some reasons to celebrate. . .

. . . It’s fun!

. . . Every step you take in the direction of your desires deserves celebration!

. . . It’ll help you keep going when you don’t feel like it!

. . . It beats beating ourselves up over food!

Food is an integral part of celebration.   It seems we celebrate everything in our life with food.  We celebrate graduations and birthdays and weddings and anniversaries with cake.  We celebrate the Independence Day with hot dogs, potato salad, chips, and apple pie.  We celebrate major accomplishments in our lives with a fabulous dinner.  Food is a prominent part celebrating milestones, major events, and significant achievements in our lives.  Food is important.

In releasing weight through pleasure, and in getting what I wanted for my body, it became important for me to celebrate myself and every weight-release accomplishment in non-food ways.  And I got some help in this regard from a friend who loves earrings.  She determined, as she was beginning her weight-release adventure, that she needed to find non-food ways to celebrate every five-pound increment she reached.  And she decided to celebrate through earrings.  She loved earrings, and the prospect of getting new ones when she hit a weight-release goal kept her motivated.  Those earrings kept her interested, and focused on what her true desires were for her body.

As I was releasing weight, I decided to adopt a similar strategy.  I knew I was in it for the long haul, and I knew I had to find a way to keep it fun.  So, for the first five pounds I released, I treated myself to a fun box of decorative notecards.  For ten pounds, I indulged in a high-end facial moisturizer.  And on and on. . .  by the time I reached 45 pounds, I time skiing down a mountain in Colorado!

As you’re moving through your weight-release journey, how can you celebrate and recognize every milestone you reach in non-food ways?  What are some pleasures you can indulge in that are free of food?

Up Next:  Resistance

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What Does Pleasure Have to Do With Weight Loss?

 

At first glance, it’s counter-intuitive.

Pleasure and releasing weight seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum.  On one end, we have delicious food and rapturous feelings.  And on the other end, we have celery sticks and starvation.  How can the two co-exist and even enhance each other? 

Releasing weight through pleasure means allowing yourself to experience the sensory delight that your body can give you.  Your body can give you pleasure in ways other than food if you let it.

Releasing weight through pleasure means allowing yourself to contemplate what the term “pleasure” really means, and then going for it.  Pleasure can be found in a croissant and coffee, or really feeling your legs in a great stretch, or enjoying a cool breeze wafting through your home.  

Releasing weight through pleasure means bringing joy to experiences that might be unpleasant.  For years, I had a desire to lose weight, and for years, I resisted  exercise. I hated exercise.  However, I knew that if I wanted to release weight, I had to find a way to make moving my body fun.  And celebrating each step I took on the treadmill led me into a passionate affair with running.

Releasing weight through pleasure means consciously and intentionally shifting your view of your body, and replacing negative messages with kind, compassionate, loving words.  The negative messages are lies.  The loving words are truth. 

Releasing weight through pleasure means to continually chose to view your body with love rather than loathing.  And as we align our thoughts with a loving reality, our behavior aligns itself with that loving reality as well.

Up Next:  Celebrate!

Visit me at http://www.fallinlovewithyourbody.com

 

The Joy of the Long Run

 

“If all my patients exercised, I wouldn’t have a practice,” a local psychiatrist said to a friend of mine years ago.

While I am not a psychiatrist, I do know that running--especially long runs--make me feel great!

Here’s how:

1. 1. About three or four miles in, I begin to relax into a fantastic rhythm--a gorgeous, synchronous blending of my heartbeat and stride.
   

2. 2.Long runs give me amazing solitude--a great chance to unwind, de-stress, problem solve, and think.
   

3. 3.Long runs give me a sense of pride and accomplishment.
   

4. 4.Long runs help me feel confident that I’m doing something really great for my body, and I know that my body thanks me.
   

5. 5.As I’m breathing rhythmically and deeply, I feel like I’m getting in touch with the life force of the universe.
   

6. 6.By mile four or so, I relax into a clear, calm, focused meditative state.
   

7. 7.Long runs give me the chance to see areas of my beautiful town I normally experience only in a car.
   

8. 8.The grainy, salty residue left on my skin after a long run is physical evidence that I’ve done something hard.
   

9. 9. My body responds to what I ask it to do, if I’m gentle with it and give it time to adapt.
   

10. 10. It makes me happy!
    

What makes you happy?  

Up Next:  What Does Pleasure Have to Do Weight Loss?

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Attitude

Attitude isn’t the most important thing.  It’s the only thing.

It’s easy to have a fantastic attitude when you’re have a fantastic day.  But what about when your day is less-than-fantastic?  How do you keep that great attitude when your boss is short with you and your spouse is grouchy and the dog had an accident on the carpet?  How to you focus on your desires for your body when your biggest desire seems to be for a family-size bag of Ruffles?

Here are a couple of suggestions.  First, pay attention to your feelings.  Acknowledge them, own them, and let yourself feel them before you put food in your mouth.  And secondly, remember what you really, really want.  Always keep your thoughts focused on the outcome you’re seeking.  Owning all of your feelings and being clear about your deepest desires can go a long way in helping maintain a great attitude under less-than-great circumstances.

Up Next:  The Joy of the Long Run

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Think and Grow Thin

 

“Yeah, right,” I can hear my skeptics say.  “There’s more to losing weight than just thinking about it.”  

I agree.

I also know that releasing weight in a pleasurable way has more to do with how you think about yourself than what you eat and how much exercise you get.  Releasing weight is integrally tied with how you view yourself, how deserving you feel yourself to be, and what you say to yourself every time you pass by a mirror.

Sure, you have to burn more calories than you take in.  But on another level, when you start viewing your body as beautiful, stunning, attractive, healthy, fit, and sexy, then your behavior will change as well.  

“But all I see are rolls of fat and flab,” you say.

“How can I view myself as attractive when all my big nose is too big and my hair is gray and my thighs are gargantuan?”

Again, we’re back to gratitude.  

How often do you think about being grateful for your body?

How often do you consider how those “gargantuan” thighs have helped you move from point A to point B?

How often do you consider the beauty in that gray hair and everything that that the gray represents?

How often to you acknowledge that your “big” nose gives you pleasure by letting you smell lilacs?

How often do you look at your abdomen and and consider everything it has done, and continues to do, for you?

How often do you celebrate your body?

When we change the thoughts we think about our body, our bodies respond and change as well.  

Up Next:  Attitudes

And visit me at my website:  http://www.fallinlovewithyourbody.com