Staying on the Road to Weight Loss

By Rena Greenberg

In areas of your life where you are successful, making a U-turn at the first sign of a challenge would be the last thing you would do. Isn’t that true?

Similarly, if you are in New York and want to go to California, you would start by heading west. Even if you had some doubts, one thing is absolutely clear: The only direction that will get you to the desired destination is west. Even if you began heading west and hit a torrential rain storm that washed out the road, you wouldn’t turn around and go east instead. You would find an alternate route and continue forward toward your desired destination.

This logic is simple, yet it can be so hard to follow it when it comes to weight loss goals.

You decide to lose weight. You join a gym and pick a sensible eating plan. You throw away all the junk in your house and you prepare healthy food. You are not discouraged by the high number initially registering on the scale because you feel optimistic that this time you WILL be a successful weight loss winner!

You get off to a great start and lose a few pounds. Then on the seventh day you step onto the scale. What?! You can’t believe it! You haven’t lost more—after all this work! You begin to doubt your endeavors altogether. You fear that it’s going to be a lot harder than you thought it would be. You begin to ask yourself, “Is it worth it?” You think, “Maybe I should just turn around and start eating whatever I want to again.”

Now if you were asking your Wise Mind this question, it would answer emphatically, “YES! Yes, it’s worth it. Are you kidding me? Have you forgotten how much you have suffered because of your eating style and the effect it’s having on your body? I love you—please don’t treat yourself that way. Don’t succumb to the illusions the food industry perpetuates. You can be free. Stay the course. You can do this. I am with you. You have everything you need.”

In other words, it would be saying to you, “Keep going west! Keep going in the direction you originally set out to go. There’s a reason you embarked on this trip. Maybe right now it’s going slowly but just keep going! The only way to ruin everything is to turn around. Keep going forward, heading west!”

Plan the Journey, Visualize the Destination

If you were indeed heading to California, to make the trip easier and more enjoyable, wouldn’t you start fantasizing about how great your life was going to be in the Golden State? Wouldn’t you think about the amazing people you were going to meet, the gorgeous weather and the beautiful terrain ahead of you? It’s these delightful inner images that would propel you forward no matter what road blocks you encounter on the way.

With an upbeat attitude and a sense of trust and positive expectancy, your journey becomes exciting, and nothing can stand in the way of your success! Every challenge is seen as an opportunity to build your own inner strength, stamina and commitment.

What does this theoretical journey have to do with your successful weight loss? Everything! You know that you have what it takes to stay focused and on task in other areas of your life, so why do you find it acceptable to continue to sabotage your own desire for health and freedom from food addiction?

To make your journey successful, it has to be fun. Seeing the task as a whole lot of work makes it feel insurmountable. You may ask, “What’s fun about losing 100 pounds?”

If you take the focus off the weight you “have” to lose, and place it on the opportunity to grow into your best, wisest, most compassionate, strong, empowered self, the answer becomes: “Everything!”

Take pleasure in fantasizing about the new, future YOU. Use your subconscious mind to your benefit by practicing self-hypnosis; it doesn’t know the difference between what’s real and what’s imagined, so take advantage of that fact. Imagine yourself having already lost the weight that’s been bogging you down like a heavy ball and chain. What is your life like? How do people react to you? What clothes are you wearing? Who do you go out with? How do you express yourself differently and more effectively? How does it bring out the best in you?

Imagine feeling in control of your life and your habits. Picture yourself feeling strong and energized, vital and fit. Imagine moving your body and feeling good about it. Feel how empowering it feels to say no to “food” that belongs in a trash can and to know that your body is no longer a trash can.

These fantasies aren’t just a way to pass time. Imagery, when used properly, is a powerful method to reprogram your subconscious mind so you see yourself differently—from this day forward. You lose credibility with yourself if you haven’t always kept your word to yourself. Now you can experience the empowering feeling of building that trust back up again. When you say that you aren’t going to eat cookies or fast food anymore, this time you mean it.

When you feel good about your weight loss decisions, there is no stopping you.

You will find there is a momentum happening that makes weight loss as easy as gliding down a hill on a bicycle, your feet resting idly on the pedals, feeling the gentle breeze against your skin, hearing your inner voice squealing with delight, “Wheeeeee!”

Yes, you had to pedal up the hill to experience the joy of going down the hill, but you don’t have to define that as “hard work.” The intrinsic reward that awaits you makes it all worth it.

You’ve come too far in your life and you know too much. Turning back is not an option. The key to your success lies in the space between your ears. Are you listening to that chattering voice telling you how hard it is and that you’re not worth it? Or are you dropping down into your heart and connecting to your deepest truth that is whispering to you always, “You can do this. You have everything you need.”

Open your heart and your imagination and FEEL how great your life can be when you are balanced, aligned with your greatest good, taking the next right action every time and stepping into your best, brightest, happiest, healthiest YOU!

Rena Greenberg is the author of The Right Weigh: Six Steps to Permanent Weight Loss, which is used by over 100,000 People (Hay House Publishing) and The Craving Cure: Break the Hold Carbs and Sweets Have on Your Life (McGraw-Hill). She conducts weight loss seminars using hypnosis at hospitals throughout the country and has a private hypnosis practice specializing in gastric bypass hypnosis in Sarasota. She can be reached online at www.EasyWillpower.com or at 800-848-2822.

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