Successful and sustainable weight loss does not happen by radically slashing calories and ramping up exercise.
I’m referring to the calories in-calories out model of weight loss, a myth I’ve spent a considerable amount of time debunking on this very blog.
It’s not only a temporary fix, it’s a sure fire recipe for rebound weight gain.
We’ve all been on the yo-yo diet roller coaster way too many times to believe that’s the long term answer to the sustainable weight loss conundrum.
While it’s undeniable that you will drop weight in the short term, your body begins to realize you’re not experiencing a run of the mill food shortage. No, this situation seems very serious, life threatening even. In response, your metabolism slows. Your body pumps out stronger and stronger hunger cues to get you moving in search of food.
If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it 100 times: “diets” don’t work. Both intellectually and intuitively we know we need to make “lifestyle” changes. That we need to build new habits to support those changes.
Although cutting calories brings short term weight loss results, Mother Nature isn’t having any of it.
You can’t fight Mother Nature.
When discussing weight loss strategies, no one ever explained to me how our ancestral design makes our supposedly tried and true attempts at weight loss way more difficult than they have to be.
Biological functions can not be ignored because we pay a very steep price. The world-wide obesity epidemic is all the evidence we need to know that we can’t disregard our innate design.
And what’s more, no one ever taught us how to bring our brains on board to make the weight loss process sustainable.
No one ever taught us how habits are built. How they’re unwound and how to change them.
We’re governed by default behaviors that require awareness and the willingness to change them in order to achieve our goals.
Survival is paramount.
According to Mother Nature, your one and only job is to stay alive to perpetuate the human species.
Period. End of story.
And in that way, you are no different than any other living organism. Survive, procreate, nurture the young. Good job. Next!
To ensure that even in the most challenging or dire of circumstances we live to distribute our DNA to the next generation, we are designed to operate according to the Motivational Triad.
The Motivational Triad ups our chance of survival.
On default, our brains and bodies follow the dictates of the Motivational Triad.
- Seek pleasure
- Avoid pain
- Conserve energy and make it easy
Default thinking, default habits and default behaviors in the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain conserve energy. Ah, the perfect trifecta!
What this means in real life, on a day to day basis, is that challenging long held beliefs, habits and behaviors you’ve practiced for years to seek, pleasure, avoid pain and make life easier does not come naturally. It’s hard work!
Now let’s add the brain’s natural Negativity Bias into the mix.
The Negativity Bias ups our chance of survival.
Imagine this scenario, my adventurous cave woman.
You were out in the forest foraging for roots to eat. You caught sight of a long, black wavy object on the ground. In an instant, your brain thinks “danger, slithering snake”. From past experience, it automatically knows that snakes can be deadly. One bite and sayonara. Therefore, they must be avoided at all costs, even at the cost of a meal that day.
Stress hormones start pumping. You freeze in your tracks, then slowly back away. From a safer distance you assess the situation and quickly realize it’s nothing more than a fallen branch. You thought the worst first. In order to save your life, of course.
That’s the way we’re programmed. Better safe than sorry.
ANTS are everywhere.
ANTS stands for automatic negative thinking. They not only ruin picnics, they block us from trying new things.
You can count on your brain offering up all kinds of ANTS, reason after reason why you shouldn’t change the status quo.
Even when it’s in your best interest to do so.
That beautiful brain of yours will conjure up one scary, threatening scenario after another to stop you from making change. Even when you REALLY, REALLY want to.
Let’s apply our understanding of our default programming to sustainable weight loss.
Mother Nature designed our brains to register pleasure when we eat. Hello dopamine hit. But when sweet or highly processed foods hit our digestive system, whoa! Hello OUT-SIZED dopamine hit.
This big dopamine hit trains our brains to remember that those foods were extra special, wonderful and sure to prolong our survival.
Except they don’t.
It’s Never Too Late to finally make weight loss your reality.
For sustainable weight loss, we need to build a foundation of thinking and behaving that over-rides and recalibrates all our default training.
Losing unwanted weight in alignment with 21st century neuroscience and metabolic science is the ONLY path to success!
Learning how to manage your mind throughout the entire weight loss process is like putting high octane fuel in your engine.
Yes, it really is possible to find the peace and freedom you seek in your relationship with food, your body and your weight.
It’s always the right time to take me up on my offer for your FREE Strategy Call. Then you can see for yourself how it’s possible to jump start weight loss.
I teach you real weight loss solutions, not fads, not diets.
No white-knuckling or willpower required..
It’s totally possible to make 2022 your year to create the healthiest you. No matter your age, stage or past experiences.
It’s finally time to jump start your fresh start. A year from now you will thank yourself you started today.
I’m looking forward to meeting you soon.
It’s Never Too Late to make your weight loss journey easier. Let’s go!
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