“If you think you don’t control your thoughts – tell me who does. I’ll go talk to that person and get them to return your thoughts to you. ”~ Wayne Dyer
Clearly, these words are meant to be ironic.
Sadly though, many women who struggle with their weight, also with their thoughts.
You might be wondering, “What’s so important about a ‘thought’?”
And you’d be right.
It is ‘just a thought’.
But, because the ancestor of every action is a thought, you can see how our thoughts become pretty darn important.
We’ve already seen how thoughts can make us fat.
Earlier this week a client shared with me, “I have zero control over my thoughts when it comes to certain foods. It’s like I get body-snatched, and something or someone else takes over.”
It’s a common scenario. I understand how frustrating this can be – I used to be there too.
How do you respond when unhelpful thoughts pop into your mind?
“Mmmmm, there’s a family pack of chips in the pantry, why not let’s eat them, and watch the telly instead of going to the gym?”
Do you, 1) press mute on the thoughts, then go do the action you need to do to move towards your goal?
Or, do you, 2) listen to these thoughts, and allow them to drag you away from your goal?
If you go for option one – rock on, you’re kicking goals.
If you typically go for the second option, here’s a niffy trick for taking back control of your thoughts.
‘Too Much Information’ Warning
There’s no getting around the fact that this technique is a bit gross. OK, very gross.
Stick with me though – it’s the grossness that makes it effective.
Here’s how it works.
The next time your thoughts are tempting you to overeat, skip your gym session (or anything else that you know will lead you away from your goal), imagine this. ….
….that those thoughts are sent from a tapeworm in your tummy.
Eeeeeew!
G.R.O.S.S!
You got that right!
Your mission is to starve this tapeworm.
Every time you choose a nourishing food choices, you starve it. Every time you exercise, are kind and loving, and take small, daily actions towards your goal, you starve it.
The tapeworm has a mission too. Its mission is to starve you of your health, happiness and belief in yourself.
It’ll trick you into overeating, staying on the couch and doing things you promised yourself you wouldn’t – just so it can stay alive – and you continue to struggle with your weight.
Yes, there’ll be times when this tape worm will make you feel miserable, like you’re “missing out.”
You’ll be tired or off guard and it’ll try and trick you into slipping into old unhealthy habits (actions or inactions) or doing something that takes you away from your goal.
The way you get around this is to turn your weight loss journey into a game. Make it fun.
If the tapeworm does catch you off guard (you’re human ain’t cha?!), simply forgive yourself, and hit the RESET button.
Start again.
And again.
And again.
Whatever temptation the tapeworm tries to trick you with, realise every time you mute or ignore the tempting thought, you’ve dealt it a blow, and it will get smaller and smaller, eventually shrinking to nothing at all.
Happy, healthy people don’t listen to tapeworms in their tummy – they do what they said they would and move towards their goals.
Love etc, Avril
PS: If you’re struggling with emotional eating or you’re ready to shrink your tapeworm, drop me a line. Together we can get through this avril@avrilcarpenter.com
