How To Stop Cravings, Lose Weight, And Successfully Take Your Life Back - Why It's So Hard

by Jerrico_Usher

Losing weight is a challenge- but only because you may not realize this...

We all know there are thousands of supplements, diet plans, and generally ineffective means to losing weight (at least keeping it off AND not suffering through the process). It's not that many of the "gimmicks" out there aren't effective, it's HOW people are trying to use them, and how they think about them in general!

In the end you should realize that your mind makes everything happen. From storing fat to giving you permission to eat what you KNOW you shouldn't and even when you know it's not just bad (makes you fat?) but because it is often even poison to the body- and I mean that literally. Many processed foods are one chemical from plastic like Country Crock butter.

______________________________________________________________

Lose Weight With Your Mind

|██████████████████████████████████████|

Feeling A Bit Out Of Control?

__________________________________________
I hope this article lends you some insight into how to break the mind over matter bubble. This applies to your entire life, not just losing weight!

___________________________________________________________

Losing weight or trying to eliminate the foods that you think will help you lose weight from your daily diet is not only going to fail, it's ridiculous to even think that would work!? Why? we all know we're habitual creatures and habits are just addictions in work clothes.

You can't cold turkey stop taking anything and expect it to work if you're addicted to it! We're just too good at rationalizing to even follow a plan to fruition but if you get that far you will come to realize that even doing everything right (according to some diet manual or program) it will fail in the long run because you haven't dealt with the real problem- Your mind, your thinking, and your body's own habitual needs you forced upon it! To even do it you'd have to be incredibly disciplined but nobody is that disciplined all the time!

___________________________________________________________

|██████████████████████████████████████|

Diet Shmighate?

__________________________________________
Why Diets Don't Work
(hint it's your fault)

___________________________________________________________

The problem with diets and such nonsense is that just like when you try to quit smoking, it's not just the mental addiction to nicotine/food that's the problem- it's that the body, even the brain reconfigures to "deal" with the poisons you put in your body when you smoke/indulge in bad foods/poisons.

The body is always trying to reach a state of homeostasis (balance), and when you quit anything you're addicted to like food or smoking, there are going to be some systems that need "realigning"- especially your mind (not so much brain as mind/mental state).

When your body reaches it's best defense posture (so to speak) to the poisons (the best it can do given it can't stop you from indulging), this "new" state is going to line up with your addiction to some degree and you will feel somewhat balanced but when you stop doing exactly what your body wishes you'd do- it goes into shock. This is because it's not "configured" physically nor mentally (your mind) to instantly adjust to the "better" state.

This doesn't mean the second you stop your body isn't frantically cleaning house and readjusting things- that's what the withdrawals are all about- it's the body's state when it's reconfiguring.

Think of a store. Let's say your grocery store moved ALL of the products around making your built up speed and efficiency impossible. Your "easy" shopping trip becomes frustrating. Not impossible,  and in time you will get accustomed to where everything is again in the new configuration. If you never get over being angry over them moving everything around, however, what's healed?

Healing the body is a great first step but healing the mind, the very way you think about foods and your health is the vital one that makes even a healthy body stay that way.

Try shopping through chaos like the above example and you'll get the beginnings of what is happening when you "diet" and why the pain is so great it often makes people go back to their old habits.

Thing is, sadly, if you stick it through, this may not even work as well unless you have anthony robbins next to you giving you advice the whole way- thing is, your mind is still in the wrong set, it's thinking about food backwards and has associated pleasure to poisons (like sugar!).

Again, you haven't dealt with the real problem. Your body's addiction (something there is no quick fix to renovate other than giving the body the tools- but giving someone a hammer is no guarantee they can/will build an entire house right?).

|██████████████████████████████████████|

water

|██████████████████████████████████████|

(this is the book mentioned in the youtube vid above

WATER

 The only way to change a habit like this is to have a great mental strategy and mental/physical plan to help your body along. Exercising is a great way to speed up the heart rate, and get the body's chemical freeway moving which is where all the magic starts. Drinking a lot of water lubricates not only the blood and body's systems, but it also creates more electricity in the brain's neuron firing.

Water actually makes you think better, faster, and cognition is enhanced simply by having a balance body PH level. This is done by drinking 4-8 glasses of water (apx 1.5 two liters a day is optimal for 180 lbs). Water is a magic bullet and makes everything else work. It's the oil, radiator fluid, neuron empowerment, toxin knife (especially in the liver and kidneys), and so much more. 

______________________________________________________________

A lot of people try to drink water but when they don't get some magical instant result they don't think it's doing anything special. You have to keep hydrated long enough for your body to rewire things back to healthy- sort of loosen up and release it's tight motherly grip on your life.

When you poison the body, be it sugar or arsenic, or even lack of water over extended periods of time, the body, there is no magic instant cure. You have to ride it out. Now if you sit there and don't exercise all day, it will still benefit you but you're going to lose 80% of that water because the body isn't going to use it fast enough when you're not doing anything.

The body's systems work on momentum just like us walking around works on momentum and muscles balancing everything out. It's literally toxic to not move or sit at a desk too long. You wouldn't believe what your body goes through just sitting there! 

By the way, I'm one of those people who can't stand the taste of water, but instead of using that as an excuse I figured out how to beat the taste. Adding packets of cool-aid (essentially) to your water changes it's molecular structure so this isn't a viable solution. I got to thinking about the very mechanics of the tongue- where the taste happens and thus how can I trick the tongue.

In my research I came across an amazing thing. A Berry that you chew and swish around your mouth for about 60 seconds. What this does is coat the tongue effectively blocking the sour taste buds, but enhancing the sweet ones!

Do You Know What This Means?

It means you can safely take a berry then for the next hour, yes an hour, you will only taste sweet. So drinking water, tastes really good. Cool-aid with no sugar? No problem, tastes almost like you put too much in there! You can read that article below:

Don't like the taste of Alcohol, lemons, sour vegitables, sour fruits? Take this berry and they will all taste sweet as rasins!

A fellow author here (SAM) wrote an amazing water article that literally forced me not to publish mine because her's was that good and I couldn't top it or even come close ...

take a look at it below:

 

Feedback

How much water should I drink per day? How much is enough and is there something like drinking too much water? This article aims to answer all these questions - and more.

|██████████████████████████████████████|

(just in case you now want to eat that marshmallow to prove your one of the 1/3...

|██████████████████████████████████████|

Puff Daddy - The Marshmallow Experiment

__________________________________________
Pay Attention Here... The Key Is Revealed Below

______________________________________________________________

There was a movie that came out I think 5 years ago called "Five Year Engagement". The movie itself was about something else but there was a reference I remember hearing in it (a side joke or something) and I just had to look it up!

It was called "The Marshmallow Experiment".  They were doing research on a child's ability to delay gratification and how they would do it. They used stale donuts in another study that related to this one, you could say it was a spinoff of it.

The study was conducted by a man named Walter Mischel, a Stanford University researcher.

______________________________________________________________

Each kid was given permission to take and eat one marshmallow that was put in front of them on a table in a room with nothing but a table and chair. They were told they could eat that ONE marshmallow NOW, or if they could wait they could have two. Of course a bunch of them ate the marshmallow quickly without hesitation (poor kids, you'll see why in a sec).

Others in the group found all kinds of interesting techniques to distract themselves so they didn't eat it and got 2 but 60% of THOSE kids ended up eating the marshmallow anyway! They showed discipline but ultimately crashed and burned trying to resist the sugary goodness of that marshmallow!

______________________________________________________________

What's interesting here is that of the 600 participants (children) only 1/3 of them actually, successfully, delayed gratification completely and received 2 marshmallows. The study didn't end (technically) there for Walter as later he later came to learn that those third of the 600 who were successful at delaying gratification were also successful later in life. They did well on SAT's as well years later.

|██████████████████████████████████████|

What Does This All Mean?

__________________________________________
Pay Attention Here... The Key Is Revealed Deeper Below

___________________________________________________________

So how can this help you to build your strategy towards losing weight and curbing those disastrous cravings that always get you in trouble?

Well first realize that some people are just born with an inclination towards being disciplined in delaying gratification. It sucks that the rest of us have to work for it (unless it's you) but don't worry, many more people actually are "raised" into learning how to do it and that means ANYONE can LEARN to control it.

Will it be easy? Not really- but much easier than trying to starve yourself on a lemonade diet thinking you'll melt the pounds away and after all the suffering you just gain it back.

Keep in mind that just because it's not easy or natural (endogenous to your brain), that doesn't mean you don't try. Our brains have an incredible capacity for "plasticity". This means we can learn new things, mental abilities, and more on a continuous basis. It doesn't take a lifetime to learn how it just takes a drive to learn about this component of your being!

(I'm put some great books around this article that I found helpful in this)

You learn from those with this ability- natural or earned- and listen to what they have to say about it. You can read books and get a great deal of detail about it- this isn't something you just get some quick information and become superman/woman- but the research and time to learn is actually fascinating. You learn about who you really are and even about your limitations and how you can render them inspiration from limitation. Awareness of the concept and it's underlying power can be enough to light a fire under you- or instill much needed fear in you about what would happen if you didn't tap into it! 

Anthony Robbins is a master at the mind and all things ambition, growth, mental- his book Awaken The Giant Changed my life 10 years ago. So much intel in one place is magical- that book is thick but incredibly inspirational and fun to read.

|██████████████████████████████████████|

"Oh, O.k. I'll Just Think Different And All Is Well.. Right?"

__________________________________________
I know, it sounds too simple, but it just takes will.

___________________________________________________________

Your very attitude and the mental strategy you use to embark on this task are going to be your "tells". How you strategize and how you think, speak of, write about, or in any way communicate it with yourself or the outside world (or your journal), determines and is a very good predictor of what outcome you will have. This means the answers are right there in those two areas. Conquering the delayed gratification discipline skill set depends on both of those being tuned up.

___________________________________________________________

Sup!
Sup!

The beauty of this being your focus is that you will be looking at YOUR current blueprint for gratification and fighting it. It will give you clues into what parts are being rigid in your mental imagery, thoughts, and actions. It's so personal nobody else in the world will have quite the same problem OR FIX.

The fix is simply to focus on those two areas and get to educating yourself dynamically. I can't tell you where to look because my blueprint is different. (but if you insist I added a section at the end of this article to show you what I started with and why) or two of the most impactful books that "woke me up").

I had to change different things than you will in my mental processes, perceptions, and so on.

If you discover the problem is muddy thinking as was my problem at first, then you can start reading books on the brain (not all are deep or technical) and especially smart drugs- even if you don't want to take any, the things you learn in those books about the functions and reactions of chemicals in the brain are incredible.

Learning that stuff made the world vibrant and clearer. Things made more sense and my thinking improved.

 

|██████████████████████████████████████|

Where I Started And What I Continue To 

Highly Recommend

__________________________________________
Getting Into Mental Shape

___________________________________________________________

Allow me to explain my prized books (you're looking at my virtual bookshelf of books I want my kids to one day read and benefit from).

Personal Power

The first course I was exposed to that changed everything- forever- is Anthony Robbins "Personal Power". Anthony robbins Awaken The Giant Within is also an amazing read and power consolidation of facts (I really like Tony Robbins, in the 90's his voice was squeaky and intolerable but his latest CD set (personal power) is more tolerable).

I mention that because as intolerable as I found his early voice work, his information was so impactful, every single minute, that I endured and got halfway through. I still to this day am not all the way through the course because I keep wanting to apply principals, watch them play out etc... then listen to more. It's incredibly dense with data- you may as well say he discovered the meaning of life and the mechanics of success and has shared them here.

___________________________________________________________

The Sylvester Stallone Story Told By Anthony Robbins

Awaken The Giant Audio Book (for those like me who have no time to "read")

I later got Awaken The Giant from my little brother a huge Anthony Robbins fan and the very reason I even discovered the guy (he wasn't all over tv back then, well late night but...). 

The personal power course was like rocket fuel. It opened my mind and made me realize just where I was messing up. This course led me to higher awareness and personal power that I exploited to learn more about the various areas covered like taking personal responsibility.

I  never expected any course to "cure" me, but what I learned in Robbins course and book was that it's not about healing in a weekend, it's about learning what to look for to START the healing on the right things!

Although Tony's CD "How To Increase Your Energy | The Power Of Successful Relationships" also blew my mind- it makes sense doesn't it? Relationships are a lot of where our decisions stem from don't they? We try to lose weight but our friends keep popping donuts in front of you, you try to drink water but everyone else is having a refreshing Mountain Dew! So it begs to reason that if you surround yourself with water drinkers and others trying to lose weight that those relationships would in effect assist you in making decisions in your best interest!

|██████████████████████████████████████|

The Second book I read was Dr. Phil's "Self Matters".  I didn't think too highly of Dr. Phil back then, but I heard the book was good so I took a gander. I love his powerful consolidation of potent insight (he didn't just make this stuff up, it's the product of his experience- but it jolted me awake one day....).

Self matters is a great book for those who need to reconnect with their power but can't seem to figure out how. I read this one then read the Awaken The Giant book again and found so much cohesion that I read both books at the same time changing books like chapters... I couldn't get enough of both.

After reading Self Matters, I was online and heard about another book he wrote. I was hooked because that first book really jolted me. The Personal Power course I listened to over 20 years ago and fell off the wagon so to speak, and Self matters realigned me- they are very similar these two (in specific respects).

That book was (drum roll) "Life Strategies". This book blew me away more than self matters, Mr. Phil did it this time. he wrote a book that basically offered more of the psychology behind the 10 commandments but in a modern twist- based on the modern day thinking and issues.

It's essentially the 10 things we do to murder our real/core self (and/or bury it beneath other peoples idea of what they should be)... and it's potent. Changing just one of those in your life is potent, it was for me anyway.

Life Strategies was an organizational book. It made me more aware of the structure of life and how people interact socially. It's one of the best books on the subject of personal responsibility and reinventing yourself back to your core of cores, I've ever read. Anthony didn't even say it better in my humbled opinion.

Next I found his Audio Book called "getting real" this is a cool live talk session that essentially breaks the Life strategies book down live and he gives some more information on the concepts in the book. It's a 4 CD set at about 8 hours I think (was a while ago).

___________________________________________________________

The next book came out of necessity years after I read the first two when I was in what I can only politely call a very taxing relationship. I got the book in desperation- common Phil, fix it man! The book turned out to be much more than a relationship rescue book (the name of the book).

It's premise is to reconnect with yourself and your relationship with yourself- for if you don't know yourself nobody else can possibly know you either!

This book didn't save the relationship, in fact it made it worse (not a bad thing) because a lot of things bubbled up in my frontal lobes after learning so much insight when I opened my eyes and awareness... but it saved ME from a toxic relationship I felt trapped in.

______________________________________________________________

Meantime, it gave me plenty to do to focus my attention away from the hell I was in (and how much growing up I did in that relationship!). In the end reading this book and taking the quizzes and what not I discovered why I felt so angry, so bogged down, so woe is me... I never finished this one either- I got my answers by page 12!

I barely got half way in and I had the answers I needed written out on 38 pieces of paper where I attempted to write down the answers to questions (which required some elaboration to use in later steps)... Great Book!

You will figure out why most relationships fail- [spoiler]- because most people have no real or respectful relationship with themselves so they can't possible be in a successful relationship with anyone else!

___________________________________________________________

Maintaining the course, he came out with another book a few years back about weight loss (Ultimate weight loss solution).

Now based on this very articles premise, this book is one of the best if you're looking to lose weight.

He breaks down what's in this article in minute but very clear and entertaining dialogue there focusing specifically on the mindset of holistic dieting, not just food but how you think and more.

The big head picture of Mr. McGraw on the front of every book was unbearable to me so I returned to highschool with the book covers, only I taped the paper into it seamlessly.

______________________________________________________________

I have over 480 books I've collected since then, but the most powerful were the ones above and so below. The rest of my collection are books on Brain science, neuroscience, Nootropics/smart drugs/nutraceuticals, and various areas of interest.

I couldn't even afford to buy a 12.00 book  back then, so I lived at the Barns N Nobles bookstore where I could grab a handful of books, find the one I wanted to indulge in for the next 8 hours while I drank my Starbucks Caramel Macchiato (with a gift card from xmas that year!).

Thing is, I was so blown away by many of these book the book actually motivated me to find a way to OWN IT. I bought every one, and the money seemed to fall in my lap when I wanted it so bad... That was when I realized I was applying focus principals I JUST learned and it was working!

Pixabay

What's interesting is that when it comes to losing weight or discipline, it's not that we're oblivious to the steps, what to do etc... it's that we are conditioned to and reactive to habits we form, habits our body forms to protect us from ourselves, and are addicted to our own rationalizations!

Some intelligent people caught up in their own torrent of bad filters, and friends that bring them down constantly, would do well to read a few books on the subject, but some read it, know it, even memorize it, make speeches to everyone about it (solving others problems with what you know), but themselves don't APPLY the principles and merge their own life into them- so reading won't do a thing if you don't take action.

The problem isn't knowing, it's being aware of how to activate that knowing and put it to work for you. It's easy to help others- helping yourself is the challenge! For many it's simply no exposure to the right people or resources (books, classes, videos, etc...).

Our reactive mind and instinctive behaviors rest in the subconscious mind. This means you're practically on autopilot if you don't put that bulldog in check! Most people don't think for themselves unfortunately- but I know you do or you wouldn't have found this article :) so I'll assume you're a proactive thinker or want to be.

For me it was a series of books and several years of putting what I learned into action that helped me hit goals and change bad habits. You're never perfect but with the right understandings you feel like superman and feel invincible.

Taking responsibility for your life is another big one. If you don't admit your mistakes AND listen to those who know better, you will never grow, change, or be able to build that skill set of depriving yourself of "things" now for "health and wellness" later and every day! (that's the topic of my next article by the way). "10 Things People Do To Kill Their Spirits And Ambition/Confidence". 

I hope you got something from this article (like a book maybe? haha kidding...) that can help you either figure it out or if you've already figured it out this article should be a nice view of another persons perspective.

I wish you luck and wealth, Have an Excellent day!

Updated: 10/25/2012, Jerrico_Usher
 
Thank you! Would you like to post a comment now?
3

Comments

Only logged-in users are allowed to comment. Login
Jerrico_Usher on 10/23/2012

Wow thanks Katie, I worked hard on this, literally 9 hours straight... I love hearing it helps someone or they like it... you said great article 3 times, woohooooo! did you watch the stallone/sly video? It's a story about stallone I never knew! fascinating stuff I want to post that in the forum

katiem2 on 10/23/2012

I SO agree water is the basic need we as a society over look and yet is creating many ailments. Go green and drink Drink DRINK water! Balance! Great article! I'm going to share this all across the board. I'm also going to set my kids down to have them watch the Tony and Sage video, they simply don't drink enough water during the school day. It's a BIG problem! I drink green drinks, this helps tremendously. Great article, I added a link in my smoking article. Great connections as to the mind over matter concept. It truly is key to good health and healthy weight! :)K

You might also like

Painfree Arthritic Knees Without Surgery

APOS therapy saved my life. I was on a fast downhill spin into disability, se...

How to Lower Cortisol Levels Reduce Stress Hormone and Improve...

Cortisol is a steroid hormone regulating metabolism, the immune system and ai...


Disclosure: This page generates income for authors based on affiliate relationships with our partners, including Amazon, Google and others.
Loading ...
Error!