Hi beautiful friends!!
Wanna know the next step to help you stop ruminating on the negative voices that put you down or shame you when it comes to your weight-loss journey….
Hold on to your hats…here we go!
In my last post, I introduced the idea of focusing on your victories as a way to start re-programming your amazing brain to help in the weight-release process. The next tool in thei process is CELEBRATING YOUR VICTORIES AS A WAY TO SOLIDIFY THEM!! AND HEL THE BRAIN CONTINUE TO WAKE UP TO FOCUS ON THEM!
This post is PART DOS! PART 2:
PROGRAM YOUR BRAIN SOFTWARE FOR LONG-LASTING CHANGE:
PLAN FOR & CELEBRATE YOUR VICTORIES!!
Let me share a little story about this one.
Since I stopped emotionally overeating, my brain wanted to start shopping to deal with emotions instead of really handling them…I hope this story can be helpful.
Instead of shopping, you can substitute emotional eating, numbing out on FB/IG, binge watching Netflix etc. Anything your brain does to numb out from feeling uncomfortable emotions.
So…last summer, I noticed one day that I was getting the urge to go shopping.
The strange thing is that I wasn’t sad, I wasn’t blue, I wasn’t stressed, I didn’t have anxiety.
I was actually super, super excited & proud of myself & had an urge to celebrate an accomplishment I had completed I had all this amazing excitement energy & I wasn’t sure what to do with it.
So, my brain quickly went to a thought that had “worked in the past”: SHOPPING IS FUN! YOU CAN CELEBRATE BY SHOPPING!
In the past, my brain would have told me to celebrate with food, gratefully, this was not the case.
The interesting thing is that I had never considered that big positive feelings would need planning. I got coached & this was so exciting to uncover.
This was what my brain was saying to me:
ME: I ACCOMPLISHED A GOAL
MY BRAIN THOUGHT: I’M SO EXCITED, I WANT TO CELEBRATE MY VICTORY! HOW HAVE I CELEBRATED IN THE PAST? SHOPPING IS A GREAT WAY TO CELEBRATE! (THESE THOUGHTS WERE SO QUICK AND AUTOMATIC)
I didn’t have a plan for all my celebration & victories. & the fun explosive energy & emotions around victories.
I had never considered planning for victory & the accompanying excited emotions!
My brain was so excited, that my body wanted to move and let it out in JOYOUS ways…and since shopping was a “way to celebrate in the past” for me, there I went a shopping…auto-pilot.
This is what our brains do with emotional eating too. We don’t only eat for negative emotions. We eat for celebration, happy emotions too. Our society is programmed to eat for all emotions it seems like!!
I learned it would be REALLY effective to make a plan in advance for my feelings of celebration & excitement.
SO I created my own list of what I would do to joyfully celebrate that was in alignment with my value of taking great care of my money. I LOVE MY LIST.
Wanna see it?? Here it is:
MY CELEBRATION CHOICES LIST:
1-Have a solo dance Party in my bedroom to my favorite Latin music (I also get this when I go to Zumba!)
2-Sing “Defying Gravity” from the Musical Wicked & other musical songs at the top of my lungs in the house.
3-Go for a walk by the lake.
4-Call my sisters, mom, & friends
5-Go for a walk by the lake AND call sisters, mom or friend!! YAY – Double hit of dopamine.
None of these options involve spending money. We can do the same thing for celebrating our victories that are in alignment with our health & wellness goals.
The thing on my list are all actually things that fill up my joy reservoirs.
AND THEY ARE SO MUCH MORE DELICIOUS THAN TREATS & GOING SHOPPING.
I invite you to think of ways you want to celebrate your victories in your weight-loss journey. They don’t have to be big.
The benefit of celebrating is that it helps reinforce & work with your brain’s instincts by waking it up to remember that this victory something important & something to remember. It helps re-wire neural pathways, so it can remember that that was something to repeat!
You may not be automatically feeling a big joy burst energy & desire to celebrate a victory, and that’s totally OK, I invite you to make a list of simple ways to celebrate as a way to work with the reward instincts of your brain any way & do it. If you aren’t feeling big joy-bursts of energy to celebrate try the following:
ONE OTHER WAY WAKE UP YOUR BRAIN TO CELEBRATE YOUR VICTORIES:
CELEBRATE OUTLOUD
WHY? WAKE UP YOUR BRAIN TO HOW YOU’VE GROWN. SO, IT CAN REMEMBER, AND BE VICTORY FOCUSED TO CREATE MORE VICTORIES. (THE BRAIN CREATES MORE OF WHAT IT FOCUSES ON).
HOW? CELEBRATE BY RAISING YOUR VOICE, WAVING YOUR HANDS AND SAYING YAY ME!! LOOK AT HOW I AM CHANGING & GROWING.
OR SCREAM WA-HOO, OR YA-HOO OR WHATEVER VERSION OF A HOOT AND A HOLLER THAT REALLY WAKES UP YOUR BRAIN. (I learned this from Alison Armstrong.) THEN DO IT A FEW MORE TIMES.
THIS MAY SOUND SILLY, BUT I’M DEAD SERIOUS. (AND WHO CARES IF IT’S SILLY ANYWAY-IT’S FUN!!)
OUR BRAINS LEARN & REWIRE WHEN WE MAKE A BIG DEAL OUT OF THINGS-IT HELPS THE BRAIN REMEMBER IT & REPEAT IT.
THE BRAIN REMEMBERS THINGS WE BRING BIG ATTENTION TO…
SO PLEASE CELEBRATE YOURSELF WHEN YOU ARE ABLE TO USE CURIOSITY TO ACCESS SELF-COMPASSION.
IT WILL HELP IT BECOME AN EASIER, MORE QUICKLY ACCESSIBLE HABIT & SELF-CARE LIFE SKILL.
This is what I’m offering you.
THIS IS WHAT I TEACH IN MY PROGRAM:
FREE YOUR JOY! STOP EMOTIONAL OVER EATING
ARE YOU COMING??!
To GET STARTED: I do an free initial coaching session in which I coach you & we find out if we are a good fit for one another. No obligation, I will provide you with crazy, amazing value on just this first free call. No matter what.
Let’s get started!!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR YOUR FREE ONLINE COACHING SESSION.
Schedule Appointment
WARMTH, HUGS & LOVES TO YOU!
CANDY WRIGHT BURGOYNE, M.A.
CERTIFIED LIFE-COACH, WEIGHT-LOSS COACH, RELATIONSHIP & HEALING COACH
FREE YOUR JOY! COACHING
