One of the reasons you struggle with losing the over 50-ish weight-gain, is because you have Obstacle Thoughts.
Here are some examples:
“Losing ______pounds feels like so much work, I don’t know that I can do it.”
“I’ve tried so many times, I always quit on myself, I don’t know that I can bear that again.”
“It’s been so much harder to make weight-loss stick since I started getting older, I don’t know how to stick to it over time and stop the yo-yo.”
“I just keep wanting to eat sugar and treats that I know aren’t the best for me, but I can’t figure out how to stop.”
“Trying to lose weight is such an emotionally painful process, I’m always so harsh on myself. I can’t stand to beat myself up, guilt myself or willpower it anymore.”
THESE THOUGHTS ARE CALLED OBSTACLE THOUGHTS.
Every time a client starts with me, our first session is about uncovering some of the obstacle thoughts that have kept them from losing the over 50-ish+ weight for good.
What are EXACTLY are obstacle thoughts you may ask?
You read some examples up above and this is how I define them:
They are the thoughts that present themselves any time you set a goal to change or think about making a change (for example: losing weight after 50-ish+).
They are the thoughts that automatically and instinctively come from your brain to tell you why you “can’t” accomplish that goal.
They are the default software, if you will, they come automatically.
These thoughts are part of your survival brain wiring system and they default to look in your past memory for evidence of whether you’ve been successful at that change or not.
And when your brain can’t find much evidence, if any, that you’ve been successful at that desired goal/change, your default, survival brain brings up Obstacle Thoughts.
So, again, they are the thoughts that basically tell you all the reasons you can’t make that change.
And the reason the brain defaults like this is just to make you aware the it will require effort and extra calories to accomplish the thing you started to think about.
And that’s all the survival brain is concerned about conserving calories, so you don’t overextend them and die…but that’s really the survival brain’s favorite Obstacle Thought…how many times have you died because you put effort into something? Really?
So those Obstacle Thoughts that you’ll “die if you work too hard” instinctively cause you to feel fear and self-doubt.
That usually makes you get scared or discouraged and therefore throws you into your fight/flight/freeze system a bit and this is usually why you quit trying.
These obstacle thoughts kind of sound sound like a bummer, huh?
What if they aren’t a bummer?
What if there’s actually a really good reason they occur?
What if they are actually part of the road map to helping you make that change?
What if they are actually a way your brain gives you information to figure out how to how to actually make the change?
When you start to look at these thoughts this way, YOUR WHOLE WORLD CHANGES.
And the reason it changes is because by asking these questions, it moves you from the survival fight/flight/freeze system, to the pre-frontal cortex problem-solving realm in your brain.
Let me give you an example of what I mean:
I was coaching a client yesterday and we were uncovering her obstacle thoughts about losing 49 pounds.
She’s lost almost 20 pounds and wants to lose about 49 more.
And her thought was:
“49 pounds sounds like so much work.”
When she noticed that thought, she felt a little overwhelmed and some doubt…
SO, I ASKED HER THESE QUESTIONS AND I RECOMMEND YOU
ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS WHEN YOU HAVE OBSTACLE THOUGHTS:
What if that thought was just information from your brain?
What if it was your brain is helping you see something?
What would it be?
What if it was really just telling you, yes, you will need to do some work?
What if you take a step back and look at the information as objective data your brain is giving you?
What if this is actually what you could hear your brain say:
“Yes, there is some work to do, and that’s OK. Of course, there’s some work to do and you actually know exactly what to do. You’ve already lost 20, you know exactly how to do that easily. 49 pounds, is just repeating what you already know how to do and keep going.”
This Obstacle Thought of “it will be hard work” is one of our survival brain’s most popular Obstacle thoughts.
Our survival brain makes our body and brain feel scared about the “hard work” we haven’t done yet….but what if it’s not a big deal…
What if it really is just work and it’s not as hard as we think it is?
The irony is, that if we think it is hard, our brains will make it hard.
If we think, “I can do this, I got this, I know how to do this”, guess what, that’s what our brains will do (because our thought are the software that create our results).
The more I questioned her, the more she could see exactly what she needed to do which was: Eat protein, veggies and good fats, drink water, do loving movement 3-4 times a week, don’t snack, stick to her eating window 12-8 don’t eat before, don’t eat after, and manage her emotions without food when she felt emotional.
That was it.
That IS the “hard work” her brain was helping he start to see would need to be done, that’s it.
She’d already done that “hard work” and it wasn’t that hard at all.
She ALREADY knew how to do that work.
AND…It was actually WAY easier because of the way I’d taught her to do it.
She immediately started to feel calmer and think more clearly and from a problem-solving space (an indicator that she was connecting to her pre-frontal cortex).
So, she went from overwhelmed and a bit of doubt to feeling capable and totally committed to getting it done and killing her goal.
She lost 3 pounds last week and being in partnership with her brain and body like this is what is going to keep her going, and I know she will hit her goal.
So, what if you can start to notice the thoughts that feel discouraging or cause overwhelm and fear about the weight-loss process and start to just see them as possible messages that our brain wants us to know.
What if your brain really wants to help you?
What if the clues to solve parts of the over-50-ish+ weight-loss puzzle are actually in those thoughts?
What if it’s not trying to discourage you, it’s trying to speak to you?
And what if your job is to learn the tools and steps to listen and hear what your brain is actually trying to tell you?
I’m going to let you in on a secret…this is the truth, your brain and body are just waiting for you to learn to listen, hear and be in partnership with them.
Your brain and body have all the wiring inside them to know exactly what to do to be at your natural healthy weight and be feeling great…
AND…you just need to learn to listen.
This changes everything.
This is what IS possible for you too.
Happy Friday.
Love,
Candy
p.s. if you know it’s time to learn the step-by-step process that I teach my clients to uncover and change your obstacle thoughts, which builds so much self-confidence and trust in themselves, they lose up to 50 lbs. FOR GO CLICK HERE NOW TO SCHEDULE YOUR FREE 60 MINUTE COACHING CONSULT CALL TODAY.
p.p.s.
And if you haven’t joined yet: Join my free private FB group: Lose 50 over 50-ish+. In that group I share super useful, daily tools to help you in this process Click h
