The desire to change any behavior automatically sets off alarm bells in your brain.

We know in general what habits are. One of our worst habits is not supervising our habits.  We sometimes talk about them like they are something we desire to change. Like the habit of losing weight.

But we do not realize the hold our unsupervised habits have over our wants and desires.  Habits are solid and routine.  Very little energy required.  It’s safe for our minds’ way of thinking to remain the same.  Rinse and repeat.  You’ve done this before, trying to change a behavior, such as a stop eating certain foods. It didn’t work long term because your brain pitched a fit. It automatically sent chatter signals in the form of a one-way conversation.  It pulls from your past experience or fears of failure that you need to stop this painful journey.

It is a one-way unsupervised conversation for sure.  What have you been putting into your brain every day for years?  I should say, “what habitual food have you been feeding your brain and body for years?”  It’s a habit, and if you are overweight it is a bad habit.  Your brain is unsupervised, and your body is addicted to it.

You have an unsupervised habit of preventing you from losing weight. The inner workings of your entire mind/body system are malfunctioning. The imbalance starts with what you feed your brain.

Here are a few facts; Your brain cannot think for itself.  It stores everything you imagine to be true. It’s full of positive and negative messy thoughts you repeat to yourself until they are stored as your reality and proof you do not ever need to think differently about that subject.

Why does this happen?  The stories you live by (your habits) are stored in your memory and run the show without your permission on purpose.  We function comfortably, safely, and effortlessly with habit.  Even if we are miserable.   It’s an inside one-way chatter whispering to you.

Do any of these sounds familiar?  “I don’t like this new diet food, or I fail at dieting every time. It tastes bad, I have to give up what I love, I’m starving.  I have the shakes, it’s too hard, or I hate this diet.”   Your inside chatter sends proof this change is destined to fail for 2 main reasons.  We are programmed to seek pleasure and avoid pain.  Every time you dieted, you experienced what your brain believes is painful.  It’s going to sabotage your efforts until you learn how to calm that unhelpful, self-defeating chatter from your unsupervised brain.

Let’s talk about the desire to lose weight.  We have desiring weight loss chatter (DWLC) vs. habit weight loss chatter (HWLC).  It’s creating a conflict between the DWLC  and VWLC  in your brain and body that’s defeating all your efforts.  An unsupervised brain habit will win every time.

Let’s say you want to lose weight. You create a story that you talk about (DWLC).

Your DWLC says, “I’m going to try this new diet…the dr. says my cholesterol is too high so I am going to cut out sugar and carb……when I lose 50lbs I will no longer be ashamed of my looks.”  What version do you tell yourself about why you want to lose weight?

Here’s the conflict and the key to sustainable weight loss:

• First, you must wake up and practice awareness and be willing to change your old thoughts.
• Learn to pay attention to what you are telling yourself.

It’s always the COMFORTABLE story habit stored in our memory that wins until we choose to embrace UNCOMFORTABLE in the short term.

I tell a story about my husband.  He is so very clear about his habits! He is, of course, slim and trims.  I, in my wisdom, wanted him to have more healthy fats in his diet. I wanted him to quit putting creamer in his coffee.  I bought him this Lairds Food creamer made with coconut and MCT oil.  He thought it tasted yucky.  I quit buying his creamer.  He finally tried it and after a week of grumbling, he told his daughter she should try it.  He loved it.  He changed his mind!!

His taste buds, his dopamine demanded more sugar in the beginning.  His mental habit was strong, but a small part of him knew he needed to give up milk and sugar for a healthier body.  He had a choice.  He could have added more honey, gone to the store and bought the creamer himself, or even stop drinking coffee.  He chose to give it time.  He chose to be an uncomfortable short term for the long term gain.

Losing weight requires more energy, and your brain wants to be efficient.  You are fighting habits your mind uses to override new efforts to change.

If you want to stop dieting and control your weight, or if you just want to change anything in your life, then you must learn to take charge of your brain. I can help you learn that skill.  It’s really simple.  You can apply it to every single problem you perceive yourself to have.  It works!

Your Midlife & Beyond Certified Life Coach

Show Up * Think Different * Kick Ass * Be All In