Would you like to know the real reason why we overeat and how to stop it? When I learned this, I was able to lose the weight around my middle that had been creeping on for years.
Knowledge is power. Let’s learn the facts and the solution to the problem.
Let’s say you have been trying to lose weight and have been following the next best diet program for the umpteenth time. You have been “GOOD” all week and feeling pretty confident about yourself.
Friday comes and some of the girls at the office have brought in chocolate chip cookies.
In the morning you resist, saying to yourself, “I don’t need them. I’m staying on my diet.” By lunchtime, you are getting tired and stressed from your week and the cookies in the break room are calling to you. That urge is getting stronger. Your thought becomes, “I just need a little pick-me-up for energy. One bite won’t matter.” The other ladies are saying, “Come on. Have one.”
Your resolve to be “GOOD” just went out the window. You sit down and have one of the cookies. Soon you feel a little burst of energy and your attitude improves.
It’s only later when you feel the guilt set in. “I shouldn’t have had that cookie. Now I’ve been BAD today.”
This is literally a scenario that happened to one of my weight loss clients. You’ve probably been in a similar situation and lost the battle.
The good news is when we know why we have these urges and give in to them, we can change our brains and actions.
When you eat a food that has sugar or a processed food made from flour, a chemical called dopamine is released into your brain. Dopamine is a “feel good” chemical. Your brain learns to like this feeling and wants more. Your primitive brain has learned this over thousands of years. Fortunately, the “adult” part of your brain has the ability to think, plan and learn new ways of doing things.
Your primitive brain is like “a toddler with a knife,” as my mentor says. Innocent, but can be dangerous. When you deny that toddler something it wants, like the cookie, it has a fit. It’s just trying to keep on doing what it’s done before to survive. That is an old neural pathway that has been ingrained in your brain.
The good news is your adult brain can teach it a new neural pathway, a new way of eating or not eating when you have an urge.
This is how we process an urge:
- You are are aware of it, you recognize it and have the thought, “I want that.”
- You begin to feel the urge and have a compulsion to take action.
At this point, you have 3 choices:
- Give in to the urge and get relief from it.
- Fight the urge. Try and push it away with willpower. There is a struggle and anxiety or frustration set in.
- You can watch and allow the urge without acting on it. You can have the urge and the thought about it with detachment. This breaks the neurological pathway without the pain of resistance.
You CAN teach your brain to allow the urge without acting on it. Once you break the chain of have urge-resist-give in, your brain makes a new neural pathway.
Does this sound impossible to you, but also gives you a sliver of hope of a new way of losing weight without deprivation and constantly fighting urges?
It IS possible! I can teach you how to do this, just like I teach all my clients. Contact me here and we can chat about your struggles. I will give you at least one takeaway you can use right away and see if working together might be just the solution you need to finally lose the weight you want.
Warmly,
Jane
Jane Springer is a certified Life, Wellness and Style Coach who assists women in taking care of themselves, in body, mind and spirit. She coaches women who want to lose weight, avoid diabetes, and feel great. She also helps them thrive after divorce. She also helps them to clear their closets of old clothes and outdated attitudes, so they can shine and feel confident.