How to beat dieting dilemmas
Questions - Cycling Active
Words by:
Avril Charlton Hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner
HOW CAN HYPNOTHERAPY AND NLP HELP ME LOSE WEIGHT?
Sometimes we can consciously know what we need to do to maintain a healthy weight but unconscious beliefs about food can get in the way of us actually changing our eating habits. Hypnotherapy and NLP techniques aim to help you change those unconscious patterns through relaxation, visualisation and focused attention. A practitioner can help you explore your triggers and emotional responses to food, helping you recognise patterns and then change them. A belief about food could be something like ‘I have to eat everything on my plate or it’s a waste’. This can result in eating too much. So once you’ve identified this belief you can look for alternatives that could help you achieve your goal. Hypnotherapy can help you form a clear image of yourself at your ideal weight and to imagine what this will feel like. An important part of NLP is outcome thinking. Once you have a clear picture of what you want you can focus on this and begin to make changes to your patterns of behaviour in order to achieve your outcome.
THE INTERNET SEEMS TO BE A GOOD SOLUTION, WILL IT WORK FOR ME?
When you are making changes it’s helpful to draw on as many resources as you can. If you are using an online community for support this may be a good solution for you, just be clear about your motivation. If you come to rely on other people for motivation is it possible to maintain this? If you are using your internal resources for motivation these will be more stable than those drawn from outside.
WHETHER IT’S ONLINE OR ON PAPER, HOW COULD WRITING A FOOD DIARY HELP ME?
Writing down everything that you eat will highlight any patterns that you might choose to change. If you also write down your feelings you can begin to see whether you were physiologically hungry or eating to fulfil an emotional need. If you can see patterns emerging such as eating when bored you can begin to take positive action to change this. Bring unconscious behaviour into your full awareness. If you are writing about your feelings online make sure that you are comfortable about sharing them.
I FEEL MOTIVATED AT THE MOMENT BUT I’M SCARED OF FAILING – HOW CAN I AVOID SLIPPING INTO OLD HABITS?
Habits are formed by repetition. Most unhealthy responses around food have been learned over time and practiced until they become automatic ‘non thinking’ behaviour. Once you have decided what you want, have identified your triggers and are making changes for yourself, you can practice your new healthier responses until they become the new habit. Try personal affirmations to help reinforce this such as ‘I am becoming leaner and fitter’ or ‘I only eat when I’m hungry’. Write them on post-its and leave them around. Find ones that work for you.
WHEN I COME IN FROM A BIKE RIDE I’M STARVING, HOW CAN I STOP MYSELF FROM BINGEING?
Starving is an emotional word so try changing your language to something more moderate such as ‘I feel I need to eat something after all that exercise’. By recognising your body’s natural signals that tell you when you’ve had enough you will be able to stop before you are too full.
WHEN EVERYONE ELSE GOES FOR A PIE & A PINT HOW CAN I AVOID MAKING A BAD CHOICE?
You recognise that you do have a choice so recall your image of you at your ideal weight and ask yourself- ‘which choice will help me get what I want?’. Think what would a slim person do? And try modelling that behaviour.
TOP TIPS FOR STAYING ON TRACK –
Try and identify your beliefs about food –‘ I have to finish everything on my plate’ and question them…..’Do I?’
Watch out for emotional language such as “I’m starving’.....and try changing it….’I’m hungry’
Aim to stay focused on your desired outcome and use all your senses to imagine it….how will you look, feel, move and what will you be doing?
Keep a food diary for a few weeks to spot your eating patterns. If you combine this with notes about your feelings when you ate you can begin to notice your emotional triggers.
Congratulate yourself on every step towards your goal and stay focused on what you will gain from making healthier choices.
First published in Cycling Active February 2011
