Lose Weight by Changing How You FEEL

Lose Weight by Changing How You FEEL

Traditionally, so much “weight” is placed on what and how much food you’re eating, in regard to weight loss.

You’re told to eat this, not that, limit your portion size, exercise more. But, it’s not just about the actions or inactions.

What if I told you that you could more easily lose weight by changing how you FEEL? Because how you feel (what emotion you’re experiencing) is the driving force behind your actions and inactions.

Therefore, changing how you feel will make it a lot easier to do the actions you need to do to lose weight. Or, to avoid certain eating behaviors (like eating that second donut after the stressful work meeting).

So, I’m going to teach how to lose weight by changing how you feel, so you you’re not fighting a losing battle. So you’re not relying on willpower to choose the handful of berries over the “fun size” chocolate bars. And you’re not avoiding doing the things because of your feelings.

The Connection Between Feelings and Behaviors

Every time you do something (an action) or don’t do something (an inaction), it’s because of a feeling or emotion in your body.

For example, if you snap at a co-worker, it’s because of a feeling you experience such as irritation.

If you head home after work instead of going to the gym like you had planned, it’s because a feeling as well. Perhaps something like stress or feeling unmotivated.

As it relates to eating, you’ll either experience hunger sensations which then cause an emotion like desire or motivation to actually eat.

Or you might experience something else like just smelling fresh-baked cookies, which will produce a feeling such as desire to eat the cookies. The desire to eat the cookies doesn’t ALWAYS result in the action of eating the cookies, but many times it does.

My point is, you experience some sort of feeling/emotion before you do the action.

So if you want to lose weight, you can use your feelings to assist you.

This means by changing the specific feeling/emotion to another one. One that is really great “fuel” for doing the things you need to do to lose weight.

To put it simply, I’ll teach you how to feel better, so you actually feel like doing the things that will help you lose weight. Instead of letting any “crummy” feelings get in the way and instead of trying to rely on willpower to force yourself do the things.

• LISTEN OR READ: Why Willpower Fails (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: Why Weight Loss Feels Hard (Podcast Episode)

Choose an Emotion That Will Serve as Good Fuel

To lose weight by changing how you feel, you’re going to want to start off by choosing your emotion.

One that you think would be really great fuel for the actions you need to take to lose weight. One that also might help you to avoid the things you should avoid to lose weight.

For example, to lose weight, you’re going to want to choose the healthier food over the pizza, fries, and ice cream, right? So what emotion would help you do that?

Of course motivation is an easy choice. So if that’s the best one you can think of, great! Choose that one. If you want another one like maybe inspired, then choose another one.

Whichever emotion you think will have the strongest impact on your actions (or inactions) as far as getting the weight loss results you want, choose that one.

• GET WEEKLY TIPS: Eating Habit and Weight Loss Tips
• LISTEN OR READ: What ACTUALLY Motivates You (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: 2 Tools for When You Feel Unmotivated (Podcast Episode)

Choose a Supporting Thought

Onto the next step. Our emotions are caused by our own thoughts. We have a thought in our brain and then lots of things occur to produce the feeling/emotion in our body.

So that means that if you want to create a different emotion in your body, you need to think a thought that will produce that emotion. Cool, huh?

So, think of a thought you’d have to have in your brain to feel whatever feeling it is that you chose.

So, let’s say that you chose to feel inspired. What thought might cause that feeling (one that relates to weight loss)? To help, you can think about your weight loss goal and why you WANT to hit that goal.

For everyone, the thought may be different, as far as the feeling it produces in your body. However, a very broad example might be “I want to be able to enjoy my life more than I ever have by losing this weight.”

Or, “I’m going to start feeding my body foods that contain the nutrients it deserves.”

Write down a few ideas and choose one that you want to be your primary thought to practice. You’ll then read aloud or think this thought to yourself to make sure it generates that feeling you chose. If it doesn’t, just try out the other thoughts and choose the one that really generates that emotion.

So for me, I chose inspired and both of these thoughts generate this feeling.

However, I would say that in the moment when it comes to making a food choice, the second one regarding the nutrients would inspire me to choose that healthier option instead of the pizza, fries, and ice cream.

• LISTEN OR READ: Thought Habits and Your Results (Podcast Episode)
• LISTEN OR READ: 5 Mindset Shifts to Help You Lose Weight (Podcast Episode)

Make a Habit of That New Thought and Feeling

Now, the final part to help you lose weight by changing how you feel is to make a habit of thinking or reading that new thought. And when thinking or reading it, then allowing it to generate that feeling in your body.

You’ll want to do this as often as you can, because when it comes to habits, frequency is key. So, if you need to place that thought you wrote down someplace you’ll see it often, to serve as a reminder, do that.

When you think or read that thought, give it a few moments to make sure that you can feel that feeling you chose above, in your body. So if you wanted to be inspired to choose healthy, then when you think that inspirational thought, give it a moment to generate that feeling within your body.

The more you do this, the more this feeling will become part of your day, of who you are. You’ll start taking action from that feeling. That feeling will help you lose the weight you want to.

• GET WEEKLY TIPS: Eating Habit and Weight Loss Tips
• LISTEN OR READ: Weight Loss and Your Emotions (Podcast Episode)

Final Notes (& More Help)

Once you try this out for yourself, you’ll see how you feel any way that you want to feel, which is life-changing. This tool can help you get so many more results in your life in all different areas.

It’s a tool that I always use to help my clients with their eating habits and with weight loss, because it works. I’ve used in in my own life and am a huge personal fan.

So print this blog post out, or write down the steps so you can begin to lose weight by changing how you feel. That way you can start REALLY making progress on those exciting weight loss goals.