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Eat Like A Goddess Blog
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The Negative Belief That Keeps Can Keep Weight OnI wrote a blog post a while ago after working with a dear client. I want to share with you what I discovered about negative beliefs that affect weight. Here is the article:The False Belief That Can Help Keep Weight On If I had to pick just one of the negative beliefs that contributes to weight gain, it is the belief that something is wrong with our bodies or the way we look. Why and how does this belief keep weight on you ask? We as women are often taught that there is something wrong with the way we look from a very early age. We may not even be fully aware of how this happens, and it can become unconscious. We are influenced to some degree by media images and our culture, our families, friends and romantic partners. The assault of negative body beliefs usually starts at around 11 or 12 for many girls... this is perhaps when we start to compare ourselves to one another and wonder if we look "right." Are we too big in one place or another, or too small perhaps in others? Are our facial features right, and do we in fact measure up? Volumes have been written about beauty and body image in our culture. From "The Beauty Myth" to "The Body Myth" we learn how our negative body image and beliefs can be extremely damaging to our self esteem. But how does this help to keep the weight on as well? Negative beliefs about our bodies can keep us so anxious about the way we look that we will do just about anything to take the weight off to feel beautiful or acceptable And sometimes being desperate, and willing to do anything includes: exercising to extremes or in an unhealthy way, extreme under-eating, meal skipping or fasting as a weight loss strategy that only helps us to yo-yo with weight instead of permanently releasing it, going on strange new diets, always believing that the next new and better one is THE ONE that will do it THIS TIME, and fear and avoidance of food and eating. ALL of the above may contribute to weight gain. Our bodies brilliantly want to protect us and keep us from starvation and most of the above tends to slow down metabolism with enough time and massively mess up our weight loss goals. (For information about why these behaviors can keep weight on, you can read my report: The 3 Biggest Mistakes Many Women Make When Trying To Lose Weight. Just enter your email address on the home page of this site to get that sent to you immediately.) Are you starting to see how one false belief can totally change your life and keep weight on? There is really good news however. You do not have to believe that there is something wrong with your body anymore! You can change your mind! Well, if it were so easy, why aren't we all doing it just like that every day, you ask? I know. I tried for many years to think differently. I would try to use affirmations to shift my beliefs. But it didn't really work so great. I started to think that affirmations were bogus, which was really a shame because I now know that they aren't. In fact every word or thought is an affirmation. But of what? What are we affirming, the positive or the negative? The way to shift out of a false belief, or negative belief about our bodies is to literally uproot and release it. In this way it's effect on us and our behavior is gone. I'll give you an example of how this can work. I was working with a client recently whom I'll call "Joan" on this very issue. In a session I wanted to help her bring down her anxiety about weight loss, and her desperate feelings as I was starting to hear her talk about fasting and dieting which has been her main weight loss strategy her entire life. She can keep weight off very temporarily doing this, and then gains weight right after. As we looked at this feeling through tapping (EFT-Emotional Freedom Technique) that I use with clients to heal underlying and often unconscious emotions, we brought up an exact memory for her of when she felt like her body did not look right. She was around 11 or 12 years old... and within about 10 minutes of working through it to release it and replace it with positive body images she felt more at peace. Within one month of that session she has made many positive changes that were near impossible for her to do before and found a way to eat that works for her and is losing weight without dieting or fasting now! I have several Success Stories posted here for you to read. Often I find that we are merely a belief away from relief when it comes to peace with food and our bodies. And that belief can be changed in a matter of.... minutes...and loving our bodies can truly be a reality. No matter where we are today, we don't have to wait to love ourselves. And in fact, perfect love heals perfectly. Blessings for us all to love ourselves more every day~ Sandy Posted on: 2010-12-12 12:40:35. Comments | |