- How is your Mind Preventing you from -

Having a Body you Love

​Article  written for Love your Body Summit

When we’re struggling with weight loss or trying to reach the next level of health and fitness, we all know what we have to do: make healthy choices, eat wholesome foods, sleep well, exercise more or follow a specific training program to reach our goals. If we know what to do, then why does it seem so hard to even start or find a way to do it consistently enough to get the results we want?

I don’t believe it’s a matter of willpower or a lack of motivation, rather it’s the fact that the main or only focus is on the physical dimension, which of course should be considered, the problem is that our bodies are not independent entities and taking a unidimensional approach might be the reason why you’re having a hard time having a body you love.

A holistic approach to health has become more and more mainstream over the years, and now there’s significant scientific proof of how other dimensions like the mental and spiritual, have an impact on our physical bodies. That’s why I created the FK Method; to teach people how to leverage the mental dimension in order to have a body they love and live a fulfilled life. Let’s review one aspect of this dimension: YOUR THOUGHTS.

Research from neuroscience and quantum physics among others show that the impact of your thought patterns on your physical body is not a woo-woo, untouchable thing. For example; Dr. Pert, a remarkable American neuroscientist, proved through her research that there are chemical messengers in our brain called neurotransmitters; these chemicals are involved in countless functions such as modulating hormones, dealing with stress, appetite, mood, motivation and others.

The release of these chemicals is influenced by our memory, our thoughts and feelings.

Here’s the key; as you repeat a certain thought, not only actual connections are created in your brain but this thought pattern creates a truth (“I’m fat”, “I can’t”) which creates expectations, which will inform your actions.

Your self-talk has a direct impact on how you feel and in the actions you will take, or desist to take. Criticism, self-doubt and catastrophic predictions will stop you from doing what you know you need to do to achieve what you want.

4 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN START DOING TODAY TO TRAIN YOUR MIND TO TRANSFORM YOUR BODY

Now with the good news! You can train your brain; you can physically change it and create new connections that will bring you different results in your life. It
doesn’t matter if you want to lose 50 lbs, 5 lbs, or if you want to be in the best shape ever or just live a healthier life.

There are very specific strategies that you can follow to bring awareness to your thoughts, and most importantly, change them so that they can to be in synch with the results that you want to bring to your life. Here are 4 simple things you can start practicing right away:

1. Know your Why. Why do you want to lose weight? Do you want to have more energy? Feel better and happier so that you can enjoy activities with your family? Knowing the deep reason and keeping it in mind will give you the drive to keep going.

2. Listen to your thoughts. What are you telling yourself? Ask yourself: Is this thought helpful? Is it moving me forward to achieve my goals, or is it stopping me?

3. Challenge your thoughts. When you catch yourself having negative thoughts, ask yourself: is this true? Is this the only possibility? Sometimes telling your mind to “STOP” is good enough.

4. Create a personal mantra. Come up with a phrase that empowers you or moves you away from limiting beliefs. Repeat it to yourself in the present tense and in the first person.

For example, “I am able to lose 10 pounds, my body and my mind know what to do” or whatever the case may be for you. Even if you don’t believe it right now, keep on repeating it. Trust me.

Training your mind is a process, it takes time, like anything else but having the mindset to match what you want is a skill that can be developed, you just need to practice.