The Weight Loss Mindset Blog

The Pain of Fat

2008-12-24T22:37:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone:When people ask me, "how do you lose weight?", I have a simple answer: eat less and exercise more. True, but not very helpful. When people ask me as a psychologist, "how do you lose weight?", I expand on the answer. I explain that you need to change the psychological association you have with your eating and physical activity. A heavier person will be conditioned to associate

Keeping It Off

2008-10-03T16:44:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone:Even though a person may lose some weight, the real challenge comes in keeping it off. This is especially true when the diet and/or exercise program used to lose the weight was someone else's formal plan. Most of the time you won't want to do this no-fun plan rest of your life (i.e., the no-carb Atkins/no blueberry muffins the rest of your life diet plan).The natural tendency once

Fat as Intimacy Avoidance

2008-04-01T23:03:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, no one ever wants to be overweight, right? I think that's generally true on the conscious level. However, there are certain subconscious payoffs/enticements for keeping the pounds on. One very common inner reason to stay over weight: it can effectively keep potential intimate relationships away. This seems ever more true today with our current looks-obsessed

Depression and Weight Gain

2008-03-11T00:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone:Depression is more than just feeling “sad”. It also includes a number of other possible symptoms, including poor eating and sleeping habits, lowered self-esteem, low energy, loss of interest in activities, difficulty concentrating and making decisions, feelings of helplessness or hopelessness, and even suicidal thoughts. All of these symptoms create extreme emotional upset that

Peer Pressure to Stay Overweight

2008-01-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone:There are many potential hurdles to losing weight: hunger, laziness, emotional eating, procrastination, etc. However, an unexpected challenge often comes in the form of unsupportive peers: family, friends, and even coworkers. Even though these are ordinarily the people you’d expect to support you in your weight loss efforts, the opposite is often the case.So, why would those who

Having An Attractive Attitude

2008-01-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

HAVING AN ATTRACTIVE ATTITUDEIs getting down to your ideal weight the most important component to looking good? What about muscle tone, a skin tan, and being fashionable and trendy? Although all of these factors can contribute to a person “looking good”, they’re all just a part of the whole attraction package. There is still a large, key factor remaining in the equation.My simply point is this

The Media’s Role in Making Us Fat

2007-12-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

Yes, the media has a role in prompting us to eat large portions of high calorie fatty and sugary foods. These include fast-foods, sugary deserts, fatty meats and dairy, processed foods, and other “nutritional offenders”. So, how is the media doing this and why?The “how” part is simple: the media bombards most of the western world with endless television commercials, magazine ads, billboards and

Motivational Quotes for Weight Loss

2007-11-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

Hello again:Here are a number of motivational quotes to support and inspire you along your weight loss journey:"Keys to success... Research your idea, Plan for success, Expect success, & just plain do it! It amazes me how many people skip the last step! Practice being a "doer" and success will follow you every step of the way!" -- Josh S. Hinds "I will not condemn you for what you did yesterday,

Creating a "Weight Loss Identity"

2007-10-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone:A main reason why losing weight and keeping it off can be so difficult is because you may have an “overweight identity” that leads you to inadvertently sabotage your weight loss efforts. Your “identity” may be thought of as the total way you’ve defined “who you are”: what you do, how you think and believe, and why. Generally, people end up overweight is because their identity

What is the Weight Loss Mindset?

2007-08-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

Weight loss ... easy, right?Statistically, all it takes to lose weight and keep it off is to "eat less and exercise more". It's just a numbers game, right? When the number of calories taken in each day is lower than the number of calories burned off, you'll lose weight. Doing this consistently each day will eventually bring you to your weight loss goal. After reaching your lower weight,

10 Tips for Eating Smaller Portions

2007-08-01T23:48:00.001-07:00

Here are 10 things you can do to successfully eat smaller portions. Research shows that you will generally eat less when you:1) Drink from tall, skinny glasses (over shorter, fatter glasses)2) Place food on smaller plates3) Create meals with less variety (the greater the variety, the bigger the portions)4) Train yourself to not eat all of the food on your plate (push the plate away with some

Diet Supplements Don’t Work!

2007-07-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone:Diet supplements don't work. Here's why: they either don't work at all and/or have horrible side effects that are harmful to your health. The few supplements that may temporarily promote some weight loss do so by trying to:1) Artificially suppress your appetite--leading to malnutrition and your appetite returning with a vengeange when you stop taking the supplement2) Try to bind

Old Sayings for Losing Weight

2007-04-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

Here are 5 old sayings to help with your weight loss (I can't remember the authors):*If it is to be, it's up to me*If you think you can or you think you can't, you're right*Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results*There is nothing to fear but fear itself*People are about as happy (and successful) as they choose to beUntil next time...Dr. Randy

Self-Control and Weight Loss

2007-04-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone:To lose weight, all you have to do is to eat less and exercise more, right? Right. Well, that's easier said than done. One of the critical components of weight loss success is the principle of self-control: exercising willpower with our eating and exercise choices. This is essential, but most of us are pretty bad at it. So, what to do?In an recent Psychology Today article named

The Pressure to Lose Weight

2007-04-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

In a recent People Magazine article, Hilary Duff discusses the enormous pressure in Hollywood to lose weight. She expressed that, "I did get skinny...I've felt that pressure like everyone else in my position. When a newspaper comes out that says 'Duff Puff – she must have gained 15 pounds' or something like that, how would any normal person react?"In Hollywood, actresses are in a constant state

Overcoming Emotional Eating

2007-03-31T21:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone:Have you ever found yourself calm your stress through munching on chips? Have you ever drown your sorrows with a big ice cream sundae? Have you ever escaped boredom through chocolate? If so, you are not alone. We've all done this from time to time. However, these situations needs to be a rare, contained events. If "emotional eating" becomes our usual approach to food, we'll

Internal Reasons to Lose Weight

2007-03-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

Why lose weight? Well, some reasons are better than others. External reasons for losing weight involve trying to impress someone else: family, friends, strangers, potential love interests, etc. Is this a good enough motivator to lose weight? Well, usually, no. Not long term, anyway.People who successfully lose and keep the weight off need consistency. Longevity. Committment. A permenant, low

Mandatory Fat Talk Among Women?

2007-03-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

So, I'm up late and I bump into Saturday Night Live on the TV. Yes, that show is still on. I just watched their "Weekend Update" clip tonight (3/17) reviewing a recent actual study about "fat talk among women". Recent research suggests that when women congregate, they typically engage in an obligatory ritual: they share mutual negative put downs of their weight (and other looks topics).

The Secret: Thinking Thin

2007-03-07T22:39:00.000-08:00

Spurred on by support from Oprah, the latest craze in the self-help world is the DVD and Book, "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne. The essence of The Secret is that thinking positively about what you do want will tune you into the proper frequencies of the energies of the universe to generate the attainment of your goal. Conversely, thinking negatively about what you don't want actually attracts other

My Hypnosis Program for Losing Weight

2007-03-03T01:51:00.000-08:00

I know about weight loss—both professionally and personally.As a licensed clinical psychologist and hypnotherapist, I had a goal to create the absolute best and most comprehensive weight loss program possible—the perfect program that I myself would have loved to have back when I needed to lose my weight. I actually had 70 pounds to lose a number of years ago. Like most people, I tried many

Quick Weight Loss Tips

2007-02-26T00:37:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone:Here are 3 quick research-based weight loss tips that I share with my clients:1) Eat smaller, healthier meals (3-6) spread throughout the day, rather than 1 or 2 big meals. This will promote healthy digestion and keep your metabolism going.2) Drink a lot of water throughout the day. This will flush out fat and toxins from the body.3) Exercise regulary. Choosing an activity you

Interview Followup: Smart Man Online

2007-02-24T00:54:00.000-08:00

Greetings! I would like to mention a highly enjoyable blog interview I recently did for fellow blogger and author, Yvonne Devita. Yvonne is an expert on marketing to women online, and has a blog and a published book on the subject. I solicited her help several months ago while creating the website for my newest hypnosis CD product, The Weight Loss Mindset.While searching for marketing books on

Interview Followup: Smart Man Online

2007-02-23T23:40:00.000-08:00

Q & A Hypnosis and Weight Loss

2007-02-21T23:47:00.000-08:00

The following question was received 2/9/07 in response to my 1/15/07 posting, "Hypnosis--The Best Weight Loss Supplement": Question: I am very interested in the way hypnosis works for helping me improve my eating behaviors. I have tried diet pills, calorie counting, exercise plans... you name it! My question is, does the hypnosis continue to effect my everyday thinking for a long time, or is this

Hypnosis: The Best Weight Loss Supplement

2007-01-14T00:46:00.001-08:00

Everyone knows that to lose weight: all you need to do is eat less and exercise more. However, this is really tough to pull off with any consistency. Therefore, many supplementary weight loss approaches have been created to try to make this process easier. The most common alternative weight loss approach involves consuming some form of diet supplement to suppresses the appetite and/or raise the