Calm Keeps The Weight Off

Calm keeps the weight off. And this is why you should make being more calm and relaxed a central part of your weight loss process, because the more calm you are, the easier it is to lose weight and then ultimately stay at your goal weight. But if you try and do this in a stressed way, which is probably how you've always tried to lose weight, by the way, I bet every single time you've ever tried to lose weight, it's very stressful. Because you're jumping into an extreme plan. And remember, extreme is a relative thing. So Weight Watchers is extreme if you haven't really been paying attention to what you've been eating, and now you start Weight Watchers, now you're counting every point. That's a lot of cognitive energy all of a sudden, and that feels extreme to us. Okay, so extreme is not just, you know, the most extreme things like carnivore or keto. It's literally virtually anything that's kind of new to us. So When you reflect on how you've tried to lose weight in the past, you're going to recognize that every time you've gone about it, you've actually started by stressing yourself out even more, right? Because every plan is stressful. Now, by the way, this is also a reason why you avoid starting it again. You might think about wanting to lose weight 24 hours a day and what you should do, but you don't get yourself to do it. This is one more reason why, because you associate stress to the process, and we tend to avoid stress, intense things. So making calm a fundamental part of your weight loss approach is really profound because you've probably never done this before. And when you do, it changes the entire experience and it changes in a lot of different ways. The most obvious way, I think, is that physically, mentally, emotionally, you start to have more energy. Right? When you're more calm and relaxed, you're more grounded, at peace, centered. You tend to be able to kind of deal with life in an easier way. And so when you start to think about eating healthier, making better choices, being able to stay in control and influence your behavior so you can move towards your goal weight, when you think about that from a calm, peaceful perspective, you'll notice almost instantaneously that the way you think about it, the thoughts you have, And not just the content of the thoughts, but the way you say those thoughts to yourself. Because we tend to have an internal dialogue that's talking to us, right? And when we get tense and stressed, it tends to sound, come on, come on, do it. It's very sharp and cutting, and it talks to a certain way, which makes us feel a certain way. So a lot of times when you're starting your diet, you're, come on, okay, we got to do this. Let's go. We got to do it right. And you're getting tenser and tenser and tenser. Right? That's the typical diet path, and you can only do that for so long before you run out of energy and just kind of collapse, you know, metaphorically or literally. So when you're calm and grounded and you start thinking about this process, one of the first things that starts to happen is you start to realize there's really not a rush here. You know, it's funny how tension is really associated with impatience in my experience, and being more relaxed and calm is much more associated Um, with being more patient, having a longer time frame, a bigger picture outlook on things. And in my opinion, that's what you're going to need in order to get the results you want, but more importantly, in order to keep the results you want. Because it's very difficult, you know, metaphorically, to kind of push the foot all the way down, the gas pedal all the way down, go 100 miles an hour and do this for very long. It's stressful, it burns out our energy. Whereas if we take a step back, relax, ground ourselves, and make sure that this is a focus for us, because You know, you can make calm a focus and you're still going to keep ramping up tension. I certainly do. I fixate and focus on calm and relaxation for the last 30 years, and I still crank up into tense and get, get all the time. So it's not about me never getting tense again. It's about me being able to realize I'm getting tense and being able to bring it back down more often than not. And that usually is really all you need in order to move in the direction you want to go in. So let's just think about your goal and imagine moving towards your weight loss in terms of what the goal is and in terms of how you're going to do it. But do it from a state of peaceful relaxation. Intentionally create a state of calm. Take a moment right now and relax your shoulders. Relax your chest, relax your stomach, relax your face. Take a deep breath in and slowly let it out. Now, from this place, start to think about what your weight loss goals are and why. Start to think about how you can move towards those goals in a way that allows you to maintain this calm. Imagine moving towards your goal always with this foundation of calm under you, so that when things start to get stressful, you can always bring yourself back, ground yourself, relax, and then move forward. And I think if you approach things this way, you'll be shocked at how much better your results are. But not only much better your results are, but how much more enjoyable it is to create those results. And that is the secret sauce to making the results last as well. So it gives you everything that you want, and it's a much more enjoyable process. If you want to go deeper into how to do this, into a state of calm and to attach that calm to your weight, uh, click the link in my bio or go to programyourselfthin.com and go get the free hypnosis session that I made for you. It's called The New Thin Me, uh, and you get it instantly. It's completely free. Uh, and, uh, I also give you a training after that as well called Reprogrammed: How to Live at Your Goal Weight, uh, Without the Fight. That's completely free as well. So go check that out. If you're on TikTok, you can click the picture of me up on the top left there and go to my bio. If you are on Facebook, you can just type mind, M-I-N-D, into the comments section and it will automatically send you a link to get you there. Um, and if you're listening anywhere else, you can always go to programyourselfthin.com. And, uh, that, uh, you can get the— you can get the session there as well. And again, it's completely free. So if you're all having a nice Friday, and if you have any questions at all, feel free to ask them. How's it going, Carolyn? Carolyn says, yes, calm is so much better and helps cortisol levels stay in proper ranges, which may have overall effect on some loss of belly fat. Uh, yeah, absolutely. I think, um, you know, I didn't go into too much of that, but the benefits of relaxation and calm are so pervasive. I mean, when you think about— so this kind of brings me back that a lot of times people think about weight on a physical level, say calories in, calories out. Right. And on a very simplistic level, sure, that's true. Okay. But in the real world, we've got to take into account a lot more things than just that. Okay. So it's not just calories in, calories out for most people. It's not going to get the results you want because there's other things you need to manage. And I think that when we look at weight, you know, obviously there's the calorie and calorie piece, but there's also how your body is operating, right? And and that affects you in so many different ways. Certainly cortisol, I think we tend to think of as you know there's a tendency if we have more cortisol in our body that triggers our body to hold on to the weight, and so our body's less likely to kind of let it go. And I think that there's multiple levels of this physical, mental, emotional. levels of that process. Um, so we can dive in deep with the specifics of cortisol, then we can kind of zoom out, look at the big picture that the more relaxed and calm we are, everything just starts improving. Our thoughts improve, our emotions tend to improve, our body improves literally. Um, when we're more relaxed and calm, we tend to make better choices. We tend, um, to be able to stop ourselves, um, you know, and kind of redirect ourselves more effectively. Our body tends to operate operate more effectively, you know, to to maximize the benefits of what we're doing. So you may reduce calories, but if you're also relaxed and calm, your body may be operating more efficiently, you know. And again, the colloquial way to say is your metabolism may get a boost, you know, which is a much more complex process than I think we tend to kind of you know assign to it. But at the end of the day, I think calm is one of those. Exponential things, whereas if you're more calm, you get so many benefits out of it. You know, and that's why I think it's so important. And it goes right to the heart of program yourself then, which is to be more strategic with how you're going to manage your weight. So instead of just looking at calories in, calories out, and program yourself then, we use a more robust kind of model. Whoops, trying to get. Let me flip this around so you can all see this TikTok. We use the Goalway Pyramid: mindset, lifestyle, and eating. So it's not just a calorie in calorie out strategy. You know, I don't think those work very well. We look at the bigger picture of what affects those calorie in calorie out decisions. Calorie in calorie out to me, and virtually every diet is about that much of the pyramid. And I think you need to understand all the rest of this in order to get the results you want. That's what I think. I'm sticking to it. What's up, Caroline from Ireland? Nice to see you. It's always fun. We get people around the world around here. Get a lot of Irish people though, I would say. A lot of people from Ireland. Uh, Ireland is probably somewhere, by my rough estimate, probably 4 or 5 on the list of countries of clients in Program Yourself then, I would say. Obviously— What's going on, man? Every day, every day, the voice. I gotta do like voice exercises right before I go on or something. And I don't know what it takes, but anyways, um, yeah, probably number one America, number two a tie, three-way tie between Canada, um, England and Australia, I would say. And then there's Ireland. Ireland is, uh, definitely right, right there as well. Um, so hello. Yes, we got a lot of people from Ireland. Yeah, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask them. Any weight loss questions are welcome. I have worked with people, um, that Literally every single diet, I believe. And it doesn't matter if I haven't. You could be doing some brand new diet I never heard of, and I could almost still, almost still be able to offer you some, some advice or some support that may help you. Because at the end of the day, it's way less important what diet plan you're following and way more important what your mindset is, in my opinion, because I believe that the diet really is a secondary factor to your mindset. You know, you could have the most well-thought-out diet. I mean, geez, you could go to a dietitian or nutritionist and have them write up a personalized plan for you, um, specially made exactly for you, and it's not gonna really help you that much. I know that hurts a little, but you know, again, because at the end of the day, what's gonna make the difference? Well, how clear— how much can you follow that plan? You know, and that's always the challenge. The challenge is very rarely knowing what to do, and it's much more usually being able to get yourself to do the right things consistently. And I think this is what most diets have— most diets have neglected, I would say. Wouldn't you? But whatever questions you're dealing with, I mean, here we are. I know this time of year, you know, I don't know if some people know this or not, but this time of year is actually a really, um, this starts to kick off right after, uh, Indigenous Peoples' Day, what we call it now. Used to be Columbus Day. Uh, it is actually a big time for a lot of people that start to get focused on their weight, believe it or not. I don't, I don't know if you are surprised by that or not, but it is, um, a lot of people are. But, uh, yeah, it's, um, it's a big time, and I think it makes a lot of sense. I think now's the best time of year Um, one of the best times of year right now. Uh, you got kind of this natural— there's a natural momentum in the fall, I, I really believe. I think— I don't know how much of it's real and how much of it is like conditioning from school, the school routines that we all grew up with. Um, but regardless, you know, I think it makes a lot of sense to start paying attention now so that you can go into the holidays with some momentum. And again, you don't have to be perfect on the holidays, but you definitely want to go into the holidays with some momentum. Um, you know, and then, then an eye towards the new year because new year is kind of another, um, it's another booster. I used to have a— there you used to have— my son used to have a game and it was like a racetrack and it would have like booster things around the track, right? So they were strategically placed. So basically they were like spinning things and the car would hit it and then it would get a boost of energy and then it would go around and start slowing down. Then it would hit the next booster and then a boost. And I think you almost have to think of your year like that, you know. So now we're talking about timeframe. We're talking about zooming out and having a bigger timeframe. So I'm, I'm confusing probably a lot of you dieters because, you know, as dieters, you just think, that's it. Okay, let's do it. And then you jump into it and you do it forever long. You do it, then you don't do it at all. But if you zoom out a little bit, float above a typical year of yours, you'll start to notice patterns. And some of these patterns are cultural. Some of them are seasonal. Some of them are just personal. Um, but you'll start to notice that there are certain seasons that tend to kind of motivate you and move you forward and have you more action-oriented and focused and motivated. And there's other times a year that is less so. And instead of judging yourself for that, I think it's helpful to recognize the natural patterns that are within your life, because I promise you there are some natural patterns in your life. And as you start to recognize those patterns, you can start to optimize around them. And so most people, you know, again, I mean, New Year's is a big one, right? That's a cultural one. Um, I think it's mostly cultural personally, but, but that's okay. So January 1st is a good one. So, you know, what we want to do is right now is a great time for some of us. You know, if it's not a great time for you, that's fine. You know, you don't have to do it right now, but Um, these next couple months, these next 2 and a half months, you can really lay some good work down, then enjoy the holidays, and then know that the first year is coming and hit it again, you know. And then know that maybe January is always a good month for you, you're really focused there. Um, then, you know, you get a little wobbly in February because of whatever, you get tired of the winter, whatever. But then, you know, March comes around, you start to feel good again, you know. So it's like, as you start to understand yourself, that's a big part of programming yourself then, is understanding who you are. What are your patterns and your behaviors and your routines? Not just trying to change everything all at once, but instead trying to understand ourselves and then strategically guiding ourselves in the right direction in a comfortable, um, step-by-step way. You know, I think that that's a better approach. But yeah, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them. My voice is never going to be better, I swear to you. I don't know, it makes me nuts. But yeah, if you have any weight loss questions, feel free to ask them. If you don't, that's fine too. We might have a quiet day, which is fine because I have other things I have to do. And so I'll call it. All right, very good. All right, everyone, have a super duper long— if you're in America, you have a long weekend coming up, so enjoy it. All right, take some time, get some rest, uh, get outside, do some stuff, eat an apple if you can get around an apple orchard, go pick an apple and eat it. Uh, nothing like that. And, um, have a nice time, you know, and get a little bit of rest. Most people these— this day and age need rest more than almost anything, um, and that also helps you with your weight as well. And if you're not in my world, click the link in my bio, um, and go get the free hypnosis session I made you. Watch the training I made you. It's about 20 minutes. Um, it'll really, uh, take through the whole process. And if you like this, I'm here every Monday through Friday, uh, at noon Eastern, and you can pop on here, ask questions. Um, you know, let me help you as best I can. And if you like this and you can't make the live, it's also a podcast which you can search any podcast platform, programyourselfthin.com, or Program Yourself Thin, it'll pop up. Um, and all the replays are on Facebook as well. And again, if you're on Facebook and you're not in my world, you can just type mind, M-I-N-D, into the comments anytime and it'll automatically send you the link to get you all of those things. So thanks very much everyone, have a super duper long, um, weekend if you have it, and And we'll talk to you soon. Bye.