Thinking is Thin-King

If you have been following along, you know that I enjoy sharing other folks' articles that have the same mission I do. And here's one that follows suit:

Thinking is Thin-King

By Donna Krech

Let me warn you now. Reading this article could result in the reversal of obesity in our world! Are you ready to be part of that solution?

Wow!!!! Did you get that title? Maybe you need to go back and read it again, eh? Wait. Let's do this the way it needs to be done. Grab a pencil or pen. Write the word "thinking" on a piece of paper. Now say the word out loud... thinking. Again please... thinking. One more time if you would. It will help bring about a fantastic result for your life... thinking. Now draw a thick diagonal line between the first 'n' and the 'k'. Please read the two words you've just unveiled inside of the word thinking. THIN KING!!! Thinking is thin king!! You've uncovered the secret to being thin. As a matter of fact, you've uncovered the KING of the secret to being thin and it's been living inside the word for centuries!!!

All these years we've been counting calories, carbs and fat grams. We've been tossing back diet pills, eating pre-packaged meals, and listening to the newest diet guru or fitness expert. The trouble with these solutions is that virtually every new program that comes along or every guru that talks out there is preaching what to do with food, how to prepare food, or very simply, what food to eat! The fitness experts are screaming (sometimes quite literally) at us to push ourselves, push ourselves more, more, MORE!! "Calories in, calories out," they bellow. "You just need to burn off whatever you put in!" The trouble here is that someone with weight to lose most often puts exercise near the bottom of the list of things they desire to do. In all honesty, until we fall in love with the benefits of fitness, most people WITHOUT weight to lose feel the same way.

As a veteran in the business of weight loss and fitness since 1982, I find all of this food and fitness focus ridiculous! I don't even like to tell people I'm in the weight loss industry. I tell them I'm in the weight loss, weight gain, weight loss, weight gain industry because until I put two and two together, there hasn't been a weight loss solution that's permanent.

It seems with every year that passes there are more and more "answers" and less and less results. Well, unless you count obesity climbing as a result, because that's exactly what's happened. The reason is so elementary that once I explain it to you, you may just want go back to all those folks who sold you a diet and ask them, "What on earth were YOU thinking?"

Don't do that though. The fantastic news is that once you're equipped with this information, your life is going to change. Know that once you begin to realize how big a role thinking plays in being thin, you will discover it's actually easy to lose weight and keep it off. You're about to learn that everything you ever needed in order to lose weight permanently was inside you all along. It's not what your friends have told you, things like, "Why don't you just push yourself away from the table?"

Let's look at the three examples we've talked about. One was to focus on a way of eating, or the diet that was going to make you thin. Another was exercise, movement that would burn off calories. The last one was the classic pushing one's self away from the table. Now here comes the fun part!

Imagine you're walking on a swinging bridge, a wooden and rickety swinging bridge. Picture the bridge suspended 10,000 feet above a rocky ravine. One last thought to add to the story. You are terrified of heights. Now, somehow you manage to get yourself to start walking across. In your mind reverberate the words, "Don't look down, don't look down. Whatever you do, DON'T LOOK DOWN!" What do you feel compelled to do? What, to your horror, do you find yourself doing? Yep!! You're looking down!! The VERY thing you DON'T want to do, you're saying to yourself over and over again. Imagine how much better and easier the whole thing would be if your focus was, "Look straight ahead. The other side is so beautiful. Getting there is easy!"

Now let's parallel. It's like saying, "Don't smoke." Don't is a negative approach and smoke is the very thing you don't want to do! The message sent to our mind is clearly what we DON'T want to have happen! When we focus on something like, "My lungs expand fully as health and energy surge through my body 24/7!" Guess what? You got it! You'll begin smoking less and, more importantly, will find it so much easier to quit!

If the route you've chosen to lose weight with focuses on what you eat, you're going to be asked to do the same thing - focus on the foods we are "allowed" to eat, and highlighters or red pens are used on the food diaries we keep to place even more focus - on what? THE FOOD!! So, what's going on in our minds when this occurs? We're processing what we can and can't have. If we can muster up any motivation at all, it's based on NOT wanting to be FAT... or wanting to LOSE the WEIGHT... or staying AWAY from a certain type of food!! Stop the madness!!!

Look again at what's written there! We focus on what NOT to do! It's a double negative. We need a positive-positive in order for success to come in any realm...including the area of our weight. You see, our minds comprehend negative language 50% slower than positive language. So, if nothing other than this was the case, we'd not be succeeding because our brain doesn't know what on earth we're talking about! But there is more to it than that. Rather than repeating in our minds what we DON'T want to see happen or what we need to STAY AWAY from, if we focused on what we WANTED to see occur... the simple truth is that we'd begin to see it. Our minds hear what we want and see what we think about as who we are, so we behave accordingly. Truly, it's this easy.

Think about this with regard to working out. We join a gym or buy the most recent product that tells us we'll drop 7 dress sizes in one month or some crazy nonsense like that. Reflect back, what's going on inside our head at the time? "I do NOT want to be OVERWEIGHT... or I HAVE to exercise so I can LOSE... or I've GOT to MAKE myself do this." Again I say, "GOOD GRIEF!" Do we truly wonder why we haven't been fully successful when we keep telling our minds what we MUST NOT do or keep repeating the words we don't want to come to fruition over and over again.?

So, let's stop the madness here and now! The next time you see one of those ads reading, "She lost 113 pounds... see what she ate." Or, "Her workout only took 20 days... learn it now." Stop and remember that focusing on the food or the workout is NOT going to be your key to success. Focusing on the result you want, however, is. If we focus on the food or the workout, it would be like focusing on what the bridge is made of, or what length it is. While these components are how you get to the other side, focusing on getting there is what causes you to do so. This is true with your thinking and weight management too. Focus on 'why' you want to be thin and the how will be infinitely easier.

Anyone who's made a habit of exercising regularly or eating in a healthy way does so because they know their why, not because they focus on what to eat or how to move. Even those who have built the habit into their life or have the self discipline to do what they need to do for a lifetime possess these traits because their why was in place long ago. Remember, when the why is strong enough the how is easy!! That's it! That's the secret to permanent loss and looking better, feeling better and living longer. I've seen this secret bring about immeasurable success. I'd love to help you find yours. Send me a note at notetodonna@thinandhealthy.com and we'll get moving on this goal together in the life-changing coaching program I'm putting together.

Thin-King teaches us to focus on the positive to acheive success in any realm. If you want help with your focus, our Never Ending Motivation program can make all of the difference. Want to learn more? Visit our Never Ending Motivation web site, and you can learn the secret to building an endless supply of motivation in your life. Click here to learn more...