As a hypnotherapist, one of the first things I was taught is that your mind is your servant. Your mind is designed to help you reach any goal you desire. It's like a heat-seeking missile - and if given proper instructions will easily hit any target you care to set.

Now, let me guess what you are thinking. You’re probably thinking right now “OK, if my tiny mind is as powerful as you say, why, why, why do I still have this weight problem?” (Or any other problem for that matter).

The reason is that very few people, unless they’ve been trained to do it, can set, aim and fire this mind-missile properly. So I’ve written this article to start teaching you how YOU can use this most powerful tool to give you whatever you want – in this case, weight loss.

The deeper level of our brain is known as the “unconscious mind”. This is the part of the mind that stores our long-term memories, emotions and habits. Our unconscious mind communicates with us (and us with it) in symbols, feelings and by use of our imagination. It does not really understand words – whether spoken or written. But if we want something enough (the target) and can learn how to make our unconscious mind work for us (the missile) – well, Kaboom! What we need to learn to do is change the way we communicate with it.
 
So how do we do that?

Decide if the goal (in this case weight loss) is one that you really, truly want.
Imagine – or pretend - you have already reached your desired weight.

Find a safe place, take a deep breath in and as you slowly let out your breath close your eyes and relax.

I want you to imagine it's two years from now and you've made it! Yes, you've reached your ideal weight. Where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with?
What are you wearing? How different do you look compared to now? Most importantly of all – How do you feel? Good, huh?!(If you don't feel good then maybe you didn't want it after all!) Spend some time and make the image as real and as detailed as you can. Don’t worry if you have trouble imagining the detail – just pretend.

This phase is very important, as it sets up the target for your heat-seeking missile to aim for, so don't skimp this bit, no matter how pointless you think it is! Spend some time every day (1 min will do although 5 mins is better) to really fix in your mind all the good things that being this weight will give you.

Now DO SOMETHING to move towards your goal.

Your mind isn't stupid and it's not going to waste any time or energy moving towards a goal that you either a) don't really want or b) is impossible to reach. Your mind will conveniently remember all the other times you've said you were going to do something and then gave up, disheartened. Having learned this bitter lesson from past “failures”, your mind will sit on the fence until you prove that this time you really mean it. How do you do that? You set a specific goal (say, that you will lose 1lb a week). Now you have your target – point the missile towards it by making a change in your life that will help get you towards it. For weight loss, you need to take some action that will help you lose weight. It could be taking some exercise, eating more healthily or any of the other proven ways to help you lose weight safely.

That's about it. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? So what do we have?

We have our heat seeking missile (Your mind)
We have a target for our missile to hit (Your goal - Weight Loss)
We have fuel for our missile (Your intent shown by effort - moving towards your goal)

The magical thing about this system is that what you do to move towards your goal doesn't really matter! Once you have proved to yourself that you mean it, your mind will find ways to help you. If you pick the wrong exercise or weight loss system no matter. Your missile will automatically correct itself! It knows where you want to go and will bust a gut finding you a safe and effective system you can use that will be effective. The only thing you need to do is put in enough effort and commitment into weight loss so that you never run out of fuel.

You may be thinking, “Well you talk a good game, Bob - but it can't be that easy, can it?”

Well yes and no! If you put in the time and effort, trust me - it WILL work and it works very well. I'm not talking about starving yourself and doing 2 hours worth of exercise a day, either. Just a moderate effort (20 mins exercise a day) and a sensible eating plan and that’s it.

So please, don't just read this article and move on. Think about what I've written and then apply it. Take some action – you’ve nothing to lose but weight!

All the best,

Robert E Bartram
(Hypnotherapist & Pilates Instructor)

The Best Way To Lose Weight - Use Your Mind