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How to Get Your Mind Right To Achieve Your Weight Loss Goals

Copyright © 2016 by JJ Smith. All Rights Reserved. www.JJSmithOnline.com

Mental Mastery Challenge

http://www.JJSmithOnline.com

30-dAY MenTAL MAsTeRY cHALLenGe Copyright © 2016 by JJ Smith. All Rights Reserved. www.JJSmithOnline.com 2

Introduction

One of the most important things that folks need for long-term weight loss success is Mental Mastery. These 30 exercises will strengthen your mental focus and discipline and create habits that will help you achieve your desired goal weight.

I recognize the power that individuals have to change virtually anything and everything in their lives in an instant. I’ve learned that everything we need to turn our dreams into reality is within us, merely waiting for the day when we decide to wake up and claim our birthright.

The purpose of this Challenge is simple: to be a wake-up call that will challenge those who are committed to getting slim and healthy.

The exercises and strategies in this 30-Day Challenge will help you produce specific, measurable, long-lasting changes in yourself so that you can live the life of your dreams.



Here’s What You Need

Journal

Pen

Open Heart1

2

3



Develop a Food-Mood Diary

Develop a Food-Mood Diary: For many of us emotional overeaters, it will take some time to really connect our experiences and our feelings with what we put into our mouths. It is a good idea to begin writing your food-feelings connections to give you more and more insights and awareness. When you write down every tidbit that you eat, there is less chance of unconsciously nibbling on something since you have the task of writing it down. This exercise will help us explore the connection between food and feelings. It’s not what you’re eating; it’s what’s eating at you.

What was it that caused you to put food in your mouth when you were not physically hungry? Do you eat when you are sad, anxious, ashamed, and afraid? Whenever you have an unpleasant feeling, do you want food to push it away, to sedate you? Some folks like crunchy foods when they are angry and sweets when they are bored and lonely. It’s time to get in touch with how your feelings affect what you put in your mouth.

Create your Food-Mood Diary in your Journal as follows:

1Day

time fOOd feeling befOre feeling afterwards



Heal A Broken-Heart

Heartbreak can have a devastating effect on your health and particularly your weight. You can end up binge eating or emotional eating to deal with the hurt and pain from a broken heart.

Profound emotional sadness doesn’t just weigh heavy on your mind; it can also significantly impact your body.

Stress from heartbreak grief can flood the body with hormones, specifically Cortisol, which leads to belly fat.

You have to choose to deal with the pain and not run from it or distract yourself from the pain by overeating or binge eating. Rise up to the challenge and deal with it head-on. Some of us just keep jumping into new relationships to deal with a broken-heart, but you will still have to process those emotions so they don’t overwhelm you and linger with you for years.

Reflecting on past relationships (even if you’re married) and looking at them as lessons learned can greatly enhance your ability to heal and move on. Some of us are in committed relationships now and still haven’t processed painful feelings from past relationships.

2Day



Heal A Broken-Heart

Create and complete the following chart in your Journal as follows:

2Day

rOmantic PartnerHOw i feel

(One wOrd)wHat i learned

frOm tHis relatiOnsHiP



Know Your Weights3Day

Know Your Weights: Do you ease onto your scale, hoping for a certain number to appear— and if that number is not there, you lose all motivation. If so, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. Rather than focus on just one number, consider other ways to think about weight. In your journal, note the following:

➾ dream weight: A weight you would choose if you could weigh whatever you wanted.

➾ Happy weight: This weight is not the one you’d choose as your ideal, but you’d be happy if you weighed only this much.

➾ acceptable weight: A weight that would not make you particularly happy, but that you could be satisfied with.

➾ disappointed weight: A weight that would not be acceptable in any way.

➾ never-again weight: The all-time high you never want to hit again.

In your Journal, jot down your dream weight, happy weight, acceptable weight, disappointed weight, and never-again weight. Please note that you can also use dress sizes instead of weight. Then write down your actual weight/dress size, as of today. How many pounds is your real weight from your acceptable weight? Assuming you can lose 2 pounds a week, how many weeks would it take you to get to that weight?

In your Journal, how do you envision yourself feeling and behaving once you reach your acceptable weight? Do you have any plans once you reach your acceptable weight, such as buying clothes or taking a weekend trip? How will your life be different?



Develop Your Personal Identity Statement4

Day

Develop Your Personal Identify Statement: A good identity statement is one that emphasizes your positive qualities and pinpoints something you want to become, like “I am confident and passionate. I’m consistently excellent every day as a leader, executive and mother,” or “I care more about my clients and I will outwork the competition. I am a million-dollar salesman.” Have the courage to embrace the things that make you unique and great!

In your Journal, create your Personal Identity Statement and repeat your identity statement to yourself five times today. Here are some questions to help you create your personal identity statement:

➾ What are you most passionate about? What do you care deeply about?

➾ What are your top 3 or 4 personal attributes – the things that define how you make things happen?

➾ What differentiates you from your co-workers on your job? What do you have to offer that no one else does?

Example: ”I am a focused and determined business leader, I offer the entrepreneurial stamina and wisdom to make my employer more profitable. My easy-going sense of humor has been a defining strategy to bring out the best in everyone, instill pride, and mobilize family, friends and co-workers to live their very best life.”



5Day

Speak Your Truth: You have probably suspected for some time, maybe even most of your life, that you’re a little different from other people. You feel more deeply and are more sensitive. You have difficulty separating yourself from other people’s emotions. You are powerfully affected by anger, grief, and fear that isn’t your own. Somehow, you’re just more vulnerable to the emotional energy that surrounds you. Can you own that? Can you admit to it? Can you say aloud, “Yep, that’s me.

Speaking your truth is difficult because it requires that you acknowledge your vulnerability. You have to be honest with yourself and then, eventually, be honest with others, too. I’m asking you to speak your truth to yourself so that one day you can speak your truth to those who are closest to you. When you’re not honest with yourself, you inadvertently set yourself up to experience even more misery. You start to think you’re doing just fine keeping a lid on your feelings and then smack—emotional overload hits you like a huge wave, engulfing you. You detour into emotional eating, caregiving for others’ emotions, isolating yourself, or other unhealthy behaviors in an attempt to escape that overload of emotions.

the first step in managing your emotional overload, and in learning to control your boundaries, is to speak the truth unapologetically, without shame or embarrassment.

You’ve had a problem for as far back as you can remember: you become easily overwhelmed by your emotions, you eat to manage the distress you feel, and you’ve lost faith in yourself. None of that makes you weak, bad, or inadequate. Speaking your truth is liberating and empowering. All the energy you’ve been spending in denying that you’re emotionally overwhelmed can now be redirected in a positive way. You can love yourself as you are right now, and at the same time you can eagerly embrace the process of learning to manage your feelings and set boundaries for yourself.

Speak Your Truth



5Day

Write the answers to the following questions in your Journal and reflect on how you can speak your truth and set boundaries for yourself:

Speak Your Truth

1. What does it feel like to have no boundaries and to let people walk all over you?

2. How have you tried to distract yourself from your feelings by eating? When was the last time you did this? Have you eaten when you were hurt? Explain when?

3. What would your life be like if you were able to consistently manage your boundaries and not allow people to cross those boundaries? What would you lose? How would you be different?

4. How does being someone who feels too much serve you? In what situations has it helped you?

5. How do you try to manage your empathy for others? Do your methods for managing empathy work for you? If so, what happens when you use them? And are those positive or negative?

6. One person I need to set boundaries with is ________________? How will I set boundaries with them?



6Day

Love Me Some Me (The Mirror Exercise): Stand in front of a mirror and gaze into your eyes. Is there something there that you like? Can you look deep inside your eyes and see the person who is truly there, beyond just the physical appearance? Can you accept that person? Can you send that person loving compassion? As you stare in the mirror, say the following affirmations:

➾ I know that this is a struggle, but I am trying hard and doing the best I can.

➾ I deserve love and respect. I will do my best to love and respect my body. I am sorry for the pain I’ve caused you.

➾ I am beautiful inside and out. I am perfect in this moment as I continue to move toward self-acceptance.

➾ I am in the exact right place that I need to be right now. Everything is as it should be. I deserve to relax.

➾ My body deserves love. My body has gone through a lot and continues to carry me through; for that I am grateful. My body is a gift and deserves to be treated with love and kindness.

➾ I will choose to help my body stay healthy by nurturing it and nourishing it with self-love, healthy food and healthy exercise.

Love Me Some Me (The Mirror Exercise)

The point is to find self-acceptance and let go of what you believe other people think of you. Allow yourself to be accepting to yourself and others. In doing this you have so much more power. You can’t control how other people are going to perceive you or react to you. It has nothing to do with you; it is in their hands. However, you can control how you perceive yourself and you can control your own reactions. In doing this, you embrace your own power.



7Day

Plan to Lose: Ask winners the secret of their success in academics, business, or sports, and they consistently say they start with a plan. If you want to win the weight-loss war, you have to plan to lose weight. We suggest not just one master plan, but several plans. In your journal:

Plan to Lose

➾ Make a weekly plan. Every Sunday make a meal plan for the coming week. List the foods you need to buy to create a grocery shopping list. My grocery shopping list is 80% the same each week.

➾ Post this meal plan on your refrigerator door. Check off each meal and day. If your eating doesn’t go exactly according to plan, make adjustments as you plan the next day.

➾ Plan for tomorrow. Before you go to bed, make a healthy to-do list for the next day. In your journal, each night before bed, write down what you plan to eat the next day. Compliance experts know that if people actually put down on paper a list of what they intend to do, they’re more likely to follow through.

➾ If you forgot to plan the night before, make up a menu in the morning, and stick to it so you aren’t focusing on food later in the day when you’re tired and hungry.

➾ Now plan your indulgences. List the foods you adore even though you know they aren’t great for your weight loss or health. Rank your five favorites in order of their importance to you. Allow yourself to eat the top two or three but not the others. Plan how often (maybe start with just once per week). This allows you to enjoy reward meals/snacks that reward you for staying committed to your journey.



8Day

Learn to Commit to Losing Weight: Are you INTERESTED in losing weight or are you COMMITTED to losing weight? If you’re truly committed, you’ll do what it takes and make the necessary sacrifices to lose weight. People fail not because of lack of interest or desire, but lack of commitment.

Learn to Commit to Losing Weight

Examples: Have you let your friends and family know you’re committed to this journey? Have you changed your circle of friends who are naysayers and doubters? Have you bought an alkaline water pitcher? Are you reading about health and nutrition everyday? Do you connect to your online support group (VIP) daily?

exercise: In your Journal, write down ways that let you know that you are truly COMMITTED to losing weight, not just interested.



9Day

Laziness Doesn’t Control Me: Sometimes we allow laziness to cause us to procrastinate our entire life away. Denzel Washington said: “I’d be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I’d been given. I’d be more frightened by procrastination and laziness.” This is very true. We should be afraid of procrastination and laziness.

Laziness Doesn’t Control Me

exercise: There are dishes in the sink that need washing, and you postpone washing them for later. Get up and wash them now. There is a load of laundry that needs washing. Get up and wash the clothes now. The house is messy. Get up and clean it up now. Do not let laziness control you. When you know that in this way, you are actually strengthening yourself, it becomes easier to take immediate action, despite laziness and the desire to procrastinate.

Write in your Journal one activity that you did NOT procrastinate today, and you WIN!



10Day

Someone once said, to be wildly successful, you have to put down the remote control and pick up a book. I took that advice to heart and it has never failed me. Give yourself a break from ALL TV shows today, especially gossip or ratchet TV. Know that gossip or ratchet TV does not feed your soul or spirit.

Do you, like many others, like to read some unimportant gossip in the newspaper or magazine or watch reality TV. Then, for the entire day, abstain from doing so. This might not be easy, but it’s good for your soul. I am not telling you to do so indefinitely, but for one day you should give your mind a break from meaningless noise and chatter. No TV at all today.

Instead of watching TV today, spend the time reading about health and nutrition. This will empower you. It’s not about having someone tell you what to eat, how much to eat. That just makes you diet-minded. It’s about learning how to help your unique body lose weight. Enjoy learning, reading and growing in knowledge today. Be empowered.

Gossip or Ratchet TV Does Not Feed My Soul or Spirit



11Day

To begin loving your body and your true self, post the following affirmative statements on a note card or in your Journal and read them every day before you leave for work or go to bed:

I will...

1. I will have a loving relationship with food. I know that food is a gift from God that I am grateful for because it nourishes my body.

2. I will not be afraid to get on the scale because the number that I weigh isn’t as important as the overall healthiness of my body. A healthy body is a beautiful body.

3. I will not be ashamed of my body, for it is just the house for my spiritual and mental self; it does not define my true self.

4. I will forgive myself and other people. No more arguing and fighting, only letting go of stresses, failures, and disappointments.

5. I am thankful for my body and look forward to a slimmer, healthier body as I become more enlightened about healthy eating.



12Day

Going Back in Time: If you could go back 15 years into the past, what would you tell your younger self? What lessons have you learned over the last 15 years and how will those lessons help you be a smarter and wiser person going forward. There’s no use going another 15 years repeating the same mistakes and setbacks in life.

In your Journal, write the following:

Dear Self, I am coming to you from 15 years in the future to give you some valuable information. Here’s what I learned:

Write a Letter to Yourself



13Day

Create a “Do Something Different” List: When you are binge eating, the last thing that you need is someone telling you that you are bad or that there is something wrong with you. What you need is care and compassion. Binge eating is a coping mechanism. The goal here is to learn new ways to deal with painful or challenging emotions, that don’t involve stuffing your feelings down with food. There are several ways to learn to be more gentle, loving and kind with yourself. There are also several different ways to give yourself a boost when you are feeling low that doesn’t involve self-abuse.

So as a coping mechanism to replace binge eating, write out a list of things that you can do to nurture yourself instead of binge eating. This is called a “Do Something Different” List. List as many alternatives to binge eating as you can think of. Take that list, and perhaps paste it onto a beautiful, inspirational notepad and post it in a place where you will read it the most.

Create a “Do Something Different” List

Here are some examples of things that you can add to your own “Do Something Different” List:

o Get out of your home and take a walk

o Download music and Dance

o Call a friend, a family member or a support person

o Go browse a bookstore or read a book

o Visualize something positive, like your next exotic vacation

o Relax in a detox bath

o Lie down and rest or go to sleep if tired

o Write a letter/e-mail

o Go through old letters or e-mails that make you feel better

o Go through magazines and create a vision board

o Take out some art supplies and paint or draw, or do scrapbooking

o Go to church/synagogue

o Watch a DVD or go out to the movies

o Breathe/meditate/stretch/do yoga

o Bring food to homeless people in your neighborhood or to a local shelter.



14Day

A weight loss vision board is one of the most valuable weight loss tools that help you achieve your goals. If you want a vision of your future life to look completely different, then it’s important to focus on the pictures and images that inspire you to make healthy choices along your journey.

Your mind responds strongly to visual stimulation and when you surround yourself with images that invoke positive emotions, your brain will work to achieve the affirmations and images. Your vision board will program your subconscious to attract things that will help you reach your weight loss goal.

Create a Weight Loss Vision Board

HOw tO Use YOUr weigHt lOss VisiOn bOard:

➾ Look at your vision board often and feel the inspiration it provides.

➾ Believe it is already yours.

➾ Read your affirmations and inspirational words out loud

➾ See yourself living a life in your new slimmer body.

➾ Imagine how it will feel to step on the scale and see the number you want.

➾ Picture yourself shopping for new clothes in smaller sizes.



14Day

Create a Weight Loss Vision Board

sUPPlies tO maKe YOUr VisiOn bOard (YOU can alsO create it Online/VirtUal bOard)

➾ Pictures, quotes, and photos that cause happy thoughts

➾ Glue/pins, markers, magazines/books that can be cut up, scissors

➾ Poster board, a large sheet of paper, cork board or pin board

➾ You can use glitter, paint, or stickers. It’s YOUR board. Make it your own. Get your children to help you.

wHat tO PUt On YOUr VisiOn bOard:

➾ Of course, your vision board should include pictures of how you want your body to look when you’ve lost weight.

➾ Load your board with as many images, quotes, and words that give you happy thoughts

➾ It’s also good to include things you WANT to look at because they make you feel empowered, happy and motivated about losing weight.

➾ Motivational quotes statements that make you feel confident and empowered

➾ Images of people you admire, or someone you love, kids or parents

➾ Pretty pictures of healthy food and recipes you’d like to try

➾ The types of clothes you’ll be wearing at your goal weight (Bikinis and form fitting dresses!)

➾ Exercises or specific training goals – like crossing the finish line of a marathon or a bikram yoga pose you’d like to master.



15Day

gOOd-bYe tO sadness: In owning the truth that you can’t go back to your old ways of overeating, you have to acknowledge your losses. You’re losing food as your tool for self-nurturing. You’re letting go of the false belief that you are very much in control, and that you’re someone who can say, “Screw it!” and eat the ice cream sundae because she deserves to have it, and then not suffer any consequences for making that choice. Who wants to let go of that belief? Yes, it’s sad that you can’t have what you want, when you want it, without paying the consequence. It’s sad that you can’t easily control your emotions, your empathy, as some people seem to. On the other hand, being trapped in the cycle of emotional overload, bingeing, self-loathing, self-denial, emotional overload, and so on is much sadder. Feeling sadness or anger is painful, but it’s soft pain. Hard pain is what you experience when you overeat and suffer the consequences of being overweight and unhealthy.

Goodbye to Sadness and Hello to Joy

new Habit: saY HellO tO JOY: When we’re sad or feeling challenged, joy isn’t on our radar. We forget that we’re capable of feeling it. After a while, it starts to feel as if joy is something we have no control over, as if our situations are responsible for our inner feelings. Nothing could be further from the truth. How often have you found yourself laughing and smiling, and thinking, I should do this more often. Yes, you should, but you don’t, do you? It’s amazing how often we people who feel too much, who are trying too hard to be good people and care for others, forget to experience happiness. Commit to feeling joy more often! There’s a whole field of psychology called positive psychology that’s focused on helping people to identify what makes them feel happy and do whatever it is that leads them to happiness. It seems obvious—do what makes you feel good—but we get a lot of messages about containing our happiness, not being too happy or happy too much of the time. All sorts of ridiculous ideas end up in our heads, sabotaging our joy. Being joyful is our birthright. Own it and go get it. Pursue happiness!



15Day Goodbye to Sadness

and Hello to Joy

Create 2 Lists; 1) List of things that will make you feel energized and happy and 2) One that will help you feel spontaneous and adventurous. Schedule at least 1 of these activities within the next week.

wHat maKes YOU feel energized and HaPPY? bring it On!

1. Indulge in a funny movie that you know will make you laugh

2. Hang out on the porch with some old friends, laughing at life

3. Play a game that makes you feel silly, like a kid.

4. Spend some time around children who encourage you to lighten up and be goofy.

wHat maKes YOU feel sPOntaneOUs and adVentUrOUs? let’s dO it!

1. Take a salsa dancing class, call a friend and ask him to join you

2. Pull your car over when you see a county fair and buy a ticket

3. Tag along with someone else to an activity they enjoy. If you don’t like it, congratulate yourself for stepping out, and keep looking for activities that make you happy.

4. Paint the room where you spend the most time a color that invigorates or soothes you.



16Day

Letting Go of Control

Letting Go of Control of Another Person or Situation: In your Journal:

1. Name a person or situation that is currently occurring that is causing you to feel powerless, hopeless, or out of control

2. Is there any part of this situation that you can control? How can you do that? Which part do you have no control over?

3. Admitting and understanding that you have no control over this person or situation, what can you do to soothe and take care of yourself?

4. Write a letter to this person or to the situation letting them know exactly what you’re feeling. Don’t hold back with this letter; let everything that you feel come out. Then, allow yourself to take the letter and burn it, or even put it in a bottle and send it out to sea, or pray and turn it over to God.

5. Meditation Time: Imagine yourself on an island with the person or situation that you feel out of control with. See yourself saying good-bye to them or to the situation; then see yourself getting into a rowboat and rowing away. You see them and you wave good-bye as you continue to row your boat away from them. They continue to get smaller and smaller as you row further and further away. You know that the person or situation still exists, yet you are allowing yourself to detach from them. Realize that it might be beyond your power to solve or change this situation, so make a pact that you are going to stop trying. Instead, do something for yourself that feels good – detract attention from the person or situation and put that attention on yourself. Focus on what you do have control over and the power that you do have.



17Day

Satisfy Spiritual Hunger

Satisfy Spiritual Hunger: You are spending time each day connecting with and deepening your relationship to your God. Changing your relationship with food is a big undertaking, and strengthening your spiritual connection helps a great deal.

I’m not talking about religious beliefs or theology. I’m talking about creating and fostering a relationship with a loving, supportive God that offers refuge from the constant pressures of life. This force is collaborative, providing wisdom, guidance, and energy to help you create the life you long for.

There’s no place to go to be separated from the spiritual, so perhaps one might say that the spiritual is that realm of human experience which religion attempts to connect us to through dogma and practice. Sometimes it succeeds and sometimes it fails. Religion is a bridge to the spiritual—but does not always deepen our personal relationship with God.

When we connect with Spirit, we experience love and unconditional acceptance, the gentle encouragement to discover our own solutions and create the lives we want.

Are you beginning and ending each day with prayer? Remember, as prayer and meditation increases, the food compulsion decreases because you are being filled in a different way.

Today’s exercise focuses on praying. Prayer can be an act of reading words from sacred texts or forming words from your own heart. As your personal communication with the Divine, prayer is about obtaining, maintaining, and fostering a relationship with your God.

Perhaps you already have a great relationship with your God and maybe you’re still growing in that relationship, but today’s exercise focuses on communicating and talking to God all throughout the day. Make prayer a real conversation with a loving, compassionate God.



18Day

Meditate

Meditate: If prayer is speaking to God (Spirit), meditation is being still enough to hear the voice of that Loving Presence. Meditation quiets the mind, relaxes the body, and helps us to focus on the present. Once the head chatter has stopped, you are open to experiencing guidance or inner wisdom and might intuitively get an answer to a question that has plagued you.

Are you meditating at least once a day?. Today’s exercise focuses on meditating twice today.

How to Meditate: Although there are different types of meditation, most include the following:

• Quiet. Find a location without distractions (phone, TV, others talking) where you will not be disturbed.

• Comfort. You do not need to be sitting like a yogi to experience meditation. It is often recommended, however, that you keep your spine straight. If you tend to nod off, be seated rather than lying down.

• Concentration. You can gaze at an object (maybe one in nature—a leaf, waves of the ocean, a tree in the distance—or perhaps something like the flame of a candle).

• Observation. Rather than judging yourself, be in the role of detached observer. No judgments, no criticisms—just notice with impartiality. Awareness of the breath.

• Many meditations begin by placing your attention on your breathing. As you do so, you become more and more relaxed. Inhale (count) through your nose. Pause. Exhale (count + 2) through your mouth. Pause. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Ignore thoughts and distractions, and continue to bring your awareness back to the breath.

• Clear your mind. Heighten your senses. Be still. Breathe.



19Day

Forget About Dieting

How Has Dieting Impacted Your Life? Use your Journal to answer the following questions:

1. How long have you been dieting?

2. What are the various types of diets you have tried and what kinds of short-term results have these diets yielded?

3. What kinds of long-term results have these diets yielded?

4. How would your life be different if dieting and food were not your focus for so many years?

5. What kinds of places do you currently avoid because of your obsession with dieting, food and body image?

6. What would your life be like if you could do the things that you are currently avoiding?

7. When it comes to dieting, the holding on is what is so hard, the letting go – the surrender – is easy. In your Journal, write a statement that affirms that you are done with dieting and ready to make a lifestyle change.



20Day

Do a Kitchen Inventory

Do A Kitchen Inventory: Go through the foods that you are likely to binge on or foods that you have binged on in the past. Ask a supportive person to come over and go through your cabinets and refrigerator with you. Get rid of all of those foods. If you live with a partner or spouse, you might need to sit down with them and explain to them what you’re going through. This is really important. If you were an alcoholic, it would be crucial that your partner didn’t bring alcohol into the house while you were going through recovery. Think of trigger foods like alcohol. You will feel more comfortable if they are not easily accessible. As you go on in your process, you might begin to learn new trigger foods that you never would have thought that you’d binge on.

For example, one client discovered that she couldn’t keep raw, unsalted sunflower seeds in her home. If she did, she’d eat as many as she could and even if she finished them all, she would find something else to continue eating. Even though this was a healthy snack, it was a trigger food for binge eating.

Once you’ve cleared the house of binge foods, vow not to bring any binge foods home and declare your house a binge-free zone. This is not a forever thing, but for now, in the early parts of gaining control over your eating habits, you want to keep yourself safe. Just as a recovering alcoholic wouldn’t spend time in a bar or keep bottles of gin in his or her home, you don’t want to have any trigger foods in your home either.

You should also note in your Journal all your trigger foods so you can stay away from them.



21Day

The Mindful Meal: A planned mindful meal is an intentional space that you create to understand more about your feelings when you are eating, as well as to help you tune in to your hunger and your digestion. The more mindful meals that you do, the more you will begin to understand the difference between real physical hunger and fake, emotional hunger. Here are the steps:

PreParatiOn:

1. Set aside a time when you can be alone and without distraction.

2. Turn off your television, turn off your computer, and turn off your phone.

3. If you need a bit of stimulation, you can listen to light music

4. Make sure that the lights are all on.

5. Slowly and with care, prepare a meal for yourself. Take time to notice the colors and smells of your food. Feel the sensation of cutting your vegetables and meat. Hear the sizzling of food cooking, but allow yourself to wait to taste.

6. Don’t eat any food or snack during the preparation. You will not eat until you are sitting at the table.

7. Create a welcoming table setting for yourself. Use your favorite dishes, and perhaps light some candles, use your favorite tablecloth. Set some flowers and make it beautiful for yourself.

Have a Mindful Meal



21Day

Have a Mindful Meal

tHe meal:

1. As you sit down, before you begin to eat, check in with your body and assess how hungry you are

2. Before you start to eat, look down at your food and see what is on your plate.

3. Take a breath, you might want to send a word of gratitude or grace.

4. Decide what you want to eat first. Put that first forkful of food into your mouth and really taste it.

5. Taste and thoroughly chew each bite and put your fork down after every two bites.

6. Notice your thoughts and feelings as you eat without engaging with them, just noticing what happens when you allow yourself to really be with your food.

7. When you are halfway done with your meal, stop, put your fork down, take a few deep breaths and notice where you are on the hunger scale.

8. If you are still physically hungry, allow yourself to eat more

9. When you are satisfied and full, put your fork down and put your food away for later.

10. Give yourself permission to get up from table and do something else.

11. Notice what you are feeling. Are you anxious? Do you want to eat more? Are you able to go about your business or are you obsessing about food?

12. If you’re still thinking about food, know that your body is no longer hungry, so you don’t need food. You need something else, but what might that be?

13. Sit with that feeling of wanting and allow yourself to go deeper. Sit down and write in a Journal about what you are experiencing. Allow that feeling of anxiety and the obsession with the food to pass right through you.

14. Continue having a mindful meal once a week to really help you tune in to both your emotional needs and your physical needs. It will help you to be more conscious about binge eating and emotional eating vs. eating for physical hunger. As you continue on your journey, you will begin to gain more control over how to satisfy your body with foods.



22Day Who Do You Attract

Into Your Life?

Whom Are You Attracting: Take a moment to think about the people in your life. In general, are they people who … Please others so they feel better themselves? Gossip? Lack a Love life? Don’t understand why things happen to them? Want revenge? Are angry and shout? Give freely? Make you laugh?

In your Journal, Create a list of who you are attracting into your life. Write down the 5 closest people to you; those you spend the most time talking to each week. Then describe their personality traits.

Assess whether these people reflect the characteristics you want in your own life. If not, you will have to develop the character traits in yourself in order to attract more like-minded people your way.



23Day

Understanding Your Boredom

Understanding Your Boredom: Use your Journal to answer the following questions.

1. Do you ever eat out of boredom?

2. When do you find that you are the most bored?

3. Do you think that you use boredom as a substitution for anything? If so, what is that?

4. How does eating when you’re bored hurt you?

5. Are there other ways that you can nurture yourself when you are bored? If so, what are they?

6. Are there other things that you can look forward to besides food? If so, what are they?



24Day

Say No to Negatives

No More Negatives: If you had a friend who was trying to lose weight, would you call her fat? Would you tell her she’s worthless and has no self-control? Would you point out that she probably always will be fat, just like her mother? Of course not, but chances are you’ve said those things—or worse—to yourself.

The self-talk of people who fail to lose weight is notoriously negative. They tend to have and express a negative view of themselves, a negative interpretation of current experiences, and a negative outlook on the future. What they don’t realize is that negative thinking is trapping them in their overweight bodies by programming their brains for failure.

Here’s How to Say No to Negatives:

• Guard against demeaning words and phrases. When a derogatory statement about yourself forms in your brain, say firmly, “Stop!” or “Delete!”

• If this is a hard habit to break, wear a rubber band on your wrist and snap it to alert yourself that you are thinking negative thoughts

• Don’t focus on what you can’t do. People often complain that they “can’t stand” exercising or going without sweets. The fact is that you can stand almost anything. Remind yourself of your strengths every day. Say to yourself, “I can stand another ten minutes on the treadmill,”

• If you hear yourself say, “I can’t lose weight,” replace the statement with, “I plan to lose weight.”

• If you keep calling yourself fat or berate yourself for not having any willpower, write the thought on paper and shred it, burn it, or crumble and throw it away. This symbolic gesture will remind you to get rid of all the negative thoughts that creep into your head.

• Give yourself two positives for each negative. People remember negative comments far more than they remember positive ones. In order to counteract this, give yourself two positive compliments for every putdown. As an example, if you find yourself saying, “I’m such a loser,” remind yourself that you speak two languages or have a garden that is beautiful.



25Day

Energize Your Life

Energize Your Life. Have you been monitoring your energy level and identifying energizers and energy drains? When your energy falls, there is a tendency to reach for food, so keeping your energy high and balanced helps free you from emotional eating. Personal energy work begins with monitoring your energy and discovering your energizers and drains.

In your Journal, write down your Energy Drains: Those people, places or things that drain and deplete your energy levels. Now write your Energy Pick Me-Ups. Those things which cause you to feel more energized. Every time you feel your energy decreasing, do one of your Energy Pick Me-Ups.

Here are some examples of some Energy Pick-Me-Ups:

• Stand up. Allow your arms to make large figure eights. Now switch and go in the other direction. As you move your arms through the air, you are increasing your energy field, and you should be feeling more energized.

• Think of something that brings you joy. Imagine this joy moving through your body, into all your cells. Breathe in the joy.

• Laughter is very energizing. Read a text from someone who makes you laugh out loud.

• Clap your hands. Stand and give yourself applause. It is nice if someone else can do it for you; if not, do it for yourself.

• March in place—pick up those legs and swing your arms. Large muscle movement helps diminish stress and increases the flow of energy.

Today, be aware of the energy drains so you’re not blindsided by them. Assess your energy right now using a 0-10 scale with 10 being high. If you are below a 7 do one or more of the quick-energy pick-me-ups described above or one of the energizers from your own list. Reassess your energy level. Still too low? Continue trying other energizers until your energy is a 7 or higher and you feel enlivened. Get in the habit of monitoring your energy level and taking steps to build it before it dips too low. The lower your energy, the easier it is to succumb to emotional eating; the higher your energy, the easier it is to just eat for physical hunger.



26Day

Make Amends

Make Amends. After you have completed your day, assess who you wish you had acted or spoken to differently. Did you yell or curse somebody out? Did you show disgust towards someone? Write down who you need to make amends with in your Journal.

Make direct amends as soon as possible to those whom you identified as having harmed. Then the need for amends won’t pile up—you take care of them as soon as you discover they are needed. Again, the more you take responsibility by making amends and changing behaviors, the less often food calls your name. Remember emotional overload triggers emotional overeating.



27Day Being Uncomfortable

is the Best Way to Grow

Being Uncomfortable is the Best Way to Grow: I don’t really mind feeling uncomfortable. I recognize it as a sign that I am growing and learning. In fact, stepping out of my comfort zone can add energy and excitement to my work stimulating new thought and creativity. Sure I feel self-conscious, nervous and even inadequate at times when I am stretching, but I do it anyway. I firmly believe that all personal growth is dependent upon pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone.

Today we will make the more uncomfortable choice in every situation possible. In your Journal, write down all the ways that you will step out of your comfort zone.

Here are some examples: If you have the choice of going up with the elevator or climbing the stairs, choose climbing the stairs. If you have the choice to walk for lunch or dinner, please walk. If you park at a grocery store or strip mall, park the furthest spot away and walk in from there.



28Day

I Forgive You

I Forgive You: After completing your day, you may have found that you need to forgive someone for treating you wrong. Write down in your Journal who you need to forgive. Even if you don’t contact them, write down in your Journal that you forgive them for how they treated you. Do this as soon as possible. Continue to ask in your daily meditation, “Who do I need to forgive today?” Do you still need to forgive yourself?

Part of expelling negative, toxic emotions involves forgiveness, of yourself and others. Authors Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick discuss forgiveness in their book The Love Dare in the following terms:

“ Forgiveness doesn’t clear anyone of blame. It doesn’t clear their record with God. It just clears YOU of having to worry about how to punish them. When you forgive another person, you’re not turning them loose, but turning them over to God, who can be counted on to deal with them His way. You’re saving yourself the trouble of arguing and fighting. It’s not about winning and losing anymore. It’s about LETTING GO!”

Write down in your Journal who you need to forgive today and why. Then forgive and move on.



29Day

Food and Drink Don’t Run Me

Food and Drink Don’t Run Me: Say no to foods and drinks dictating to you what you put in your body. To get comfortable with the feeling of denial, i.e., saying NO to what your body wants, you will deny yourself something that you prefer eating today.

exercise: Deny yourself some food or snack that you truly desire and get comfortable with the feeling of denial. In your Journal, write down what you will deny yourself all day today.

Here’s an example: Do you like your tea with stevia? If you do, then for one whole week drink it without stevia. This exercise proves to you that you can control or change your habits, and this is inner strength.



30Day Express Gratitude

Towards Your Body

Express Gratitude Towards Your Body: The battle against your beautiful, healthy body ends here. Even if your body isn’t everything you want it to be, even if your health isn’t perfect, your body is well enough to serve you in many ways. Love your body as it is right now and be grateful to it. Although your true identity is as a spiritual being, your body allows you to experience joy here on earth.

Affirm I am strong and healthy. I am only attracted to food that’s good for me, that nourishes my wonderful body. Everything that I am resonates health and well-being. Try doing this while you walk because it will help you to be aware of your body’s strength as you put one sturdy foot in front of another. It’s especially important to love the parts of you that you don’t want to accept.

Here’s an exercise that will help you show gratitude for your body. You can do this before a meal to help you appreciate your body exactly as it is right now.

➾ Before a meal, take several deep, slow breaths.

➾ Focus on your body and what it feels like to inhabit it. Feel its strength.

➾ Imagine that your body has a voice. What does it sound like? Do different parts of your body sound differently or the same?

➾ Ask your body, What do you need? If you discover that any part of your body is in discomfort or pain, ask that part of your body to speak to you.

➾ What do you need from me? Listen to the answers. How are you feeling?

➾ Are you hungry right now? If you feel you want to change the food that is on your plate before you, do so. Then sit down again.

➾ Thank your body for sharing its wisdom with you.



Conclusion

I’ve discovered that the path to losing weight is a whole new way of thinking, living and relating to food and your body.

Reflect on which exercises were particularly difficult for you and put a check by them. You will want to continue those exercises every week to help you learn and grow.

Also, try to practice as many of these habits as possible to reinforce change and new habits that you can maintain for life.

Never hesitate to work on YOU as it is your fastest and most sustainable way to lose weight and keep it off.


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