February 2009 - What Does It Take To Lose The Weight?

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Are you like many who are trying to lose the holiday weight, or perhaps losing the weight you’ve piled on for too long? Have you tried pills and fad diets not to get anywhere? Have you reduced the amount of food you’re eating, and still haven’t lost weight?

Here’s the simple truth and a straight forward formula for losing the weight. It starts with self-education. People often come in my office to lose weight using hypnosis. Hypnosis is a powerful tool to help your body release the weight and stop unhealthy food habits.

However, when it comes to losing the weight, nothing is more empowering than knowledge and knowing what it takes to gain or lose a pound. It’s about self-responsibility for what you’re actually eating.

Fact 1: You have a set-point or a maintenance point calorie wise. That set point is based on your height, your age, your current weight and your activity level. If you eat that amount of calories day in and day out, you will neither gain nor lose weight.

To discover what your set point is, there are several websites online where you can input your statistics and it will give you an estimate of how many calories your body burns to maintain your weight. Your doctor can give you a more accurate reading, but this is accurate enough to give you a helpful estimate.

Fact 2: It takes 3,500 calories eaten or not eaten over any length of time to either gain a pound, or lose a pound. If you eat 500 calories more than your set-point or maintenance level, you will gain 1 pound every 7 days, or 4 pounds a month. (500 calories  x 7 days = 3,500 calories) Like wise, if you eat 500 calories less than your set-point or maintenance level, you will lose 1 pound every 7 days, or 4 pounds a month.

Granted, counting calories is tedious, but if you try it, at least for a few days, to find out why you’re not losing the weight, you will find it a most eye-opening experience. There are many good food calorie charts on line. If you do try this, write down everything!

Here’s one site that lists quite a few foods alphabetically:
https://whatscookingamerica.net/NutritionalChart.htm

If you want to know calories plus detail about the nutritional content of what you’re eating, try:
https://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-004000000000000000000-2.html?&freetext=Foods
and enter the category of food in the drop down menu at the top and it will take you to that page.

If you can’t find a particular food on these lists, simply go to Google or your favorite search engine and type in the name of the food and add the word “calories” to the search.

Other quick facts:

• With each decade as we age, we need 100 fewer calories per day.
• The biggest amount of calories are hidden in the oils you cook with or add to your salad dressings, as well as sauces.
• Many packaged foods give you the calorie count, but watch out. When it says: 100 calories per serving, check out how many servings are in that package. If you’re eating the whole package, or what they call 3 servings, you’ve just eaten 300 calories.
• Stay away from soda pop and sugary drinks. Don’t drink your calories. Drink unsweetened tea and or water.
• Drink lots of water. People who are dehydrated will often mistake thirst for hunger. Some people don’t even know when they’re thirsty. Believe it or not, some signs of thirst are: poor memory, headaches, and fatigue. When some people experience these symptoms, they often eat instead of drinking the water their body really needs. Test your hunger by drinking water first and see what happens to your perception of hunger.
• Eat a low calorie healthy breakfast. That will actually jump start your metabolism. If you go too long between meals, your metabolism slows down.
• Make it a rule to not eat after dinner.
• Choose high fiber foods and complex carbohydrates as they will keep you full longer. Stay away from refined sugary junk foods.
• If you eat less than what you need to maintain your weight, you WILL LOSE WEIGHT!

If you resolved to lose the weight this year, also consider the powerful tool of hypnosis. It can help you stay away from junk foods, help you to fill up quicker on less food, actually crave healthier foods, create motivation to stick with it and to powerfully suggest to your unconscious mind that you are losing the weight. Your body and behavior will mirror what ever your unconscious mind believes to be true. This is your year!

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