It's New Years Eve - Do You Know Where You're Going?

Strange question I know.

A lot of people will be waking up today and will for the first time be thinking about New Year resolutions. Some will take a look at themselves in the mirror and decided they need to go on a diet. That will be the extent of their planning. They'll find a diet and come up with a number of some description about what they want to weigh or how much they want to lose.

I predict they are likely to fail over the longer term. That's quite sad becuase everyone who wants to lose weight for the right reasons should succeed. But they need to know how to succeed and having a plan is vital.

If you've woken up on New Years eve and given a diet some thought, my advice is not to go on the diet straight away if you've not planned your journey out. If you're thinking I've lost the plot, please just hear me out for a moment.

Would you rather start your diet on January 1st, pursue it relentlessly for a month or so and then fall off the wagon at the end? Or would you rather take a slightly slower start, plan exactly where you're going and keep succeeding while those around you are struggling and keep asking you what your secret is?

Now to me, the second one makes more sense.

What I'm suggesting is that you need to know what success looks like to you. You need to have a very clear picture in your head about what success in your diet will do for you, what it will mean for you and so on. The reason being is that you're going to take yourself, your body and your life in a very different direction to where it's been going over the last few years.

One of the things you therefore need to have is a clear picture of your new destination. This will help you to keep on track. It's not the only thing but it's a great start.

As I've suggested, dieting is a big change to your life. The food is one part of it. The tools and techniques to maintain it over the longer haul are the other key part but which too often get overlooked. They need working on to develop them. It's these things that help you when you're struggling. By learning them and developing them they'll help you over the long haul because they'll keep your head in the right place.

The diet industry is just beginning to acknowledge this fact. Get in on the new trend in dieting now. Keep coming back to this site because it's dedicated to your long term success by giving you what you need to get your head in the right place.

Better still sign up so I can keep you updated.

Here's to your long term weight loss success

Creating a Powerful Vision

One of the techniques that's really going to help you achieve diet success is getting your mind geared towards being successful. One of the ways to do that is to flood it with images of you being successful at your diet. One of the reasons behind this is that studies of how the brain works show that it cannot distinguish between imagined and the real thing. I'll create something more on this in the future, but for right now let's leave it with the assumption it works.

Anyway one of the things that can help is something called a vision board. I first heard about vison boards when I watched a film with John Assaraf. It was a tool he has used to great effect. In fact I found a short video of him on Larry King discussing it.

Here it is:



More on this very soon. For now just have a think about it.

Are You Ready for Your New Year Diet?

Well Christmas Day has come and gone and maybe some of you are thinking about the food you've eaten. Maybe at the same time you have half an eye to the New Year and have decided it's time to shift a few pounds. Some of you may have much more ambitious goals. One way or another you may have decided you're going to go on a diet in the New Year.

Firstly good for you! You want something better for yourself and you've decided that January 1st will be your start date.

January 1st is a very ambitious day to start. So many people begin dieting right in the middle of one of the biggest eating times in the calendar. So that makes this a huge challenge. In fact some experts will say that New Years day is the worst time to embark on implementing a New Years Resolution, especially a New Year Diet. It's like a junkie going cold turkey right in the middle of his most prolonged period of drug abuse.

So yes, it's a big challenge. But it's not impossible. In fact, done correctly it can be quite manageable. The essential difference between those who succeed and those who fail at their diets is not those who start on New Years Day and those who don't. No. The difference between success and failure is more often down to those who have their head in the right place and those who don't.

So many people underestimate the power of the brain in achieving success where their diet is concerned. Too many people think it's all about food. Food is a part of it. Exercise is a part of it. But what makes you refuse certain foods? What makes you get of your chair and take a walk? It's your brain! It creates the conversation in your head that either makes you carry on past the fast food place or makes you pull into the drive through. It creates the conversation that propels you out of your seat or makes you reach for the remote. Everything, including your exercise or food decisions come from your brain.

Well here's a revelation.

You can control those thoughts and the successful dieters are those that have controlled those thoughts. If you're thinking seriously about getting back on the diet wagon this New Year, your brain is going to be vital. Fortunately this blog is all about that. So come back because I've so much to tell you. If you've got a friend who's talking about it, send them the link to this page.

Here's the Proof.....

That your mind will work for you or against you.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you're on a diet, watching the food you put in your head (i.e. your thoughts) is as important as watching the food you put in your stomach. It's true that you absolutely have to get your head motivated to diet to take you through the tough parts that you will inevitably face. It's the positive self talk that spurs you on to greater things. If you leave your thoughts to chance, your thoughts will yo-yo and make it more likely that your diet will yo-yo as well.

In a recent post I noted that your thoughts will either work for you or against you. I've also mentioned that your brain is always working to create thoughts and emotions and so this working for you or against you is constant and ongoing. It's very important you understand this because its a very powerful process. I'm about to give you two very powerful examples of it in action. One where it worked for someone and one where it worked against them.

One of the people I'm going to talk a lot about is success guru Jack Canfield. I've got some great video of him in an upcoming post. For now I'm going to show you a tale he includes in his highly popular book - The Success Principles.

In his book he tells the tale of a guy in the back of a refrigeration truck, who gets trapped in the back of the truck just before everyone goes home and no-one is due to return for a few days. Unfortunately the man dies and it appears he has died from the effects of hypothermia from being locked in the refrigerated truck. As the story goes he leaves he wife a note, telling her how cold he is and how much he loves her.

Now there are no surprises to this story man dies of hypothermia in a freezer truck, are there. Well there's one. The cooling unit on the truck hadn't worked for some time and the ambient temperature over the few days he was in there weren't low enough to cause the man to die. Yet he did die. The letter he left talked about the cold that simply wasn't there. It seems in his mind he had created a situation where he believed it to be cold enough to kill him, based on where he was - and it did kill him.

The other story is of Morris Goodman. Morris is also known as the miracle man. Morris was involved in a crash in his light aircraft. His injuries were so extensive that he was paralysed from the neck down, unable to speak and unable to breath without assistance. Doctors told Morris he would be this way for the rest of his life. They even told him he would be a vegetable.

As part of his therapy they taught Morris to communicate by blinking his eyes. Morris told them he would walk out of hospital by Christmas day which nobody believed, such was the damage.

We know this because Morris can now speak and he tells his story after walking from hospital on Christmas day after defying known medical science.

Morris will tell you that after his accident, he had no working body. The only thing he had was his mind. He used his thoughts to first get his breathing back and went on from there.

I've deliberately picked these two stories because what happened to the two people in them is impossible. How do you die of hypothermia when it isn't cold enough to get hypothermia? How do you go from being so profoundly disabled, with a severed spinal cord yet walk out of hospital on the day you say you will.

Its impossible isn't it?

Well it seems not. The other reason I've picked these two stories is that there is evidence around them about the role their mind played. The hypothermia victim from the note and Morris' own words. One has had a positive effect and one has had a negative effect.

What is clear is that your body will work either for you or against you and that you choose which it will be.

Spreading the word

The information on this blog is a vital step in achieving real long term weight loss success. As a result the more people that can benefit from it the better.

If you've got a friend that might benefit, please e-mail them the link.

I'm also using Technorati to help spread the word far and wide.

Technorati Profile

Why Do I Keep Saying....

That I'm going to talk more about this or that in future posts?

There are actually several reasons for it.

Firstly some of the things I'm writing about I could go on a lot more about. Trouble is I would get writers cramp and you would have so much to read you would get a headache if you hadn't got so bored beforehand.

I deliberately try to keep in short to try and give you just enough to think about.

Secondly some of this stuff is very new to some people. They don't see the role their brain plays in their everyday life so I need to introduce it at a speed people can cope with. Too much and they become overwhelmed. I don't want to overwhelm anyone. I want them to succeed at their weight loss program. Getting your mind right is a life turning event. Remember when you learned something new at school, it was introduced slowly so you could grasp bits before you moved on.

Thirdly I want you to just think about what I've told you. I want you to take time to digest what I'm saying.

Fourthly, some of what I'll be saying will seem like its being repeated and that's deliberate for this reason. Every person processes information slightly differently. Different people react to different things.

Take dogs for example. Some people smile when they see a dog because they see them as fluffy adorable pets. Some people hate dogs. Maybe they knew a smelly dog, maybe they got bitten badly once. Some people are totally indifferent to dogs because they've got no real previous life experiences involving dogs.

Well words are the same. Sometimes you can say something and the words you use cause the people to see them as just words. Sometimes however you can use different words to make exactly the same point and they really strike a chord with the reader. These words really cause a person to change because their meaning really reaches them inside in a way other words haven't.

Well that's what I'm trying to do.

You're here because you want to genuinely lose weight. Either you're starting again or you want to go on a diet for the first time and thought a New Year diet would be a good idea. I want to hit home in a big way with you that getting your head in the right place is possibly the most fundamental thing you can do do to ensure your success. The way I do that is by trying to write in a way that reaches as many of you as possible so that you can take on board what I have to say to help you on the road to success.

To your long lasting diet success.

Your Mind Will Work For You Or Against You

If you've looked at some of the previous posts you will have seen the comments on the fact that there is a constant chit chat going on in your mind.

Basically what is happening is your brain never switches off. Even when you're asleep it's processing thoughts.

This idea of the brain never switching off is very important for those looking to lose weight by going on a diet. Whether it's a diet started today or a diet for the New Year it's important.

The reason it's important because if your mind is always working - it is always

either working for you or against you!!!

Think about it. It has to be one or the other. It can't be indifferent. It just doesn't work that way. So the thoughts and the conversations it's having are either helping you to succeed or they are working to make sure you fail.

Once you think about this and acknowledge it the understanding can have far reaching consequences for your life and your diet success.

If you're still not sure how this works, let me explain a little further. Your opinion of everything, your moods, your emotions - they all come from your mind. If you're on a diet, your mood and emotions particularly dictate how well you stick to your diet. If they are positive you tend to follow your diet. If they are negative, you justify why your biting into the huge slice of cake that's going to set you back.

So if your mind is always working, it's always going to do one or the other. Mostly it does a mixture. Some is positive, some is negative.

What you really want is as much positive as possible because it will make permanent weight loss more likely.

The great news is its not an accident which way your thoughts go. You can have more influence over them than you think. In fact its possible to totally control what thoughts you have. If that's the case the you can control your mind to be constantly be working in your favor.

Now that's some seriously good news!

Here's to your long term diet success.

You Are Always Making Choices

Here's something that so many people don't seem to realise but has a massive effect on our lives. If you're dieting or just trying to lose weight through other means you absolutely need to be aware of this thing.

YOU ARE ALWAYS MAKING CHOICES!

Everything you do is a choice. Your alarm goes off in the morning - do you get up or stay lying still? Do you go to work or stay at home? You do go to the fridge for food or not? Do you go for a walk / run or not?

Now some of you might be saying that you don't have a choice to go to work -you simply have to go otherwise you'll get fired. Well Yes and No. Of course if you don't go, you may well get fired. Especially if you just ring your boss and tell them you've decided not to come come in today because you don't want to.

But if you get right down to, there is a choice. You can simply not walk out the door. True there are consequences that may work against you as a result of that decision. But ultimately that decision comes from choosing. You choose to go.

It's another one of those almost invisible things. Some choices we take a long time to make. Others happen so fast that we don't see them as a choice. But there is point, no matter how quick or small that our brain receives a message and it asks itself a question:

"Do I do this or do I not do this"

Why am I telling you this?

Because once you're aware of what your brain is doing almost unconsciously you become aware that you have more control over your brain and therefore your life. You're not as helpless as you believe.

So many people have failed at diets that they start either in the New Year or at any point because they blindly go to the fridge to grab more food or beer or because they ask for that extra side of fries. What they haven't realised is that they have made a choice. It's not a good choice, but its one they made.

Once you're aware of your mind making these choices, you start to notice them in action and they're not as invisible as you might have first thought. It's like buying a red Ford Mustang and noticing red Ford Mustangs seemingly everywhere. It's just that your mind has tuned into them.

I'm going to talk about this kind of thing more in future posts, but for right now have a think about how your mind makes choices. Think about things you do and what the other options could be. Don't censor them by saying "I couldn't possibly do that". Just acknowledge that there are other choices you could follow. Right now I just want you to become aware of this process in everything you do.

The Constant Chit Chat in Your Mind

Here's something we know is there but we don't acknowledge it.

There is a constant stream of chit chat going on in your mind. It's incessant. It's always there. It's ongoing and its virtually never ending.

Whether you like it or not, it's there and it will keep on going. Basically you can't turn it off. At the end of the day it's you talking to - well you!

The trouble is, we often just let it drone on. This voice is so much a part of our lives that we almost forget that it's there. Sometimes we acknowledge it but do so almost with a shrug of our shoulders and the thought that there's nothing we can do about it.

The real problem is we don't often think about what it is and what it's saying. Because we believe we're so helpless in stopping it we don't clue in to what this voice really is.

As a result: We fail to realize that we do have some control over it

We often think that the voice is us talking to ourselves. That's only part of the story. It's actually our assumptions and habits talking to us. It's also the messages that our friends and families have drilled into us over the years. Every time they talk to us we take it in and eventually it gets added to the language of this tape machine playing constantly in our mind.

I guess your question (quite rightly) is "so what?" and also "what's this got to do with me being successful at losing weight this time"

The voice controls how you think either about everything or about certain things. It could be saying "You don't really need that extra piece of Pizza - have some water instead. It's okay you can refuse it" It could be saying "oh here we go. You know you don't want the pizza, but you're going to grab it aren't you? Jeez have you no self control? It's no wonder to can't stick to a diet".

What it says dictates (and I mean dictates) how you feel about yourself. And how you feel about yourself controls your level of success or failure, especially when you're changing your behavior in areas like diet.

So firstly I want you to acknowledge that the voice is there. Secondly I want you to listen to what it's got to say. Listen to the words it's using. Is it telling you you're fantastic or is it picking holes in everything you do? Is it using different words depending on what you're doing and how does it talk to you when you're thinking about your diet or setting New Year resolutions.

Don't worry I'm going to go over this some more so you can learn to change the voice in your head to help you.

Be Prepared to be Honest with yourself

I remember once being in an office listen to some people having a conversation. It wasn't about anything in particular as it seemed to cover a variety of subjects. The bit that stuck most in mind was when one of them said

"I can't work out why I'm not losing any weight"

Seems a fair enough comment except for the fact that she had just taken a bite out of a huge bar of chocolate.

It would have been rude to point out what seemed to everyone else to be obvious. Like so many people she's not alone.

Many people fight to lose weight, even though they seem to be obviously dieting. In fairness to this person, the reason was genuine invisible to them. I think it's also genuinely invisible to so many people who want to lose weight but don't seem to be enjoying success.

When I've talked to people for whom this is a problem they tell me they're counting calories, they're doing this and that. They're talking the lifestyle of the motivated dieter and it sounds great. However, when I spend any time with them I see totally different behavior. Portion sizes are bit larger than ideal, a quick snack here and there, cleaning up their own plates followed by picking the best bits from their child's plate (well can't have it going to waste can we)

What they say they're doing and what they're actually doing day to day are totally opposite to each other.

It's actually heartbreaking because for many, despite their actual behavior I think they actually believe their actions reflect their words, even though its clear they're doing the exact opposite.

I'll bet we've all seen this from people we know.

As I mentioned on the very first post in this blog, getting your head in the right place is absolutely vital to being successful in losing weight permanently. It's what this blog is all about.

To do that you need to be prepared to work on your mind. To make sure it's geared to help you succeed and to stay motivated, you need to know the best techniques that you can use every day. Get your mind on side and it will make lasting success at losing weight so much more likely. Get this right and you'll be so far ahead of every other dieter it's untrue.

What you therefore need to do in taking the first step is be prepared to be honest with yourself. Absolutely cold hard honesty. I'm not talking about beating yourself up. In fact I want you to learn to be positive with yourself. But honesty is what you need to take on board.

If you're going to lie to yourself, you're setting yourself up for failure from the outset. You'll be working against diet success from day one. The end result will be failure and you'll be setting another New Year Resolution to lose weight next Jan 1st.

So if you genuinely and truly are serious about losing weight, get ready to be honest with yourself. It's what truly successful people do. They don't beat themselves up. But, if they haven't done all they could do, they acknowledge that and determine to make it right next time.

Now this sounds a bit harsh but actually it's one of the most liberating things you can do. Once you start being honest with yourself, other things start to fall into place. Once you start being truly honest with yourself is the point you stop being afraid of yourself. And once you stop being afraid of yourself, you start to understand very clearly what steps you can take to work towards your success.

We're going to come back to this some more later as I'll go over the various principles time and time again so they become part of your everyday thinking.

But for now, just make a mental note that you'll prepare to be honest with yourself ready for your journey to losing weight forever.

Do You Really Want to Lose Weight?

Have you thought about any New Year resolutions yet? As it's only November, probably not. If I ask you do you normally put "go on a diet" somewhere in your list of New Year resolutions - would the answer be yes?

If the answer is yes, do you decide to start a diet on January 1st pretty much each year? How many times have you started the diet only to fall into the old routines?

The reason I'm asking all these questions is because I reckon you're part of a very large group of people who experience the same problem in their efforts to lose weight. I believe so many people want to lose weight but they struggle to really get going. They struggle to make lasting changes that come from staying on a diet.

It's not as straightforward as people might think. Many people who go on a diet and fail, can't always see exactly why they went wrong. On the flip side, people who go on a diet and succeed can't always say exactly why this time worked when other efforts have failed.

If you have tried diets to lose weight before and have failed I may be able to help. Why? Because I think I know what's missing from so many of you who really want to lose weight forever.

It's this - Is Your Head in the Right Place?

To me, most diets have a book telling what food to eat and what food not to eat and when to eat or not eat. There's a chapter missing though from virtually every diet book. To me, that missing chapter should be the first chapter in every single diet book and course anywhere on earth.

That chapter is about your mind. Without your mind being ready to get into a diet, stay there and keep you motivated you run the risk of failing. Think about it. You've spent so many years engaging in one set of behaviors that they've become a habit. To try and change them on New Years Day can be setting yourself up for failure. Going on a diet at any point can be a big change, never mind jumping in on Jan 1st.

Very simply, your brain controls everything (and I do mean everything) in your life. From putting one foot in front of the other to controlling the emotions that run through your day.

To succeed at losing weight by dieting, whether at New Year or any other time, your mind needs to be set up to succeed.

AND THIS IS THE PLACE TO GET YOUR HEAD RIGHT FOR SUCCESS.

This site exists for one simple reason. To get your head where it needs to be to succeed with any diet you choose to follow.

I recently spoke with someone who wanted to lose weight a few years back. Having gone on a diet, my very good friend went on to lose all the weight she planned and has succeeded in keeping it off. She hasn't starved herself and still goes in for some of the food she really loves. But that isn't the important part. The important part is what she told me about why this time was different from other efforts that she had made.

What she said was This time her head was in the right place

This site will exist solely to get your head where you really need it to give you the best possible chance for successful, permanent weight loss.

In recent years, scientists have a better understanding of the brain and how it works. Recently techniques have been discovered that have meant virtually anyone can change their behaviors by changing how they think. Through this they can achieve lasting changes in their thoughts. Better still - it's not rocket science. I've included some links to other sites about those techniques in the links section.

I'm also going to keep posting here to show you other things you can use every day to ensure maximum success. So please keep coming back and if you like what you see, tell your friends about the site.

Here's to your diet success

Ed Thomas.