Mental Rehearsal - Visualize Yourself A Winner At Weight Control
Andrea Amador

You can lose more weight each week and enjoy a greater degree of
success by adding the tool of Mental Rehearsal to your toolbox.
Since the mind and body are one system, your mind can help you to
prepare your body for the actual situation in which you want to
behave or act in a certain way. This is a technique that is
practiced by all top performers in every field. Just like an
athlete prepares for an olympic event or a public speaker
prepares for a presentation, you can apply these principles to
weight control.

The first step is to choose a specific situation where you want
to respond in a more resourceful way. It is said that the mind
can not tell the difference between a vividly imagined thought
and reality.

The purposoe of this is to be able to see yourself in a more
resourceful way. Let's take the situation of celebrating a
holiday with extended family. The following strategy is what I
have used in the past with great success. I have broken it up
into 2 parts, the first part is what you can physically do to
prepare for the event, the next is to mentally prepare using the
Mental Rehearsal. I also suggest that you combine this NLP
Process with the Emotional Freedom Technique that follows this
post for maximum impact.

Using the combination of all these methods, you will notice that
you are in control of the situation, feel strong and make good
choices. Even if you decide to splurge a bit, you will do it
from a point of choice, not unconscious behavior. This process
makes you conscious of what you are doing.

1. Focus on what you'll wear. Visualize what you want to see
yourself wearing that day, make sure that you wear something that
reminds you of your body. The object of doing this is actually
two fold. First it is to focus on something other than what you
are going to eat. When you arrive at a get together looking and
feeling great, whatever your weight, you will arrive with more
resources as opposed to looking like you just threw something
together. The second reason is to make you conscious of what you
are eating by being able to create a physical reminder for
yourself to limit your food intake by wearing something with a
tighter waist.

2. Get a bit more exercise throughout the week to balance out
this meal. Don't go nuts. Perhaps add another 10 minutes of
activity each day. The purpose of doing this is just to keep you
mentally in check and make you accountable to your choices. By
already investing extra time and more activity, you'll be less
likely to overeat to the point of misery.

3. Eat a small snack to keep your hunger under control. I tend to
favor low calorie comfort foods, like a bowl of soup another
thing that really works well for me is a packet of instant
oatmeal, I even travel with it and enjoy that on a plane along
with a cup of peppermint tea. It reminds me of being in my Nana's
(Grandma's) kitchen when I was a ittle girl. For that very same
reason, I eat it often to give me that sense of self nurtuing
that my inner child craves.

Your choice is probably different from mine but I am recommending
that you find a low calorie substitute to give you a sense of
being nurtured. It could be drinking broth, eating a bowl of
soup, eating a vegetable stew, a couple of slices of toast with
some jelly or some other thing that will fill a deeper need
inside of you, as opposed to just feeding your physical hunger.
Think about what you eat when you want to nurture youself when
you are sick and plan to eat that slowly and consciously.

The purpose of doing that is to be able to satisfy that part of
you that suffers from feelings of deprivation. It's that part of
your psyche that will reach out for food and seek that out as
comfort and lose control because of feeling so deprived. This way
you already begin to put in place an anchor of self love and
treating yourself with respect and honor. By eating something
that reminds you of being loved and safe, you will fill a deeper
hunger and you will arrive at the get together ready to engage
with people as opposed to seeing out food for comfort.

The following is the actual strategy for Mental Rehearsal.

1. Run a movie of the event in your mind Imagine seeing yourself
watching a movie of this event. Watch the image of yourself on
the screen as you arrive at your destination, see the image of
yourself and notice what you do when you feel satisfied after
enjoying a special nurturing snack that reminds you of a time
when you were comforted. Notice what evidence there is around you
showing that you are feeling secure and happy, connected to your
goals and seeing the bigger picture of how you respond to this
event as a thinner person. Continue to watch the movie and notice
yourself greeting people, and hearing yourself saying things that
you might want to say, focus on looking for the details around
you, visualize seeing yourself making wise choices, having fun,
enjoying everyone's company, laughing and being in control, then
going home and being satisfied and continuing the rest of the
evening feeling fully satisfied and in control and acknowledging
yourself for a job well done and seeing yourself waking up the
next day feeling proud and ready to begin your day feeling great
and strong.

2. After you finish watching the movie, step into it, and
rehearse your response in your imagination. Now see what you will
see from your own eyes and hear what you will hear, and tune into
your body and notice the sensations of how you feel and notice
what you are doing and how you are making choices and what
beliefs are driving those choices.

I think of this process like walking in the snow. It is so much
easier to tread on a spot where you already see a footprint.
This is what you are doing, you are setting down footrprints in
your mind and by rehearsing the events in your imagination,
you've already tread on that spot, in your mind, and achieved the
goal. You have already accomplished it. My nana always used to
say, "Once begun, half done." Remember to follow this technique
up with the next post describing how to use EFT with Mental
Rehearsal for maximum impact. Have fun!



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) 2006 Andrea Amador
Andrea Amador, The Juicy Woman, inspires women to live
juicy. Find out more about her new Get The Fat Out Of Your Head
ecourse by visiting her website. When you are working with
Andrea, be prepared to experience quantum change in your
life and get ready to rock your world. How much joy can you
stand? Call 845-371-0115 and visit http://www.thejuicywoman.com