I've been gaining and losing the same 15 lbs. for 4 years. There is a Bible verse where God is talking to the Israelites and He says, "You've circled around this mountain long enough. Now turn and head north." That's how I feel, I'm tired of circling the mountain of weight loss and I want to turn and head south on the scale.
I have 2 things going on in my head about this weight struggle.
#1: I've been reading some amazing books about economics to my kids (by Richard Maybury). The one we are reading is all about paradigms. Paradigms are mental pictures of how the world works. We have a lot of faith in our paradigms. They are how we think, the way we understand how the world works. As we go through life we build these very complex pictures in our minds of how the world works, and we constantly refer back to them, matching incoming data against our paradigms. It's how we make sense of things. We sort incoming data to decide if it's important or not. I think our paradigms are what we believe, deeply rooted in our unconscious mind. I am thinking that our paradigms that relate to ourselves, to food and to exercise are faulty and that we need a paradigm shift in our thinking before we will see changes in our behavior (permanent weight loss). The Bible says that God uses the word of God to transform our minds. I think that reading the Bible alters your paradigm in a deep way, and so our behavior is transformed as our subconscious is altered into a Bible-centered paradigm shift. In the same way, I think we need to have a paradigm shift to alter our eating/ exercising behavior in a permanent way. It's one thing to know a lot of facts, it's another to embrace them so completely that they are part of your subconscious belief system/ paradigm. The best way to have a paradigm shift is through experience, the next best is through a word picture or story that you can relate to on an emotional level (maybe reading/ watching weight loss success stories), the worst way is by just reading.
#2 The second thing I've been thinking about is pretty much the same as #1, but it was coming at me from a different direction, at the same time as that economics book, and it was the Gabriel method. Jon Gabriel lost over 200 lbs by doing 2 things. One was to make sure he had omega 3's (in flax or chia), protein (in whey), and real food (lettuce, veggies, fruit, etc) every day. He didn't diet, he just added these things in and eventually started craving good foods and feeling satisfied with less. The other thing he did was that paradigm shift I was talking about. He used brainwave music and imagined himself thin and healthy and strong before bed and when he woke up. There is a lot of evidence that your body can actually change in response to what you are thinking. He mentions a man who had an x-ray and a spot was found in his lung and he was given 6 months to live. He died in 6 months. When they were packing away his things, they found an x-ray that was 20 years old, with the same spot in his lung. It hadn't changed, but his belief that he would die is what changed and it was a self-fulfilling prophesy.
So... I have been trying to change my eating/weight related/ exercise related paradigm by listening to recordings people have made for that purpose.... trying to change from the inside out. I recorded myself reading the Bible verses from the back of the Made to Crave book, all verses to help you with weight loss. I listen to some of the Gabriel method visualizations. I found some on youtube that I like and I used an ipod's voice memo to record them so I could listen to them on my ipod while I'm doing my daily chores.
Another thing I've been hearing about is tapping for weight loss. From a Christian standpoint, it sounded to me like something weird, but I think tapping can be another way to help change your paradigm about different things. It's adding truth to the senses, so you internalize it better.
Well, these things aren't well thought out in my mind yet, but I'm sharing my thinking process. This isn't an instant weight loss idea, but hopefully it will be a permanent one.
I uploaded the audio of myself that I listen to as I try to change my paradigm concerning eating and exercise. It is on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsCnBblGUmc
Other ones that I listen to every day are these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jFF8B082gc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi-eYgnAKkQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvzk8GF62dU
You can get a free upload of the Gabriel Method Evening Visualization here: http://www.thegabrielmethod.com/freecd
It is meant for people who have the book, but I've heard him on his podcast, always telling people to upload it for free, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you upload it without buying the book. I really enjoy it and listen to it morning and evening if I can.
I recorded the youtube ones on an ipod under "voice memos" and then downloaded it onto iTunes so I can just listen to them on my ipod nano. I can't find a way to share only audio with you, so the websites I got them from is the best I can think of.
I have 2 things going on in my head about this weight struggle.
#1: I've been reading some amazing books about economics to my kids (by Richard Maybury). The one we are reading is all about paradigms. Paradigms are mental pictures of how the world works. We have a lot of faith in our paradigms. They are how we think, the way we understand how the world works. As we go through life we build these very complex pictures in our minds of how the world works, and we constantly refer back to them, matching incoming data against our paradigms. It's how we make sense of things. We sort incoming data to decide if it's important or not. I think our paradigms are what we believe, deeply rooted in our unconscious mind. I am thinking that our paradigms that relate to ourselves, to food and to exercise are faulty and that we need a paradigm shift in our thinking before we will see changes in our behavior (permanent weight loss). The Bible says that God uses the word of God to transform our minds. I think that reading the Bible alters your paradigm in a deep way, and so our behavior is transformed as our subconscious is altered into a Bible-centered paradigm shift. In the same way, I think we need to have a paradigm shift to alter our eating/ exercising behavior in a permanent way. It's one thing to know a lot of facts, it's another to embrace them so completely that they are part of your subconscious belief system/ paradigm. The best way to have a paradigm shift is through experience, the next best is through a word picture or story that you can relate to on an emotional level (maybe reading/ watching weight loss success stories), the worst way is by just reading.
#2 The second thing I've been thinking about is pretty much the same as #1, but it was coming at me from a different direction, at the same time as that economics book, and it was the Gabriel method. Jon Gabriel lost over 200 lbs by doing 2 things. One was to make sure he had omega 3's (in flax or chia), protein (in whey), and real food (lettuce, veggies, fruit, etc) every day. He didn't diet, he just added these things in and eventually started craving good foods and feeling satisfied with less. The other thing he did was that paradigm shift I was talking about. He used brainwave music and imagined himself thin and healthy and strong before bed and when he woke up. There is a lot of evidence that your body can actually change in response to what you are thinking. He mentions a man who had an x-ray and a spot was found in his lung and he was given 6 months to live. He died in 6 months. When they were packing away his things, they found an x-ray that was 20 years old, with the same spot in his lung. It hadn't changed, but his belief that he would die is what changed and it was a self-fulfilling prophesy.
So... I have been trying to change my eating/weight related/ exercise related paradigm by listening to recordings people have made for that purpose.... trying to change from the inside out. I recorded myself reading the Bible verses from the back of the Made to Crave book, all verses to help you with weight loss. I listen to some of the Gabriel method visualizations. I found some on youtube that I like and I used an ipod's voice memo to record them so I could listen to them on my ipod while I'm doing my daily chores.
Another thing I've been hearing about is tapping for weight loss. From a Christian standpoint, it sounded to me like something weird, but I think tapping can be another way to help change your paradigm about different things. It's adding truth to the senses, so you internalize it better.
Well, these things aren't well thought out in my mind yet, but I'm sharing my thinking process. This isn't an instant weight loss idea, but hopefully it will be a permanent one.
I uploaded the audio of myself that I listen to as I try to change my paradigm concerning eating and exercise. It is on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsCnBblGUmc
Other ones that I listen to every day are these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jFF8B082gc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi-eYgnAKkQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvzk8GF62dU
You can get a free upload of the Gabriel Method Evening Visualization here: http://www.thegabrielmethod.com/freecd
It is meant for people who have the book, but I've heard him on his podcast, always telling people to upload it for free, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you upload it without buying the book. I really enjoy it and listen to it morning and evening if I can.
I recorded the youtube ones on an ipod under "voice memos" and then downloaded it onto iTunes so I can just listen to them on my ipod nano. I can't find a way to share only audio with you, so the websites I got them from is the best I can think of.