Are you as dedicated to dieting as an Olympian is to their sport?
Lutalo Muhammad was chosen to represent GB in the taekwondo event of the 2012 Olympics over the then world’s number one Aaron Cook. Despite being abused on social media by those who thought Cook should have been picked, he had what most would consider a successful Olympics, taking home the bronze medal. He worked hard over the next four years and tried to improve. Despite suffering injuries in the past twelve months he was again picked to represent GB. This time he improved, medal wise anyway, taking home a silver. He was however immensely disappointed with silver. He had worked hard and had set his sights on the big one, the gold. Leading the scoring until the last second when a kick to the head gave his opponent enough points to cruelly snatch the gold. Lutalo was visibly upset, you could say distraught, four years of hard work gone because of one kick in the last second of the final. Now you could say he got silver, that’s a success but I understand why he was upset. The goal he had set himself was gold and he almost made it. Something tells me though that he’ll keep working hard and will be back for the next Olympics and I wish him well in his endeavours and look forward to seeing him achieve his dream in Tokyo. Of course he isn’t the only Olympian to be this dedicated to his sport. Even those with little chance of winning any medal will have lives dominated by their sport and training.
If losing weight was an Olympic sport would you be picked? If you spend your life as dedicated to dieting as top athletes are to their sport you need to change the way you’re trying to change. In the same way an athlete will change the way they train if it’s not working do you need to change the way you’re “training” to be thin? Diets don’t work! You start a diet lose weight initially, then the weight stops coming off, your subconscious convinces you to stop, it may convince you it’s not working, you stop and the weight goes back on. After a few repeats of this cycle you not just put the weight back on but extra, because your subconscious thinks it’s a famine and surplus cycle. So what should you do?
Working with a hypnotherapist like myself you can make the changes that will bring about lasting change and weight loss. If you’re over eating there is a reason a hypnotherapist can identify that reason and nullify it. They can help keep you motivated to exercise regularly and agree on manageable goals. Athletes like Lutalo Muhammad may decide early in their sporting career that they want Olympic gold but they set their sights lower to begin with. Start by wining club tournaments building to local area, national and then on to international and Olympics. There is no point saying I want to lose 3 stone in a week. It’s not possible, keep your goals achievable. Keep them SMART; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. So a good goal would be 2lb a week. As the weeks pass this 2lb builds into a stone, then another one until you finally hit your end target. Your goal maybe to get fit. Your initial goal may be to run the length of your street, then a mile, then two and eventually a marathon. Start small, build big. Be that Olympian weight loss champion and become as slim again.