Affirmations For Weight Loss - Shed Those Extra Pounds Using The Power Of Your Mind
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Introduction
When we work towards a goal of losing weight, we all too often self sabotage our progress. This is because our stated intentions conflict with the idea we have of ourselves (our self concept).
We may say to ourselves and others that we desire a healthy change in our life. But if deep down we feel that we’re doomed to be forever unhealthy and out of shape, we’ll soon latch on to any excuse to throw in the towel when the going gets tough.
To increase our chances of success, we need to change our self concept. To do this, we need to change our patterns of thinking.
There are many methods we can use to achieve this, such as hypnotism, visualization and the reciting of affirmations. But in this article, we’ll focus exclusively on affirmations.
Not only will we give you a list of affirmations that you can use right away, we’ll also show you how to create your own affirmations.
You’ll also learn a super effective technique for planting them in your subconscious.
List of affirmations for weight loss
Here is a short list of ready-made affirmations. The best approach is to pick just one and commit it to memory.
I am overwhelmed with joy after achieving my ideal body weight.
Staying lean and healthy is easy for me.
I have achieved my ideal body weight and I’m feeling great.
Everyday, I am getting leaner, fitter, healthier and happier.
I love eating healthy foods and thoroughly enjoy exercise.
I am lean, healthy and feeling great.
Healthy living comes naturally to me.
I am slim, healthy and full of vitality.
I am slim, healthy and feeling great.
My healthy habits are changing me for the better.
How to make your own affirmations
There is much debate over how best to structure affirmations. Some people prefer to write an affirmation that affirms a goal as if it was a present state of reality.
For example, instead of “I am getting slimmer”, they would instead write the affirmation as “I am slim”.
But this isn’t strictly necessary. Actually, there are no rules as such, just guidelines.
So any advice you hear shouldn’t be taken as the final word on the matter — and that includes this article.
However, in the spirit of providing useful guidelines, this author suggests that you affirm the positive in your affirmations rather than denying the negative.
For example, instead of “I have no unhealthy habits” you would write “All my habits are healthy”. Or instead of “I avoid unhealthy foods”, you would write “I enjoy eating healthy foods”.
Whether you decide to write your affirmation as something that has already happened or something that is in the process of happening is up to you.
The best way to recite an affirmation
While you can recite your affirmation at any time during the day, the consensus is that the best time to do so is while drifting off to sleep (the hypnagogic state) and just after waking up (the hypnopompic state).
This is because the brain is more receptive during these periods and puts up less of a rational defense that undermines our efforts. It is also recommended to pick just one affirmation instead of a list of them.
This was the advice of Emile Coue, The French pharmacist and self-hypnosis pioneer who popularized a very powerful method of auto suggestion in his book Self mastery through conscious autosuggestion.
This method involved tying twenty knots in a piece of string (something like prayer beads could also be used) and, just before drifting off to sleep, repeating the affirmation “Everyday, in every way, I am getting better and better” twenty times.
The same process would be repeated first thing in the morning, in the moments just after waking up.
While Coue used a very broad affirmation that he believed covered all bases, the same method can be used with a more specific affirmation.
Here’s how…
- Simply create your own affirmation — or, alternatively, use one of the one’s above or one you found elsewhere.
- While lying down, repeat your affirmation at least twenty times, slowly, in the morning upon awakening and again at night just before drifting off to sleep.
- Say your affirmation with enthusiasm. Feel as best you can that your goal has already been reached, but don’t strain yourself.
The following video gives a quick summary of Coue’s method:
(By the way If you don’t want to say your affirmations aloud, that’s ok. You can mentally recite them instead while moving your lips in sync to the affirmation.)
Do they work
The short answer is yes, but a lot will depend on other factors, such as how often you repeat your affirmations, and when you repeat them.
Studies have been done on affirmations with encouraging results [1].
But ultimately, you need to test them for yourself. They’re easy to do and take up very little time. So you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
The best self experiments are the ones with little downside and a massive potential upside.
A quick word of warning
Affirmations on their own are never a substitute for real world action. Rather, they facilitate change by making us more likely to take the actions needed to reach our goals. By changing our self concept, we are more likely to take the necessary actions to lose weight.
So whatever you do, don’t avoid doing the actual work.
Conclusion
Affirmations are very powerful. While there’s no “right way” to write and recite an affirmation, there are useful guidelines that many people swear by that will maximize their effectiveness.
Pick an affirmation, either by writing it yourself or picking one you find online, and recite it in the morning, at spare moments during the day and just before you drift off to sleep.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4814782/