YOUR WEIGHT LOSS MUSCLE

July 1st 2019, By Gilbert Quinones

What is a weight loss muscle?
Where is it?
How do I grow it?

Disclosure: Consult with your physician before changing your diet and starting any kind of weight loss initiatives. I am in no way stating or insinuating that I am a licensed dietician, doctor or other medical personnel and this article reflects only my personal opinions and observations.

• CONTROLLING THE MIND
• CONTROLLING THE DIFFERENT HUNGER PAINS
• THE KEY TO CONTROLLING YOUR MIND FOR THE HUNGER PAINS 

You may or may not already be aware, but we all have a muscle that’s more powerful and stronger than any diet, pill, or exercise machine on the market. We all have this one thing and it’s sitting right on top of your shoulders as your eyes are looking outside this muscle right now.

Okay, maybe it’s not an actual muscle but it’s our cognitive mental ability. Our mind, brain, attitude, call it whatever you like but it’s the mental strength of motivation that dictates whether we lose weight long term or not.

It’s not going to be easy and there are no hypnotic tricks that will make you accidentally start shedding pounds, however, if you take the time to grasp the concept of how mental strength can help you it will put you in a much better place to live healthy and have the body you want.

CONTROLLING THE MIND

Howard Hughes had an engineer and genius mind.

One of the things that was detrimental to his life in his later years was his OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) which eventually was a huge contributing factor to deteriorating his health.

Back in those days, doctors did not have a diagnosis for OCD nor did they understand exactly what it was.

Because Hughes had the financial resourcefulness to satisfy every compulsive urge he got, although, one would think it would make the problem better, was actually counterproductive.

For example, similar to when you have a physical itch you want to scratch, OCD can become a mental itch and the more you scratch the more it itches.

This resulted in Hughes repeating phrases of words until he said them perfectly as well as many other odd behaviors.

It has been said that if Hughes was alive today with the current understanding of OCD, given he had an engineer mind he would have understood and broken down what was happening to him and most likely would have gotten it under control.

We all may have experienced some kind some type of compulsive impulse growing up, whether it was walking home from school and always trying to make sure you stepped on the crack in the sidewalk or excessively checking if something is locked.

For me, till this day, my compulsion is wiping the “fake” dust off of my computer screen with the back of my fingers to ensure it’s clean and that I didn’t put moisture smears from my fingers. Sometimes the more I do it, it’s an itch that causes me to do it again. Finally, I stop myself and say, “don’t satisfy the itch” I can do this subconsciously without even noticing. But it’s the ability of knowing what’s going on in my brain that gets me to stop.

If Howard Hughes was alive today, he would have understood how the mind works and how they are like machines that we can control.

Unnecessary hunger is an itch as well and we often satisfying the craving, even when it’s not necessary. Many times we eat not because we are hungry but simply because we are satisfying the compulsion to always feel full.

This is a weight loss barrier that nearly anyone can easily break through. Once you begin to understand the compulsions you can control your mind so that you do not satisfy the counterproductive urge.

CONTROLLING THE DIFFERENT HUNGER PAINS

Hunger can be a counterproductive urge when it’s not necessary to eat.

There are three types of hunger pain levels.

1) Bored – “I want to eat because I’m bored. I want to satisfy an emotional feeling.”

2) Slightly Hungry – “I want to eat because I’m slightly hungry and I’m used to feeling full.”

3) Necessary To Eat – “Yo! I really do need food.”

Most people that have difficulty with weight loss usually eat at the 1 or 2 hunger levels. Once you begin understanding this and how your mind is reciprocating with your body you can start making sure your mind does not play tricks on you.

Instead, grab a glass of cold water and focus on something else that you enjoy.

Losing weight starts at controlling the above 1 & 2 hunger levels. Obese people can easily get caught up in #1. But if they take the time to educate the understanding of what’s going on in their minds, they can begin controlling these urges.

The majority of people get caught up in #2, however, it’s easy to get caught up in a combination of 1 and 2. We all have different things going on in our lives and while seeking balance can come easier for others, it’s starts with taking a step back to understand what is happening.

I like to view these types of hunger levels as part of the mind map trying to get to a destination. If you don’t have awareness of where you are at then it can be difficult to stay motivated on the journey. Sometimes looking at the map of progress and getting perspective is the key to staying motivated on the distance you travel.

Awareness of these hunger levels will help you stay in tune with your body so that you can begin controlling your appetite from unnecessary hunger.

THE KEY TO CONTROLLING YOUR MIND FOR HUNGER

SUBMERGE YOUR DISCOMFORT

Now it’s time to discuss the key to controlling the hunger level 1 and 2 from above. The initial discomfort of weight loss is similar to a cold water swimming pool.

Once submerged, you start to not feel it.

Imagine feeling the water with only your toes and the temperature is slightly below your comfort level.

You get your feet wet and think, “gosh this water is cold!”

Then you get in further and your body starts to adapt.

Before you know it, you can begin swimming and moving around and while having fun, you don’t even notice the cold anymore.

This is exactly what weight loss is like.

Hunger pains initially can be discomforting.

You just have to get used to the “temperature change” in your routine and once your body gets warmed up and you are having fun with it, you don’t even notice.

When you start your next “diet”, just think about the cold water swimming pool analogy. Not freezing temperature but the kind that when water is initially uncomfortable but tolerable once submerged.

Allow some time to pass. Once you get past the first few days of the slight hunger discomfort you will begin to forget what it’s like to always feeling stuffed.

Your body begins to adapt and rather than triggering it as a pain, you start to feel the discomfort as normal and then soon comfortable.

This is being in the zone and this is key to weight loss because just like a machine, your mind needs to gain the ability to control cravings.

It’s about getting warmed up and not feeling the pain because eating a little less each day becomes complacent as a normal feeling.

In time, the initial period that it begins to hurt soon diminishes and something during this period begins happening.

Your new lifestyle begins to create feelings that are better than feelings food will ever give back to you.

Similar to submerging into our cold water pool, losing weight starts generating compliments and reactions that reinforces our motivation.

There is a feeling you will get when looking in the mirror as you begin shedding pounds. Some things in life help us to smile instantly. Whether it’s watching our children’s achievements, getting a pat on the back from someone we respect or being acknowledged by someone we love.

These can all easily bring a natural instantaneous smile to our face. When you look in the mirror and are instantly shocked by the results of your new discipline, this is going to help you crack that instantaneous smile and stay encouraged on your journey.

NO food will ever give you the feeling you get from getting compliments, looks of attraction from others and sense of pride of your identity about the way you look. Feeling energized to take on life is an amazing feeling that easily begins to dwarf the initial phases of discomfort.

Here’s to happy shedding and the start to cracking that instantaneous smile when you look in the mirror.

Take your body back, it’s yours.

..and grow “your” weight loss muscle.

Points to Remember:

• Realize nobody else is in control but you. Don’t scratch the itch of the counterproductive urge of unnecessary hunger.
• Get in tune with your body of when and why you are eating on the different types of hunger urges.
• Understand how you can control the discomfort and how it will get easier with time and how the benefits will outweigh the discomfort.