Stay focussed for weight loss this Christmas!

Of course they're obvious!  Of course you've heard it all before!  

But here's the list of tips to help you get through the holiday season anyway - just give it a quick read as a reminder! 

Hints and Tips for Christmas and The New Year

    

       1.  Buy healthy snacks for times when you’re going to be too busy to cook.

       2.  Plan your eating.  If you’re busy rushing around the shops or wrapping presents yourself time to eat

      3.  If you’re eating alone make it a salad!

      4.  If you have a big meal (and a pudding) skip the next meal or reduce the size of it dramatically! If you’re used to having your main mean at night then a big meal at lunchtime will probably see you through to breakfast the next day!

     5.   It’s ok to skip a meal if you’re having brunch and a main evening meal!

      6.   Drink plenty of water to avoid tiredness, headaches, general bad tempers – and hangovers!

     7.    If you are drinking alcohol have a glass of water in between each alcoholic drink – and start with water, after all it’s going to go down fast as the first drink is usually about thirst!

    8.     Don’t worry about how many calories you eat in a day – just make sure you balance a week’s calories and you won’t put on weight.

    9.    Don’t weigh yourself between Christmas and New Year – leave it until mid January when you’re “back to normal”. Or if you’re one of those lucky people taking a holiday over Christmas or in January enjoy it! Get on the scales a week after you get back.

   10.   Enjoy the holidays – get out and about.  Get some fresh air and exercise

         This is two weeks of your life. Don’t let it change your goals

 Believe me, you will be the size and shape you want to be...deserve to be!

Merry Christmas!

Stoptober #fail?

Have you been trying really hard during October not to drink alcohol? Or maybe you've been trying really hard to stop smoking?

Are you "dying for Sunday" when you can drink or smoke again?

Why is it SO HARD to stop smoking?  Is it because it's SO ADDICTIVE?  Or because you're SO WEAK?  NO!!!!

It's because you taught your unconscious mind an automatic habit and it's job is now to KEEP DOING IT!!

It's the same principle as driving.  You learn and at first it's hard, you make mistakes (crash the gears, crash the car!) and then it just "clicks".  Now you can do it.  Now you can drive.  And you never really have to think about it again.  In fact it's best if you don't think about it.  Let it happen.  Automatically.

Of course it can be the same with drinking.  Do you get home and open a bottle or a can?  Or go to the pub after work? Or maybe you go out on a Friday or Saturday night and drink one drink after another after another after another...

You developed a habit.  You're not an addict.  You're not an alcoholic.  You learned a process and your unconscious mind just kept doing it for you.

So when Stoptober comes around - or New Year's Resolutions - or your birthday - you try really hard. And you stop.  You don't stop thinking about smoking or drinking though do you?  You think about it all the time?  It drives you crazy!!!

Then finally it's the first of November, or the end of January or Friday night !!  And you're back.

You didn't break the habit.  You didn't break the connection at the unconscious level.

Some people will stop completely, forever with willpower or as some like to call it "cold turkey".

Some won't.  In fact the majority of people won't stop.  They will start again at some point.  They think they can "just have one".  Their mind - or their friends - persuade them they can "just have one" that they're in control.   You've been there haven't you?

But it's just like riding a bike or driving a car.  You didn't forget how to do it (whatever it is).  And now you're back.  To Square One.

It's why I'm here.  The NLP and hypnotherapy processes I use get into your unconscious mind and break the habit at the that level.  So you don't have to think about smoking ever again.  You don't automatically open a bottle or can when you get home because you, once again, YOU have a choice!

Read some of the letters from my clients and you'll see what we can do.

I can give you a choice.

Go back to www.breakthehabit.co.uk

How To Start a New Habit

As you know I'm all about breaking habits, stopping doing things. But how do you start a new habit?

Well let's think about the logic.  To break a habit we need to break a connection.  Think of the things you do, automatically, without thinking about it.  For example having a biscuit with a cup of tea or a cigarette with a coffee.  Every time!  You don't think about - you've done it before you think about it.
You get in a car and drive it.  What do you do first? Next? Are you sure? The pattern is that one thing happens then the next, then the next.  You don't have to think about it anymore because you've programmed yourself.

If you practise something enough times it will become a habit.  Research tells us it is 21 times.  So after 21 times the habit is established.

But what about the first 21 times?  How can you remember when something isn't yet a habit? How can you form a new habit?

Well go back to the beginning.  Our minds make connections.  Everytime this happens I do this.  Every time. There's a trigger effect.

So to start a new habit we need to link it to something else that we already do.  Something we always do.  Without thinking about it!

Would you like to start exercising?  What do you do every day already?  You get out of bed.  So how about putting your trainers by the bed and stepping straight into them when you get up?

I have a joke.  It's a weak joke I know but I quite like it!  Have you heard of kettle bells?  Those weights in the shape of a very old fashioned kettle?  Do you know why they are called kettle bells (they certainly don't resemble today's modern kettles!)  Here's the joke: because you keep them by the kettle!!!  OK I know it's not that funny but if you did keep some weights by the kettle you could lift them a few times everytime you put the kettle on.  You wouldn't forget because they'd be there.  Waiting for you.

If you do have a tendency towards putting the kettle on quite often then the kettle is an ideal trigger.  Do you need to drink more water?  Every time you put the kettle on have a glassof water.

A lot of my clients come to me because the have a habit they want to break.  A common one is opening a bottle of wine or beer when they get home from work.  Get home. Take off shoes.  Open bottle.   So if you want to exercise more maybe change it to get home, take off shoes, run up and down stairs twice. Or get home, take off shoes, drink water.

I'm simplifying here but I think you'll get the idea!

To develop a new habit:

1. Choose something you want to do regularly.
2. Choose something you already do regularly.
3. Link the thing you want to do to the thing you already do.
4. Continue for 21 days/times and notice if you're then doing the new habits without noticing!

Of course to break a habit:

1. Call me
2. Come for a session of NLP and Hypnosis
3. Break the Habit
4. Help yourself by putting a positive new habit in place of the old negative habit.

Remember my new number 0113 834 5424
Back to www.breakthehabit.co.uk

Habits versus addictions

Research says that if you do something 21 times it becomes a habit!

But what is a habit?  It's something you do, automatically, without thinking about it.  Usually it's a triggered effect - so one thing leads directly to another so fast it "just happened."

Like indicating when you want to turn in your car.

Like having a biscuit with a cup of tea.

Like putting a cigarette in your mouth after a meal, or with a coffee.

The more you practice a habit the better you get at it!

I developed a habit a few years ago.  As soon as I get up and go in the kitchen I have a glass of water.  Every day.  Without fail.

When a clients leaves me I always give them a bottle of water to drink on their way home, or back to work. It helps them "wake up" after a relaxing hypnotherapy sessions.

I also want them to develop a habit of drinking water (it's good for you, you know!) and to replace the cigarettes or glasses of wine with water.

I usually hand the bottle to them and say "and this is your new hobby".  But why do I say hobby instead of habit?

When I first thought about this I thought maybe I should change to saying "and this is your new habit".

But then I realised something.  What is a hobby?  It's something we do because we enjoy it.  It's something we do as often as we can.  It's something that makes us feel good.

So perhaps drinking water is best seen as a hobby?  As well, of course, as a really good habit!