Weight-Loss... becoming a non-smoker... old habits, but how can you overcome them?

Our automatic thoughts can help to keep us stuck in old habits and emotions which are often not the best habits and emotions for us. However, if we become more aware of the impact of automatic thinking on our lives, we will have more options and change will be easier.

Teaching someone to see their own thinking patterns is like teaching a young gardener how to identify a rare type of plant. The gardener needs lots of examples of what the plant looks like and they also need to know where it usually lives.

For instance, some people may think: 

What caused the weight problem

"I don't understand why I am overweight. I don't stuff myself all day".  
"I may have slow metabolism"

What to do about the problem and what this "solution" will be like

"My life is busy and difficult enough already, I can't cope with losing weight at the same time"
"Losing weight will be awful. I will have to go running and do aerobics and go to the gym the whole time"

And many other thoughts such as:

- Thoughts about what you "can" or "can't do" or
- Thoughts that happen "on the spot" whilst trying to lose weight or stop smoking or 
- Thoughts about yourself...

Being able to "catch" or spot an automatic thought is a hugely useful skill, but it is not easy or straightforward - like the new gardener trying to spot the rare plant - it takes practice.

However one can try to pinpoint the most important automatic thoughts such as:

What was going through my mind just before I started to feel this way?

What does this say about me? What does it say I can/can’t do?

What does this mean about me? My life? My future?

What am I afraid might happen?

 

Once those automatic thoughts have been spotted, we may choose to question/challenge them:

What is the evidence for these thoughts? What is the evidence against it?

What are some other ways of thinking about this situation?

Am I blaming myself for something over which I do not have complete control?

Am I always thinking that things will go badly?

Am I exaggerating how bad things would be if they did go wrong?

Ok, so... you may ask me, is that all? I am afraid not... this is only a glimpse of what I use to help/empower my clients to overcome their eating/smoking habits. I employ other techniques such as Hypnosis, CBT and NLP to find out the reasons for those thoughts and behaviours. 

This is not aimed to be "a" guide but it helps those people out there wanting to either lose weight or stop smoking as well as start thinking differently about their habits.


As I mentioned before, our automatic thoughts can help to keep us stuck in old habits and emotions, however it is never too late to start the process!