When Losing Weight Seems Hopeless

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Sometimes it's good to just let the feelings flow. Take out a piece of paper and just start writing your feelings down on paper. I do this when I start to feel overwhelmed. We all have certain tendencies and mine is to put too much on my place (food or otherwise), then when I'm upset because I have too much (to eat, too much to do), I feel hopeless. It's too much to handle, and I just don't know what to do.

First write down some ideas for using with EFT, starting with whatever is on your mind

I waste time
Wish I wouldn't
Can't help it
Can't seem to lose this weight
I'm getting bigger by the minute
It's hopeless
Makes me want to eat
Hate this

Exercise: Deep breath in, imagine a stream of golden light coming in to energize and feed you, then as you exhale imagine blowing all the negative energy associated with the first item on your list ("I waste time") out in a conscious stream in a dark colored stream. Maybe you exhale bubbles that then explode as they're floating away. It feels good to breath in energy and exhale toxins.

Now, what to put in that negative energy's place? You can't simply stop an activity, you must replace it with something else. If you want to release a negative thought or idea, then consider what positive or different thing you'd like instead.

It's common for us to discount all the things we're doing for ourselves such as eating better, exercising a bit more, walking, enjoying other's company, and to put our attention only on the ice cream we ate last night. "I shouldn't have eaten that! Why am I so stupid!" We seem to love bashing ourselves over the head with our inadequacies. I'm not sure why we do this, but it is so common that we all could probably benefit from a quick clearing of that notion:

"Even though I bash myself constantly over the head, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway."

"Even though I'm not perfect and probably never will be, I deeply and completely accept myself today and every day."

"Even though I wish I knew all the answers, I'm willing to give myself time to learn."

"Even though I want it now, I deeply and completely accept myself and am willing to accept this day with thankfulness."

Those little things you're doing are adding up to the changes you want to make. Have you seen those time release photos of a flower blooming for instance? If you sat and watched, it would seem as if nothing is happening, but if you saw a timed series of photos over a 24 hour period played in a 30 second span, then you'd see rapid change. Our weight changes are like that too. I know when I look in the mirror I want to see something different, but it's usually the same old me staring back. I stand and check my profile, and that too, seems the same, no matter what I did yesterday, so it can be easy to think, "What's the point? This isn't working. I want a donut," and right back to old habits we go.

If you commit to one day at a time you will get there. Remember there's always One More Bite - an hour from now, later today, and tomorrow there will be another bite. If you remember there is always One More Bite later, you'll not have to eat every last bite right now.

EFT helps you work on the day-to-day issues, those little things that bother you, that drive you to eat to feel better. Work on them as they arise, and slowly you'll begin to dissolve more and more bigger issues without even trying.

~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.