The Easy Truth about Weight Loss

This article was written by Jennifer Ripa-Edson and Amy Scott Grant.

The Easy Truth About Weight Loss

Losing weight is a topic that brings up many emotions for people. For many, it seems that our ideal weight is an elusive possibility, lurking in the distant future. It does not have to be so. In fact, it is the belief systems we hold around weight loss -- that it is very difficult -- that make the process itself difficult. In and of itself, weight loss is rather simple.

One of the biggest challenges for people in the quest to lose weight is the tendency to withhold self-love until the goal is reached. Herein lies the rub. It is very hard for your body to move towards a goal that you are requesting if you are constantly sending your body negative energy. This is analogous to asking your best friend to do you a favor while you are yelling at this person. Most best friends will say “no.” And so does your body. Can you blame it?

This concept, “self-love”, is something you have likely heard before. You may even be saying to yourself, “yeah, yeah, yeah”. But if you take a look at what self-love really means, you will see herein lies the perfect solution. It means to love yourself, right now, AS IS. It does not mean to love yourself when you reach your ideal weight, or when you land the perfect job, or find the right significant other. It means to connect with yourself at the soul level and to accept where you are and who you are. It is a commitment to be your own best friend no matter what.

Most everyone has a body part (or parts) that they do not love fully. (And right now you may sense your own body cringe at being discussed in "parts"). But take a moment to imaging -- what would it feel like to truly love, for example, your tummy? What would it feel like to look in the mirror and say, "Wow, this is a beautiful tummy, and I cherish you, and appreciate you, and love you for all that you do for me"?

Once you are in that space, with your entire body, then you are easily able to make the shift. Then you can tune into your body and really start to listen. Then you can get to the reasons that are underlying your current state of affairs. Why is it that you are not at your ideal physique at the present moment? What factors led you to this point? Perhaps it is a food allergy or sensitivity of which you are unaware. Perhaps it is eating out of comfort and not hunger. Perhaps your body wants to move around through out the day, and needs more opportunities to release. Perhaps there is a lot of stress from which the body feels it needs protection. When you approach your body from this place of partnership and then cooperation, it is possible to make tremendous, easy progress. You may even begin to wonder why you were complicating things in the first place when it now seems so smooth and effortless.

This all lies in how you define difficult. This is not difficult in the sense of needing to exercise like a maniac, or to have a restrictive diet. It may require some attention, energy and focus on your part, for example, looking at your patterns and habits and being willing to make small incremental shifts that will create increased health. It means listening to what your body is asking you to do, and then talking that inspired action, even if it feels scary.

This feeling of being scared, or the idea that the steps are difficult, is called resistance, and it stems from our beliefs systems. The easiest way to remove this resistance and to take these incremental steps with ease is to remove the limiting beliefs. This is when it becomes helpful to seek assistance from a coach or clearing specialist (hint, hint) who is trained in causing shifts, and who has an objective perspective on what is holding you back. See the author's bio for contact information as well as details about a new course called "The Incredible Shrinking You," designed to explore this same topic in depth and produce dramatic physical, mental, spiritual and emotional weight loss results. Register now -- course starts in January!