Losing weight goes better with a different tactic

Button not closed, problem. Button do close, fine... That's not so convenient....

Years ago, a client came to me and wanted to lose weight. Often it is not eating less and exercising more, but there is an unconscious block underneath that simply keeps you fat.

This gentleman said, "Ed, I have a pair of pants and if they are too tight then something just needs to be done. Look, I have it on and I already have the button undone. If that can be fixed again then I am satisfied...'

Bad strategy.

Especially if you looked at his pants. Those pants themselves could have gone down a few sizes, but they didn't have to, and you often see that in people.

If the pain becomes too great then they start doing something about it. If the pain is less or even gone then they stop. The pain-avoidance tactic.

A very logical strategy because we are so wired into our system. Avoiding pain is much more important than obtaining pleasure. Avoiding pain means "not dying" and surely that is a lot more important than that little bit of pleasure.

And yet, the "get pleasure" strategy is a lot better when it comes to doing what you love.

Also makes sense. You want something badly so you set a goal and want to achieve it. But often you don't want something until the pain becomes too great. So you don't want to achieve something, you want to avoid something. And that difference is huge.

With that client, too. If the knot couldn't close, only then did he get off the couch and start working out and eating well. If the knot could be closed again, then Netflix came back on and the chips came back on the table.

So that doesn't work. So also think for yourself when you want something. Am I doing it now because I want to avoid my current situation or am I doing it for the pleasure it will bring when I achieve it.

It often seems like doing it for the latter, but more than 70 percent of people actually have the pain-avoidance strategy. The gyms are getting very rich off those people.

The important thing is to connect very good feelings to what you want to achieve so that it transcends the pain you want to avoid. To do that, you really have to think in "10x more.

Do you know NLP? Then use a schwisssh technique and do it in hypnosis then it is even more powerful. If you cannot do that (yet) then it works very well to first feel a very good feeling and then think about your goal so that it anchors.

Good luck and have a great week!