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With a quarter of us suffering from anxiety as some point in our life, you have to wonder how much of where you are now in terms of your weight could be a result of anxiety that you have experienced in the past, or today.
It’s an incredibly common story…. something stressful happens, a relationship ends, you lose your job, you run into financial difficulty, you have family drama- and all of a sudden you have trouble sleeping, you are waking up already stressed and anxious, and you start to look for a way to feel better… even if it’s just for a moment.
This is the point at which emotional or comfort eating can start to come into play, or taking the easy approach (because it all seems like it’s too much for you) so you drive instead of walking, curl up on the couch instead of exercising, and get takeaway instead of shopping for healthy food.Soon the temporary state of feeling anxious becomes somewhat hardwired into your brain and you find it difficult to get through a day without feeling stressed, even if nothing particularly terrible happens that day.
It’s this vicious cycle, where feeling anxious upsets the chemicals in your brain, meaning that your new natural state is to feel anxious. Because of this you are more sensitive to criticism, you might see criticism even when it isn’t there, or overreact to criticism- all of which make you feel more anxious.
You are more prone to feeling overwhelmed, and because of this you get through less of what needs to be done, so it all piles up for the next next- leaving you feeling even more overwhelmed and anxious.
You are more likely to view yourself negatively, and engage in vicious or degrading self talk. The more you feel unworthy, unskilled, unattractive, or incapable the less confidence you have, the less risks you take, the less you put yourself out there to learn and grow. Because of this you stay stagnant when everyone else around you improves, leaving you behind, and reinforcing your low onion of yourself.
Any of this sounding familiar?
So if, in reading this, you can see that these types of thoughts are entirely unhelpful to you, and you are just utterly sick of feeling like everything is out of control in your life, maybe it’s time that you stop.
Think about it.
What if you just stopped?
What if every time you noticed a negative thought you stopped it in its tracks, rephrased it to something helpful, let it go, and moved on? How long do you think it would take until you started feeling better? A day? A month? A year? Maybe even just a moment. Doesn’t that sound like a better way already?
Even if you don’t believe what you tell yourself, even if you can’t entirely stop those anxious thoughts today, over time, with enough repetition, your brain will start to believe what you tell it. Your brain chemicals will start to adjust, and get back to where they should be. Once you are here it won’t seem so hard to think helpful thoughts, and the unhelpful ones will occur less frequently.
In saying all this there are definitely some ways to speed the whole process up- exercise is huge, try and do some every morning, in whatever form feels right to you, for as long as you need to (about 25 mins seems to be the magic mark where the happy chemicals kick in, but it does depend on exercise intensity). Eat healthy low GI foods- avoid sugar highs and crashed which mess with your blood sugar levels and therefore mood. Force yourself to laugh, joke, play, and engage in activities you enjoy.
These things might seem hard, but what is harder? Living the rest of your life in anxiety? Or doing a few things to start to turn things around?
If you don’t feel confident in taking these steps yourself, if you need help, support, and want to make a big change instead of small ones over time, then just stop putting it off and book into one of our weight loss and fitness retreats. The reason we have such a huge list of happy clients is because our program was designed for people just like you.
It’s not that you have no willpower, that you are unable to lose weight, that you aren’t smart or skilled enough to know what to eat and cook. It’s just that there is so much misinformation out there that its overwhelming even knowing where to start. So cut through all the fads, incorrect information, fake promises, and just go with the program that has been proven to work time and time again because it is based on common sense, real food, strategies to push through your emotional barriers to weight loss, and you are doing it with a group of like minded people.
Give yourself a week, two, up to twelve if you really need it! If you don’t get results, you get a refund. What have you got to lose?
