HUNGER FREE FOREVER

Program Yourself for Success

Chapter 9 - Program Yourself for Success

Rather than using psychological therapies in an attempt to reduce food intake, our focus is to utilize techniques that promote a positive self-image and high self-esteem. Let’s face it, there is tremendous stigma attached to being overweight or obese that causes a lot of psychological trauma. Fashion trends, insurance programs, college placements, and job opportunities all discriminate against the obese or overweight person.

Consequently, the obese or overweight person learns many self-defeating and self-degrading attitudes. They are led to believe that fat is "bad," which often results in a vicious cycle of low self-esteem, depression, overeating for consolation, increased weight gain, social rejection, and further lowering of self-esteem.

Achieving permanent weight loss with the Hunger Free Forever program has a phenomenal effect on increasing self-esteem and promoting a healthy positive mental attitude. In fact, this positive effect is supported by research. A detailed analysis of 117 weight loss studies has confirmed that successful weight loss is associated with significant improvement in self-esteem. Interestingly, test subjects also showed improvement in mood with lowered scores for depression independent of weight loss. In other words, just being included in the clinical study was enough to improve mood and depression.

Rather than waiting to have healthy self-esteem until you actually lose weight, you can take steps to build self-esteem and program yourself for the success right now. The following success exercise program is just as essential to your weight loss plan as physical exercise. To get started, you will need to get a notebook that you can write in. This notebook will become your personal journal. A journal is a powerful tool to help you stay in touch with your feelings, thoughts, and emotions. You can construct your own journal or you visit http://www.hungerfreeforever.com/, go to the Downloads page, and click on Success Journal. In Chapter 10, we provide the instructions for either.

The following exercises are designed to help you learn how to adopt healthier attitudes. They will provide the foundation for building your increased self-esteem and your personal journal will serve as a testimony to your success.

Exercise #1 - Creating a Positive Goal Statement

Learning to set goals in a way that results in a positive experience is critical to your success. The following guidelines can be used to set any goal, whether short or long term, including your desired weight. You can use goal setting to create a success cycle – a succession of positive achievements. Achieving goals helps you feel better about yourself and the better you feel about yourself, the more likely you are to achieve your goals. Success breeds success.

1. State the goal in positive terms; do not use any negative words in your goal statement. For example it is better to say "I enjoy eating healthy, low-calorie, nutritious foods," than "I will not eat sugar, candy, ice cream, and other fattening foods."
2. Make your short term goals attainable and realistic. Again, short term goals can be used to create a success cycle and positive self image. Little successes add up to make a major difference in the way you feel about yourself.
3. Be specific. The clearer your goal is defined, the more likely you are to reach it. What is the exact weight you desire? What is the body fat percentage or measurements you desire? Clearly define what it is you want to achieve.
4. State the goal in present tense, not future tense. In order to reach your goal, you have to believe you have already attained it. As noted psychologist Dr. Wayne Dyer says "You'll see it, when you believe it." You must literally program yourself to achieve the goal. See and feel yourself having already achieved the goal and success will be yours. Remember always state your goal in the present tense.