October Week 1: Practice, Release, Repeat

Welcome to October and the month of sugary temptations. This month we are going to be focusing on the weight mastery cycle. This is the cycle of thinking and habits that promotes weight release and long term weight mastery.

As we have learned, when you are in the weight struggle, you are in the “on or off”, “good or bad”, “all or nothing” mindset. It’s easy to eat a candy or something “bad”, say “I blew it” and then eat everything before getting back on track the next day. This repeats over and over causing frustration and weight gain.

The weight mastery cycle focuses instead on you being a student of weight mastery and the 9 skills of weight mastery which are gleaned from over 200 studies of people who have taken weight off and kept it off over time.  Today, I would just like you to understand the cycle itself and the art of practicing the cycle versus being 'good' on a diet—it is a totally different way of looking at the world and a much more powerful and slimming one.

PRACTICE, RELEASE, REPEAT

I remember when I learned to play the flute, it seemed so hard! I was pretty bad in the beginning and was in the lowest position in the hierarchy of flute players in my junior high band. I wanted desperately to be near the top and I wanted not to struggle so much. I couldn’t “be good” at playing the flute—I had to practice.

I watched what the girls at the top did. I even asked them how much they practiced and what they practiced. I pretended I was them as I went home and spent the hour practicing scales and my breathing and I got better and better. I just kept practicing and it got easier and more fun as I mastered my skill of flute playing. When it came time to try out the following year and I played my piece and Mr. Cole looked at me with a shocked expression, “What happened to you? That was amazing!” I said…"I just practiced Mr. Cole".  As he had me take my new position as second flute player, he said to everyone in the band, ”See what happens when you practice?”

So, let’s take a moment to look at what life looks like when we are living life in the Weight Mastery Cycle and just practicing the 9 Skills of Weight Mastery.

THE WEIGHT MASTERY CYCLE

WEIGHT MASTERY CYCLE STEP 1: BELIEVING IN YOURSELF AND YOUR WEIGHT MASTERY. In this first step of the cycle, you see yourself as a powerful apprentice of weight mastery and believe in your ability to achieve your vision with your Inner Coach. You find it easy to practice setting yourself up for success daily and weekly because that is simply what works best for you.

Much of what your success is built upon is thinking ahead, preparing and even strategizing. This way, you are creating a daily inner road map based on what actions will take you through  a day where you go to bed feeling light and proud of yourself. The few minutes a day these rituals take far outweighs the time spent feeling bad about yourself when you were struggling.

WEIGHT MASTERY CYCLE STEP 2: PRACTICING THE 9 SKILLS. is an ongoing step in the cycle. The idea is that you simply keep practicing your skills on a daily basis. The more you practice the mind, weight, and environment skills, the more they become a easy part of you-- deeply automated in your mind. You cannot “be bad” when building skills. You just learn and progress so there is nothing to stop and start over. Focusing on skill building versus being good on a diet or plan is the key to consistency and long term release.

WEIGHT MASTERY CYCLE STEP 3: PROBLEM SOLVING AND STAYING CONNECTED. This step is a key step in the mastery process. This is the gap step that bridges the inner critic’s saying “You blew it” and the inner rebel saying – "so screw it!" This skill is essential to long term weight release because it keeps you from getting hooked back into the “last supper” overeating that is where most of us gain weight.

Instead, you stay connected to yourself and negotiate an action that allows you to move forward with you weight mastery. This focus on stopping, connecting and figuring out your next healthy step and not allowing any “starting over”, breaks the old pattern that kept you struggling and keeps you in the Weight Mastery Cycle.

WEIGHT MASTERY CYCLE STEP 4: BUILDING CONFIDENCE AND PIECE OF MIND. The more you live in the house of Weight Mastery, the more you own it. The neural grooves that you forge by making the decision to be a master and then the steady and consistent building of the mastery skills form a whole new place for you in your mind.

Your structure is solid, yet flexible, and can contain all of your life as it continues to change and unfold, and all of your health and weight goals as you blossom into the slim and healthy and confident person you wanted to be.

That’s it! This month we will dive deeper into how to practice this powerful cycle. This week, look at how the weight mastery cycle gets played out in your own life and where you might be challenged and have a great week!