Fat No More Secrets 1 of 10 - I must finish my plate

Losing weight is not just about dieting or exercising as proven by the countless number of failed diets and exercise programs. First, you need to identify and let go of the many Mental, Emotional, Subconscious, and Spiritual blocks that prevent you from losing weight. I call them the M.E.S.S. blocks; they are limiting beliefs, thoughts, or fears that prevent your weight loss. If you do not let go of these blocks, you will continue to have an extremely hard time losing weight and, if you do succeed, you will continue to gain the weight back. Did you know that if you ate two meals per day with your parents from your birth until the day you turned 18, you would have shared 13,104 meals with them? This gives you plenty of time to be heavily influenced by your parents, positively or negatively, to acquire their eating behaviors, and to take on their food or weight obsessions, if any. If no one in your family talked about dieting and everyone ate in a healthy way without being obsessed with food and weight, then you are very lucky. On the contrary, if your parents were overweight, ate junk food all day long, and were obsessed with both food and losing weight, you may have taken on your family’s bad eating habits and obsessions. The great news is that you can let them go. When I was growing up, I always had to finish my plate. I could not leave the table until my plate was empty. So guess what? One of the beliefs that I have had is that I must finish my plate. This is just the way it should be. Until recently, I still had to finish my plate and I had an extremely hard time leaving any food in my plate because I had been programmed for years to eat everything on my plate. For years, I still believed that if I did not obey and eat everything on my plate, I would get in trouble with my parents. Of course, they did not do this intentionally; they simply wanted to be great parents and provide me with the right amount of nutrition. Yet, even as an adult, I was still programmed to be a good girl and finish my plate so I would not be in trouble with my parents. This lasted until I completely let go of the belief. If you believe that you must finish your plate, you can easily eat more than you should and become overweight just because of this belief, especially in the U.S. where servings are so large. The first step in changing your behavior is to start with a small serving. Then, even if you have to finish your plate, you will not overeat. You can always have a second serving if you are really hungry. It’s extremely important that you begin to do this because this behavior, eating everything on your plate, has become anchored in your mind for a long time. Unfortunately, by just finishing your plate every time you eat, you can easily become overweight. The second step is to release the belief that you must finish your plate. When you let it go, you will be able to leave food on your plate without feeling guilty and bad about it. nn