Mental Exercise That Rewires The Brain For Greater Success

There is some pretty solid research that shows some people may be hard wired to never lose weight ,or they lose it and gain it back.  

Don't worry, this isn't a permanent thing.  You are not doomed if this is you.

David Kessler, M.D., author of "The End of Overeating," and his researchers  have looked into why some people weight cycle.  

What they found was that we all have reward circuits in our brains and that some individuals are "conditioned hypereaters."  Those that he calls "conditioned hypereaters," excessively activate these reward circuits just from smelling food.  

Kessler estimates that half of obese people and around 30 percent of overweight individuals are conditioned hypereaters.  

The research and evidence also shows that this action or hard-wired mechanism is partially learned and can be re-wired through conditioning, much like how it occurred in the first place.

Since emotional triggers can play a important role in what we eat and don't eat, we have to recognize this and focus on conditioning our emotions to have a more positive outcome.

This is part of what we call behavior modification or behavior change.  It isn't always just about dieting or restricting calories and then all is well.  Many times, weight gain is emotionally driven so this means you have to manipulate those emotions to achieve the outcome you desire.

For example, if you mess up and eat something you shouldn't have, it isn't the end of the world and you haven't ruined your progress.  Instead of getting frustrated, just move on to the next stage of your day and focus on the positive.  You will make a better decision at the next feeding opportunity.

The focus of behavior modification is controlling your emotions instead of them controlling you, which leads to negative thoughts and negative behaviors.  

Here is a little exercise for you.

Write down how you feel when you are eating - are you happy, stressed, sad, etc.  

Why are you eating?  Is it time to eat, did you skip a meal, etc.  

Why did you choose the foods you are eating?

Keep track of this at every meal for 3-5 days and at the end of each day, look at what you ate for the day, the quantities, and then look at the emotions you wrote down next to that meal.  

Is there a correlation?  Did you choose unhealthy foods when you were stressed?  Did you eat too many calories because you were frustrated about something?  

Start to learn about your emotions and what they cause you to do and then you can focus on how to control them. 

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