Step 1: Think

Let’s get this out of the way right now. Most people do not think. They may think they think, but most people don’t think. They react.

I didn’t think for the first 45 years of my life! Of course, I had thoughts and ideas. Things would pop into my mind. I would study and learn. I would work tasks and solve problems. All of this thinking is just a reaction to something from the outside world, a circumstance, or a situation. This type of thinking, reactionary thinking, is something you can apply your knowledge and training toward. This is mental activity.

Mental Activity is not Thinking

Day to day life requires a lot of mental activity, but very little thinking. A certain kind of thinking is required when you gather knowledge, practice a new skill, develop a relationship, etc., but again, this is just more reaction. Ultimately, mental activity and reactionary thinking are just the application of the routines, beliefs, and habits that run your life.

Thinking is hard work. It requires creativity and discipline. It is the process of combining everything you know and have experienced with something that you bring out from within. It increases your awareness. It is the study of you.

Until recently, I had never sat down and thought about what was going on in my life. I could see results that I didn’t like, but I didn’t ever think about what I could do, how I could change.

As a result, reactionary thinking led me to change my diet or exercise routine. It led to changing things on the outside. I never even thought to try and change who I was on the inside.

This will never work. You must change on the inside first.

You Become What You Think About

If you want to change your life, you have to change your thoughts. No, let me rephrase that statement. You have to take control of your thoughts.

Thoughts are things, and when you put yourself down, when you call yourself names, you are giving power to those thoughts. You are letting your outside world, your situation, your circumstances, control your mind, control your life.

• When you call yourself fat
• When you say you are out of shape
• When you call yourself a failure
• When you put yourself down
• When you call yourself names
• When looking in a mirror…

I could go on and on because I have experienced these and similar thoughts over and over again during the last 17 years. You may have as well.

When these types of thoughts are predominant in your mind, you are creating a self-image of someone who IS fat, who IS out of shape, who IS a failure. Then, when you try to lose weight by changing your diet or exercise routine, any progress you make will be temporary. The fat you lose will return.

This is the dirty little secret… You become what you think about. When you think negative thoughts, expect negative things in your life. When you think positive thoughts, expect the positives. Your thoughts create a perspective, set a course, and give direction to your life, and you can control your thoughts.

Thinking in a New Way

As an experiment, think about how many times you have said the following…

• I’m so fat!
• I am lazy!
• I’m so out of shape!
• I am worthless!
• I’m such a failure!
• I can’t do it!

I have said statements like these a countless number of times. Instead of trying to come up with a number, I would have to say that I called myself names or put myself down continuously for multiple years. Even though I can’t determine the number of times I’ve said statements like this, I do know that these types of statements defined me. My self-image was formed by these statements and I was fat, unfit, and unhealthy because of it.

You have got to stop the negative thoughts. Stop putting yourself down. Stop calling yourself names. Stop focusing on the negative all of the time.

How do you stop? You start thinking. Start thinking about what you want. Start building yourself up. Start thinking about the new you. Start thinking about your new life, your new, thin, fit, and healthy life.

This new way of thinking focuses completely on the inside first. What do you want? What do you really want? You have got to design and build the thin, fit and healthy life you want with your thinking before you can build it on the outside. The thoughts of the new you must be your primary focus. Once you know what you want, it is just a matter of time before the life you have designed is revealed externally.

What Do You Want?

Put your imagination to the test and decide what you want in your life. Do you want to lose weight, get fit, and have a healthy life? What does that look like to you? What does that mean to you?

Use your imagination. How do you want to look? How do you want to feel? What do you want to be doing six months from now? Two years from now? Five years from now?

Do you want to be rock climbing, sky-diving, or MMA fighting? Those may be extreme examples, but at the same time, if you want to do it, you must start yourself down that path now with your thinking. Maybe you want to join that Martial Arts club down the street, play basketball with the kids, or be the most active grandparent of all time. It starts with a thought. Think about what you want.

This is the most important step of the process. You must decide what you want. Don’t think, “Hey, let’s get pizza tonight.” That is not what I am talking about. This is a life changing decision. What do you truly, passionately want concerning your weight, fitness, and health?

What do you want?

Don’t worry at all about how you are going to do it. How you are going to get it. How it will be achieved. All you need to think about is what you want.

Statements of Fact

You have got to get your thoughts on your side. You have got to turn those negative thoughts around. You have got to do everything you can to stop the negative thoughts and get positive thoughts into your mind.

Now, it is easy to say that you must stop the negative thoughts, but stopping them can be difficult. I can guarantee you that they will not stop overnight, especially if they have had control over your mind for years and years. This takes time and effort. A lot of mental effort and thinking.

However, know that the negative thoughts can be reversed, overwhelmed, and completely replaced with the use of Statements of Fact.

Remember, calling yourself fat and out of shape thousands upon thousands of times has actually kept you fat and out of shape. There may have been special circumstances that led to you gaining weight in the first place, but at that first moment when you recognized yourself as fat, you identified with it. Your self-image was set and you have either accepted it or struggled with it ever since.

You have to get your mind right and you have to counteract the negative thoughts. So, once you know what you want, the next step is to start developing your own, personal, Statements of Fact.

For example…

• “I am at my perfect weight.”
• “I weigh <goal weight>.”
• “I am strong, fit, and flexible.”
• “I have more energy than my kids.”
• “I exercise mentally and physically every day.”
• “I eat what I need to eat.”

Now, these statements may seem like lies, but remember, calling yourself fat, lazy, and out of shape sure seemed to work. More importantly, focusing on what you want is how you get perspective on your life. Your wants set a course and give you direction.

Statements of Fact are the best way to define, communicate, and internalize your wants. When you use them to respond to negative thoughts, when you repeat them often, and when they become the foundation of your new self-image, your life is destined to change.

Lose Weight from the Inside Out

When you start thinking of yourself as someone who is thin, fit, and healthy, you will become thin, fit, and healthy.

It will not happen overnight. It will take time. It will take mental and physical effort. But it all begins with thinking.

• Use your imagination to find out what you really want to achieve concerning your weight, fitness, and health.
• Create Statements of Fact that define your wants.
• Repeat your Statements of Fact over and over again. Focus on them constantly, continuously.
• When a negative thought enters your mind, squash it immediately by reciting your Statements of Fact.

Think and imagine the new you. Imagine all of the things that you can and will do. Imagine what you can and will become.

You have just started the Recipe for Weight Loss Success.