The self-image is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behavior.

- Maxwell Maltz

Back in 1960, Maxwell Maltz, considered by many to be the premier authority on the study of the self-image, wrote his best-selling book titled, Psycho-Cybernetics. In his book he describes the self-image as “our own conception of the sort of person I am”. He goes on to write, “A human being always acts and feels and performs in accordance with what he imagines to be true about himself and his environment…In short, you will “act like” the sort of person you conceive yourself to be. Not only this, but you literally cannot act otherwise, in spite of all your conscious efforts or willpower.”

In these two short paragraphs, Maltz sums up why 95% of people trying to lose weight fail and it’s NOT because…

• They don’t have willpower.
• They don’t want to.
• They don’t eat the right foods.
• They don’t exercise enough.

No, the reason they (and maybe you) have not been able to conquer being overweight lies in how they see themselves. You see, until you change the way you see yourself, any attempts to lose weight will ultimately fail. Please read that last sentence again. It’s critical that you understand it. Your outer self will always reflect your inner self. Change occurs the moment you stop seeing yourself as a fat person but rather a person who is lean, strong and healthy…and worthy of being so.

Some time ago, I was meeting with a new client. When meeting someone for the very first time, I spent at least an hour just talking with them; to learn a little bit about the person’s past, talk about their goals and find out what they felt was holding them back. I knew from experience that losing weight began between the ears. And jumping into an exercise or nutrition program before exploring the person’s mental state was premature.

In less than five minutes, this woman said to me “I can’t lose weight” at least a dozen times. In other words, she saw herself as someone who could not lose weight. Finally, I had to stop her and point out to her what I felt was holding her back. By repeating this mantra over and over again with such conviction, she had convinced herself that she could not lose weight no matter what. Anytime she tried to lose weight, she would find some way to undermine those efforts. Does this sound familiar?

How Your Self-Image Is Created

Very simply, beliefs begin as an idea. If a new idea is supported with enough “proof”, it becomes a belief. For example, say you were told at a young age that you weren’t good at sports. That’s an idea. But what would happen if every time you tried something “athletic” and made a mistake or didn’t perform as well as you hoped, you continued to hear the same message…

“You’re just not athletic” or “You’re no good”? Chances are, with this added (misguided) “proof” of your “inadequacies”, you begin to believe that you must be bad at sports.

Consequently, your actions reflect your new belief. You avoid doing anything that requires any physical skill, such as playing golf, joining the company soft ball team or starting an exercise program. Unless this belief is challenged, it will continue to dictate your actions.

Are You Setting Yourself Up For Failure?

Each day, millions of people look in the mirror and mutter negative comments like:

• God, I’m fat!
• I hate exercise.
• I have no willpower.
• No matter what I do I can’t lose weight.
• I have a slow metabolism.
• I’m big boned.
• I can’t control my binge eating.
• If I eat more than 1000 calories, I’ll gain weight.

What are these statements but beliefs.

Each one began with an idea. Then over time, you gained more and more proof that they must be truth. Then eventually, you chose to make them your reality.

But here’s the thing. By repeating statements such as these over and over again, you literally program your mind to be fat. Your beliefs guide your decisions which in turn determine every action you take.

You may even hold beliefs not even directly related to your body, weight loss or eating which contribute to your weight problem. Maybe you feel that you are incapable of following through on your commitments. Perhaps you don’t feel worthy of reaching your goals in general - that you don’t deserve it. It’s important to uncover the beliefs you hold about yourself to determine exactly what holds you back. Once you determine which beliefs hold you back, you can begin to form new beliefs to help you achieve your health and fitness goals.

How To Uncover Your Limiting Beliefs

Uncovering your limiting beliefs must be your first step towards weight loss success. Luckily it’s quite a simple process. Below you will find various ways of making a statement. Simply come up with as many ways as you can to complete the statments.

• I am…
• I have…
• I do…
• I don’t…
• No matter what, I…
• If I…then…
• If…then I…

It can also be beneficial to uncover limiting beliefs you have about specific subjects, like say eating healthy or exercising. In this case, it’s even easier to come up with your beliefs. On a piece of paper, write…

• Exercise is…
• Eating healthy is…

Another way to uncover your beliefs on a subject is to simply write one word or a short phrase at the top of a piece of paper and then write down anything that comes to your mind when you think about this word or phrase. This technique I believe is referred to as “free association”.

For example, let’s use exercise. You might associate the following to exercise:

• sweat
• pain
• endorphins
• muscular
• don’t want to get too big
• takes too much time

Then all you do is go back to each word or phrase and write it as a statement.

“Exercise makes me sweat and I hate (love) sweating.”
“Exercise is painful.”
“Exercise makes me feel euphoric.”
“Too much exercise will make me look to muscular.”
“Exercise takes up too much of my time.”

Don’t limit yourself to only those beliefs that relate specifically to eating and exercise. Remember that we have beliefs about our ability to follow through on projects; to make proper choices; your deservedness to be, do and have what you want. Try and uncover all the beliefs about yourself that may be holding you back. For example:

“I am…”

• Lazy
• Fat
• A loving parent.
• A hardworking employee.
• A chocoholic.
• Out of shape.
• Weak.
• Strong.

“I have…”

• A slow metabolism.
• A bad back.
• Arthritis.
• No self-control.
• No time to workout.
• No money for a gym membership.

How To Create A New Empowering Self-Image

Now that you have a picture of your current self-image, it’s time to begin construction on a new self-image. One of the easiest ways to develop new characteristics is to pretend “as if”. What I mean is…

You pretend to be the person you want to be until you have in fact become that person. In this exercise, you will re-create yourself exactly how you want to be. Describe your ideal physical, mental and physical self.

• How do you look ideally?
• To get your ideal body, what new habits do you need to develop?
• How is your mental and emotional state of being?
• Do you feel in control of your body and your eating?
• What do you look like physically?
• Are you full of energy?
• How are you emotionally? Are you upbeat and enthusiastic?
• What about your confidence level? Is it high?
• What habits have you formed to maintain your success?

Close your eyes and picture yourself as you would ultimately like to be. Then open your eyes and jot down what you see. Write as quickly as you can in point form. You can go back and organize everything later.

Once you have completed piecing together your new self, look back at the last exercise in which you discovered your limiting self-images and beliefs. Go one-by-one through your negative belief statements and come up with a new, positive statement. For example, if you have the belief that says “I can’t lose weight”, your new, positive statement could be something like “I now lose weight quickly and easily”.

If you have a belief that says “I’m fat”, change it to “I’m a lean, fit healthy person who is experiencing a temporary bout of fatness.”

Don’t stop until you’ve come up with a list of new, positive, supportive beliefs to help you reach your weight loss goals. Once you’ve decided what your new beliefs will be, you need to make them a part of your subconscious operating system. One of the quickest ways to do this is to write out your new beliefs every single day and then read them aloud to yourself.

Your mind absorbs new information through repetition. Why do you think commercials work so effectively. We hear and see them over and over and over again until they become programmed into our subconscious. Your beliefs are no different. How many times have you said the same negative things to yourself? Now do the same thing, only make the statements positive.

Please don’t underestimate the power of this simple exercise. It works. If you’ve decided that this is silly, let me point out that your decision was based on some belief and will affect your future. Just something to consider.

If you’re new here, please accept my gift to you…a FREE e-Book titled, “How To Achieve Maximum Fitness and Weight Loss Results In Minimum Time”. You can download these free fitness and fat loss tips here. Thanks for visiting! Come again soon…and don’t forget to tell your friends.