Jay Nixon - The Overweight Mind: The Undeniable Truth Behind Why You’re Not Losing Weight

The Overweight Mind

The Undeniable Truth Behind Why Youre Not Losing Weight

Jay Nixon

Copyright 2017 Jay Nixon

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre reading this book and didnt purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Publishing services provided by

Archangel Ink

To Lori with love and gratitude. None of this would be possible without you.

My why, my passion, my purpose, my mission is simple. I have a burning desire to help people live their best life.

Gratitude opens the door to... the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the universe.

You open the door through gratitude.

Deepak Chopra

Contents

What Is the Overweight Mind?

Did you know over two-thirds of American adults are considered overweight? Our country is bloated. Our waistlines are bulging. Hell, even the name of the institute that provides the weight statistic (The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) could use some trimming. We are living in excess.

How do you reverse the trend? How can you get back to a healthy lifestyle, one enabling you to live as your best self at a comfortable and healthy weight?

You could alter your eating habits. You could hit the gym more often. You could change your physical life in countless ways, but Im willing to argue those wont be enough to overcome our overweight culture.

The journey to a healthy lifestyle must begin by attacking your overweight mind . If you think your diet and exercise regimens are standing between you and sustainable health, you only have part of the equation. While your journey to a healthy lifestyle may have been slowed by burgers, fries, and a lack of exercise, the mindset floating between your ears could have been equally detrimental. Thoughts like:

Im not good enough.

Im not an athlete.

My family is overweight; its in my genes.

I like food too much.

I dont deserve to be in shape.

I dont like change.

I have bad joints, so I cant exercise.

Whether explicit or subliminal, thoughts like these are more of an obstacle to a healthy body than any bag of food you could get from a drive-thru window. Your conscious mind overflows with thoughts, both positive and negative. The negative thoughtsthose that will never serve you as you attempt to better yourselfwill weigh you down. Your subconscious mind is programmed with countless habits and rituals that can either help or hurt you. While your subconscious mind is on cruise control, mindlessly allowing poor eating and exercise habits, the conscious mind is beating itself up. The tandem of a negative conscious mind and a subconscious mind steering you blindly into obesity can be a dangerous combination. It will never allow you to improve. That dangerous pair wont allow you to create the change you seek.

The aim of this book is to teach you how to lighten the load. If youre among the two-thirds of the population that is overweight, chances are your mind plays a larger role than you know. This book will teach you how to shift your mindset, raise your standards, and change your psychology to promote a healthy lifestyle. Each chapter will detail a portion of your overweight mind needing adjustment and present action steps designed to make those changes happen. Im not here to give you information; I want to help you create the healthy lifestyle you desire.

You deserve a healthy body. You are worth it. Its time for you to prove it to yourself!

Chapter 1: 80% Psychology, 20% Mechanics

A healthy outside starts from the inside.

Robert Urich

Eat fewer calories. Exercise five days a week. Eat less sugar. Eat more vegetables. Mix cardiovascular training with weight training. Balance your macronutrient intake.

Sound advice, but its all mechanics. Each statement is valuable and should be implemented as you strive to achieve a healthy body, but relying solely on mechanical habits wont create lasting and permanent change in your lifestyle.

Mechanical changes to your lifestyle like the ones listed above are important, but not nearly as important as any psychological or mental shifts you make. In fact, when it comes to the breakdown of a permanent, happy, and healthy lifestyle, Id argue mechanics make up about 20% of it. Thats right, 80% of your health and wellness depends on your psychology or mindset.

I can sense some of you may still be on the fence about this ratio favoring your mental state, so lets consider some familiar examples to paint the picture. Have you ever seen The Biggest Loser ? Even if you havent watched a season from beginning to end, Im sure youve at least read an article about some of the amazing transformations. Or maybe youve tuned in for a season finale where triple-digit weight losses are the norm. Watching these contestants work their asses off and lose so much weight is inspiring. The incredible transformations are the reason the show has stayed on the air for so long.

Wed all love to think these contestants step off the stage after the final show and go on to live happy and healthy lives with their friends and families. Unfortunately, thats not the case for some of the most successful contestants. Ali Vincent, the first woman to win The Biggest Loser , sat down with Oprah after her big win and discussed her huge weight loss. On the show, Ali had lost 112 pounds. What she told Oprah was that when she got home from the Biggest Loser ranch, she didnt know what to do with herself. All of the structure, exercise regimens, and changes in diet were no longer present in her daily life. She didnt have a coach screaming in her ear to keep pushing it on the treadmill. Essentially, the mechanics of her weight-loss journey broke down.

So, what happened? Her meal plans became less strict, she didnt exercise as much, and she had the liberty to go out and have drinks with friends whenever she pleased. She ended up gaining nearly all of the weight back.

Ali is not alone. She is only one example of a long list of Biggest Loser contestants who had a tough time keeping the weight off. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases followed season-eight contestants and found thirteen of fourteen contestants gained weight back after the bright lights of TV had dimmed. This study also disclosed that the contestants endured a significant slowing of their metabolisms during their rapid transformations, making it even harder for their bodies to keep up with the demand to burn calories. Their slower metabolisms (coupled with a weight-loss plan far too focused on extreme diet and exercise) created a recipe that left the contestants closer to where they started than where they finished.

We dont have to look far for more health transformations skewing the focus towards mechanics than psychology and mindset. Consider people who opt for bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery shrinks your stomach (either by using a gastric band to minimize it or by removing a part of it). Individuals undergoing the procedure are likely obese and have the best intentions. They want to live healthier. They dont want to die young. They want to shed the emotional baggage accompanying their excessive weight.

Some patients find success and report weight loss over the long term. Unfortunately, many patients gain the weight back over time. In fact, in a study done by the American Medical Association in 2015, nearly half of the bariatric surgery patients researched reported significant weight gain within five years of their surgery. Why? Mechanics. Reducing the size of the stomach is about as mechanical as you can get in terms of weight loss. You literally wake up with a smaller stomach. Yes, bariatric surgery is paired with counseling, but the counseling isnt geared towards understanding and shifting a patients psychology. Its aimed at advising him/her about proper food choice, how much food to eat, and what exercise regimen to follow. Sound familiar? More mechanics.