Cravings...

One of the biggest challenges that my Physical Excellence Coaching clients have is controlling their cravings. Some of them crave chocolates or donuts, others crave crisps or pizzas, but they all have a hard time controlling these cravings. They start by trying to ignore it, to put it out of their minds and forget about it.

The problem about that, is that the more you try to ignore something, the more you think off it! This is to do with how your subconscious processes thoughts. Your subconscious mind is one of the most powerful "tools" for your success in achieving your goals and you need to learn how to use it.

But it is a flawed tool though.

And the good news is that you can use this flaw to your advantage. You see the subconscious mind, can not differentiate between reality and imagination, and the negative words are not processed at all. You can use the inability to differentiate between reality and imagination to your advantage by constantly visualising yourself the way you want to be and because of that your subconscious will "see it" as reality.

Therefore the more you see yourself with a 6-pack the more your mind believes it as true and will continuously "instruct" your body to achieve that 6-pack thus acting as if you have the 6-pack already! Hence the reason I advise you to not only be positive in your goals but also to do every thing at your disposal to continuously remember it, using vision boards, reading it out loud, doing mind movies, whatever is at your disposal.

How about the other flaw?

Well as your subconscious doesn't really process the negatives, when you say to yourself, "I can't have that chocolate bar" or "I don't want that packet of crisps" what your subconscious is actually hearing is "I can have that chocolate bar" and "I want that packet of crisps" and the more and more it hears this, the more it will want it and crave it and eventually your conscious mind will succumb to it!

So what should you do?

The advice I give my clients and indeed I follow myself is to use the following simple 3 step process:

1 - Acknowledge your craving

You want a chocolate bar. Acknowledge that is what you want and feel like eating. Don't even attempt to forget about it!

2 - Analyse the craving against your goal

If your chocolate bar has 200 calories, and if you eat it, how much more miles do you have to run or how many more hours do you need to lift weights to burn that extra bar of chocolate? Compare the bar of chocolate against your 6-pack. See your perfect body in your mind and how further away from it are you if you eat the chocolate bar.

3 - Decide if fulfilling the craving is worth it

Make your decision, you know by now what the consequences of eating that chocolate are. Are they really worth it? Is the 30 seconds of eating the bar worth the extra 1 or 2 hours you have to spend in the gym that day, just to burn the extra calories that you fed your body with?

By following this process

You will deal with your craving and not even be tempted to fulfill it due to the extra perceived pain you will suffer to achieve your goal. The first time you do this process it might take a minute or more to deal with it, but with time this process will be so quick that you will deal with your cravings almost instantly.

You can use this process with all your craving, physical and emotional ones. Simply acknowledge it, compare it to your goal and make the decision. Simple!

Have a brilliant day!

Speak soon,

Paulo