From Fat to Thin Thinking

by Rita Black

  If you have diabetes, please make sure you monitor your blood sugar levels and adjust accordingly during this process.

  Review your weight release eating structure. If you didn’t fill in the form in Chapter 26 yet, take a moment now to think about when you plan to fit meals, snacks, and a treat in your day—keeping within your Daily Calorie Budget for Weight Release. Check the Online Resource Center at www.FromFatToThinThinking.com for some daily meal plan structures that might be a good starting point for you.

  Think through and have on hand easy, healthy meals, healthy pre-made products, and snacks that adhere to your meal structure. There are terrific suggestions for healthy meals with recipes online. You can often find low-calorie versions of your favorite meals online, too. Do some research. It will pay off in the long run. Here are some tips for healthy meal planning:

  Research healthy fast food and eating out options. Most chain restaurants and drive-throughs have nutritional information online and offer a few healthy options.

  Have a healthy treat available for once a day. Choose something that isn’t a trigger food and stays within 15 percent of your Daily Calorie Budget for Weight Release.

  While shopping, make sure you get plenty of protein options and a variety of vegetables and fruits. Frozen vegetables are great because they don’t spoil, and you can steam them in the microwave quickly. Add some protein and a sauce, such as marinara, teriyaki, or a curry-based simmer sauce, and dinner is served.

  STEP 6 Prepare Your Environments for Stimulus Control

  If you don’t have a plan, the world has one for you, and it’s not a slimming one. Be proactive and don’t be a victim of your environments!

  Observe your kitchen, workplace, car, and any other environments in which you spend time every day. Are there any trigger foods that need to be removed?

  Do you need to ask others to keep their trigger foods out of your sight?

  Make sure you have healthy foods in your environment that you can reach for.

  STEP 7 Assemble Your Weight-Release Support Team

  It’s time to get your team assembled for your 30-Day Thin Thinking Practice. Don’t take this step lightly!

  Review your support team list, and let each person know how to help you over the next 30 days and beyond.

  Encourage a supporter or two to go through the Shift Weight Mastery Process with you! This process is a great group project. If you assemble a group, you can begin being a leader, which will elevate your own chances of long-term success. The process works great for families and groups of friends or colleagues.

  STEP 8 Set Time Aside Daily for Hypnosis and Huddles

  The 30-Day Thin Thinking Practice is obviously going to take some time each day. Before you begin, think through how you will make time for these important mental processes. The following is the best time you will ever spend making positive change:

  You will need about eight minutes for your Daily Vision Meditation Huddle in the morning.

  You will need a few minutes throughout the day for reading the coaching emails and doing some Shift Breath Huddles.

  A few minutes in the afternoon and evening for your Afternoon and Evening Huddles.

  About 20 minutes for your Hypnosis Session in the evening.

  Now you are set up for your 30 days. It’s time to officially huddle with your Inner Coach for your first week of mastery practice.

  2-Your First Weekly Planning Huddle with your Inner Coach

  Since you already have done all the heavy lifting with setting up your 30-Day Thin Thinking Practice, this first Weekly Planning Huddle will be short, sweet, and to the point. I want you to get used to the idea of sitting down with your Inner Coach for a Planning Huddle every week to set a vision, goals, and strategies to meet those goals.

  Take a deep Shift Breath and connect with your Inner Coach for this session.

  Go to www.FromFatToThinThinking.com and find the Weekly Weight Release Planner-Calculator. Go ahead and use the calculator provided to determine:Your weight release goal for the week.

  The Daily Calorie Budget for Weight Release that allows you to meet that goal.

  The specific exercise you will be doing to help you meet that goal

  Print your Weekly Weight Release Planner. The planner-calculator is a great tool that makes planning your week easy and you can print it and use it all week long to guide you.

  NOTE: If you don’t want to use the online planner-calculator, you can use the one in the Index to guide you.

  Look at the coming week on your personal calendar and do the following:Create your exercise appointments—and plan to keep them!

  Think through upcoming social events and other possible challenges, like the business lunch or the book group feast. How are you going to set yourself up for success?

  Mark in meal ideas and even remind yourself of the times you should eat if you tend to forget.

  Close your eyes and imagine yourself at the end of the week, feeling lighter, leaner, and happy with yourself and proud of all you and your Inner Coach have accomplished. Take a Shift Breath and lock that vision in!

  You are done preparing, now relax and have a good night’s sleep so you can be ready for Day 1.

  DAY 0 CHECK LIST

  Follow these steps to prepare yourself for the next 30 days:

  STEP 1: Access the 30-Day Thin Thinking Practice Resources Online

  www.FromFatToThinThinking.com. Click on the tab marked “Start Email Coaching” and sign up to begin your 30-Day Thin Thinking Practice emails. You will immediately get an email for “Day 0” that will walk you through these steps you are going through.

  The next Day you will receive your Thin Thinking Practice Training Day 1. Each daily email will contain the hypnosis and mediation sessions for that day along with written coaching for that day’s practice.

  If you do not receive the email check your spam folder—it could end up there.

  STEP 2: Choose your Food and Exercise-Tracking System

  Manual Tracking: Get a notebook, or print out 30 Daily Food Journal PDFs from the website or copy 30 Daily Food Journals from the index.

  Electronic Tracking: Sign up for Lose It! Or My Fitness Pal either online or in the App Store. These services are free of charge.

  Remember: You will want to adjust the Daily Calorie Budget in these systems to the Daily Calorie Budget given to you by the Shift calculator.

  STEP 3: Prepare to Track your Weight

  Digital Scale

  Weight Tracking system (app or manual print out)

  STEP 4: Prepare to Exercise

  Attire—Music—Schedule—Gym or other location ready

  STEP 5: Prepare to Eat in your Food Mastery Zone

  Plan meals, snacks, and treats for the week.

  Create a shopping list of healthy options. (See website)

  Create an eating out plan. Think about healthy take-out options and look at restaurant websites ahead of time to know what choices you can make ahead of time.

  STEP 6: Prepare your Environments

  Remove trigger foods / Add healthy food options

  STEP 7: Create your Support Team

  Make sure you are ready to make yourself a priority.

  Enroll family and friends in supporting you.

  STEP 8: Set Aside Daily Meditation and Hypnosis Times

  Morning—10 minutes—Daily Vision Meditation

  Evening—20 minutes—Hypnosis (can be in afternoon or at bedtime)

  Do’s And Don’ts

  DO see yourself as an apprentice. This is not about perfection but about learning and creating your new thin thinking mind.

  DON’T give into limiting beliefs, such as:“I don’t have time!”

  “This is hard.”

&n
bsp; “I’ll start over Monday.”

  DO expect to be overwhelmed, confused, and have other emotions at times. Emotions are fine. Allow them to wash over you and know that you are learning.

  DO expect to start feeling confident and free.

  DON’T stop or start over.

  DO keep moving forward on your journey of weight mastery.

  Common Q’s And A’s About The 30-Day Thin Thinking Practice

  Q: What if I skip a few days or get off track from my practice?

  A: Keep going wherever you are. Do not start over. If you missed a few days, you can review the materials later, but just keep going. Break the “start over pattern.”

  Q: What if I don’t listen to the hypnosis for a few days?

  A: Keep going and begin listening again. Do all the meditation and hypnosis sessions that you can. Keep moving forward!

  There are more Q’s and A’s on www.FromFatToThinThinking.com.

  CASE STUDY: Jackie’s Insight

  Jackie is a hairstylist and works long, busy days. One of her clients released weight with the Shift Weight Mastery Process and recommended Jackie try it. Jackie loved the idea of hypnosis but was a bit slower to embrace the “thinking process” of shifting from fat to thin thinking. You may feel like Jackie: “Just give me the hypnosis and fix me.” The following is Jackie’s experience.

  “I have struggled with my weight since I was a kid. When I signed up for the Shift Weight Mastery Process, I thought What the heck, lie back and let the hypnosis do the work, and I will shake these 40 pounds. So I was a bit intimidated when I realized that I was going to be ‘practicing’ daily mindsets. I thought Crap! I am going to be spending so much time thinking and working things out! I don’t have time for this!”

  I invited Jackie to step up to the plate and give it a try. After a week of practicing the process, Jackie said, “I am glad I didn’t give up. I realize now that the few minutes a day I spend practicing shifting from fat to thin thinking can’t compare to the hours that I spent obsessing about my food and weight and feeling bad. I save so much time and heartache with these simple daily tools. Anyone can do it. The hypnosis helps make thin thinking easy.”

  “I have released 40 pounds and feel confident and in control, because I am creating my success. No one but me can do it. This process gave me the best and least expensive weight loss coach in town…ME! Give Shifting a shot. You are worth it!” Jackie T. (Released 41 pounds, maintaining for 6 months.)

  Now Just Begin

  The secret to releasing weight and shifting from fat to thin thinking with the Shift Weight Mastery Process—drum roll, please—is to begin. Yes, that’s right. Many people will buy something and then put it aside, saying “Oh I’ll start later,” and then they never follow through. Start when you say you are going to start and really commit to that day, your Day 0.

  As my high school social studies teacher Mr. Prepazac used to say: “The best term paper is a completed term paper.” Well, the best Shift Weight Mastery Process is one that is completed. There is no perfect time, mood, or season. Life is never going to line up for you to do your process perfectly, and that is good!

  You are not here to be perfect; that is a word for dieters. Success comes from consistently showing up for yourself day after day. The perfect time is now. Give yourself the wonderful gift of showing up for yourself and participating 100 percent.

  If you have any doubts about the process or already feel as if you are not going to be able to do it or stick with it, I understand. That’s your resistant unconscious speaking to you already. Remember, the unconscious hates change, and what you are thinking about right now is change.

  You are readier than you will ever be. Your mind is primed for success and mastery. I believe in you, Apprentice, and I am here with you every step of the way to your ideal weight. Let’s begin your first day of practice.

  From Fat To Thin Thinking

  Glossary Of Terms

  Basal ganglia: The part of the brain responsible for such functions as control of voluntary motor movements, routine behaviors or habits, and emotions.

  Carb Zombie: The overstimulated craving brain and body state initiated by consuming a diet high in refined carbohydrates.

  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): A form of therapy that uses cognitive techniques to help people become aware of when they make negative interpretations and engage in behavioral patterns that reinforce that distorted thinking.

  Daily Body Burn Calories: The total number of calories the body burns during a 24-hour period (resting metabolic rate + sedentary calories).

  Daily Calorie Budget for Weight Release: The number of daily calories you choose to consume that will allow you to release weight at your chosen rate.

  Diet: Any way of eating with the intention of losing weight, including low carb, low fat, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Paleo, clean, vegan, no sugar, and gluten-free.

  Fat thinking: The deeply rooted, limiting belief and habit systems that keep one struggling with their weight.

  GAK: Food that is highly refined and gives your body no nourishment.

  Hypnosis: A conscious but relaxed mental state in which changing beliefs and habits in the subconscious mind is possible.

  Inner Coach: The wise, rational, strategy-seeking and problem-solving inner voice.

  Inner Critic: The perfectionistic and condemning inner voice that holds a person to abnormal standards, prompts negative self-talk, and undermines the ability to succeed in changing behavior.

  Inner Rebel: The impulsive and sometimes childish inner voice that resists healthy change and drives a person to make unhealthy choices.

  Mastery Zone: Daily protein intake of 72 grams or more and daily carbohydrate intake of less than 125 to 150 grams. This maintains physical stability and mental focus and prevents craving.

  Meditation: Spending time in quiet thought for relaxation, problem-solving, and reflection.

  Metabolism: The energy expended by the chemical reactions taking place within a living organism.

  Neocortex: The part of the brain responsible for higher-order brain functions, such as sensory perception, cognition, language, and generation of motor commands.

  Neural pathways: The pathways on which information travels along nerve cells (neurons) in the brain.

  Neurotransmitters: Chemicals that transmit signals from one nerve cell to another.

  National Institutes of Health (NIH): Twenty-seven separate national institutes and centers that conduct research in various biomedical science disciplines.

  National Weight Control Registry (NWCR): A research study that includes people who have released at least 30 pounds and have kept it off for over a year.

  Resting metabolic rate (RMR): The amount of energy (number of calories) that your body expends in a resting state over a 24-hour period.

  Sedentary calories: The amount of calories that you burn performing daily, non-exercise related activities.

  Stimulus control: Minimizing or eliminating foods or situations that prompt a reaction. For example, proactively creating an environment free of trigger and problem foods and keeping healthy food choices available.

  Thin thinking: Powerful, mastery-based thinking that prompts the positive beliefs and behaviors that lead to long-term weight release.

  Weight Master: A person who has learned the skills and mindset of long-term permanent weight release and maintenance.

  Weight Mastery: The ongoing, gratifying journey of honing the skills and mindset for permanent weight release and maintenance.

  Weight release: The act of letting go of weight.

  Weight Struggler: A person who has been in a perpetual battle with weight, regardless of whether it’s five pounds or 500 pounds.

  Weight struggle: The frustrating and cyclical battle with weight gains and losses in which a person constantly struggles
with consistency regarding food, exercise, their body, and most of all himself.

  Weekly Weight Release Rate: The amount of calories a person chooses to burn each week in order to release a specific number of pounds.

  Acknowledgments

  No weight release happens in a vacuum, nor does a book on weight release! I owe a debt of gratitude to many generous and amazing people who have been a part of my own journey to weight mastery. My journey led to creating the Shift Weight Mastery Process and ultimately to this book, Fat to Thin Thinking. What an amazing journey it has been.

  First, I would like to thank my amazing husband, Simon Black, who has been by my side as a partner, a mentor, a cheerleader, and a friend. Simon is always there to help me through the fat and thin of it all. Thank you for giving me permission to become obsessed and allowing my mission to be a part of our lives. What would I do without you?

  I would also like to thank my children, Archie and Vivien, who drew pictures of healthy foods for my early seminars. Also, I am very thankful for my mother-in-law, Margaret Black, and my sister-in-law, Kate Khaleel, who bravely attended early seminars as guinea pigs.

  I am grateful for my friends and family who patiently cheered me along.

  I would not have written this book if not for my fabulous, life-changing clients, all of the Shift Weight Mastery Process participants, the beta-tester clients who participated in research for the book, and the pioneer team of eight brave clients who participated in the pilot Shift Weight Mastery Process in 2007. Your stories, your struggles and successes, your ideas and feedback, and your generosity of heart, tenacity, courage, intelligence, and wisdom move me so much. I wake up every day thinking how grateful I am that you have allowed me to make a difference in your lives and for what a difference you have made in mine.