Permanent Weight Loss - A Question of Re-Programming

This morning I received an email from my great friend Jen. In it was a question asked by the cybernetics engineer Norbert Weiner in response to a question, about how to determine the causes of schizophrenia, from his friend and epidemiologist, Gregory Bateson.

The email went on to adapt the question into one that I found most revealing. So I though you may like to ponder over it as I have done...

"If you were going to build a machine that produced a battle with weight, size, shape and food the way you do it, what would the machine need to do?"

Think about it and write down your own answers before you read what mine were. Don't forget, we are all uniquely different and your machine may be quite different from mine!

So my machine (as it used to be) was developed to run a programme that...

1. Constantly identified food as 'good' or 'bad' so I feared it and yet craved it.

2. Ran continuous movies about the 'bad' food and how much I loved to eat it.

3. Was based on a negative body image 'platform' (belief system) that considered my weight, size and shape was all wrong.

4. Contained a database of negative messages that I was not 'good enough' to be loved, and distributed them constantly.

5. Picked up all external messages that reinforced that I was not 'good enough' and added them to the database.

6. Easily stored negative and unhappy memories.

7. Made the storage of positive and joyous memories difficult and inaccessible for quick retrieval.

8. Easily triggered the rebellious 'child within me', giving permission for me to eat whatever and whenever I wanted.

9. Prevented me from connecting my mind to my body.

10. Triggered binge eating as a means of avoiding my emotions and the truth within them that was there for me to learn from.

This was obviously a virus-riddled programme and the awful thing was, I had created it for myself! So that was the key. If I had created it for myself I could definitely repair it. All I had to do was develop an anti-virus that created exactly the opposite thoughts, beliefs, feelings and behaviours from my list above.

No it is not a 'quick fix' but as we know they never work out well in the long run. It certainly has been life and weight changing though.

By answering the question yourself you will also have the basis from which to modify your present programme, rebuilding your machine without all its negative viruses.

Happy re-programming!

Chrissie Webber is a published author, business coach and leadership trainer. As Managing Director of Life-Shapers Ltd she is developing her online weight-loss motivation company http://www.lifeshapers.co.uk into a franchise of Life Shapers Weight Management Coaches.

Her track record in the area of weight management is firstly a personal one. Following a lifetime of weight issues - at her heaviest, over 21 stone and a massive size 30 - she has personal experience of diets and their devastating effect on size and psyche.

With a background in nursing, psychology and business coaching, coupled with a lifetime of dieting, she developed and successfully used a series of models and tools that enhance weight loss motivation. Now over 5 dress sizes smaller and having sustained her weight loss for several years she has written a book about her motivational journey. Weight Loss, Life Gain - A Motivational Journey to Permanent Weight Loss was published in January 2008 by Accent Press.

Her Blog http://www.chrissiewebber.co.uk and free monthly eZine now offer support to others.