Becoming Ready For Weight Loss With Emotional Freedom Techniques

If you say you want to lose weight, you no doubt really mean it. But are you ready to make the necessary changes that result in weight loss? Probably not. It's one thing to want to wear a smaller size, to move more easily, or to just feel better. It's yet another thing to be willing to eat differently or eat less, to learn new ways of behaving, or to move one's body more. In my experience as a weight release coach, it is rare for a new client to be ready to do what it takes to release their excess weight. Are you ready to do what it takes to lose weight? And if you aren't, how do you get ready?

The Six Stages of Change

There are six stages of change, according to James Prochaska, Ph.D. and his colleagues. For over 25 years, they have studied how people intentionally change. Surprisingly, the action stage is the 4th stage, not the first.

Here is a short description of the six stages. At which stage are you?

1. Precontemplation- You show no desire for change. You may be resigned to being overweight. You feel you have no control or choice and have no hope. You may also deny you have an overeating and/or weight problem. You can stay in this stage for years.

2. Contemplation- You are ambivalent. You know you are overweight or that you overeat but have many excuses for not changing. You may gather lots of information and talk about changing your behaviors at this stage but you don't. You may stay in this stage for years, waiting for the magic moment.

3. Preparation- You are intending to take action to lose weight in the near future. You make a plan. Perhaps you pick a diet or hire me as your weight loss coach. You experiment with small changes.

4. Action- You take definite actions to change. You begin the diet or join a weight loss program. We start having our weekly sessions. You may begin to exercise. Some results are being achieved.

5. Maintenance- You maintain the new behaviors started in the action step. You continue to be committed to your new way of eating. Your weight stabilizes at a healthy weight or you are well on your way to it. This is a long-term stage and, like the action stage, requires continued commitment.

6. Termination- You may never reach this stage though it is the dream of all people who struggle with overeating or excess weight. The new behaviors are now automatic and effortless and you are free of your old overeating behaviors. The threat of relapse lessens. Vigilance can safely decrease. You exit the cycle of change.

Spiraling between Stages is Normal

Don't be discouraged if you find yourself in a stage before the action stage. Chances are good that you have been in the action stage before and have been successful with losing weight but you have gotten off track now. Cycling between the stages is normal. Prochaska and his colleagues note that only 20% of the population conquers long-standing problems on the first try. But their research shows that experience with change strengthens people. Most return not to the precontemplation stage but to the contemplation or preparation stage and they get ready to take action again. Is this where you are? Fortunately, the cycles spiral upwards, making each new attempt more likely to succeed.

How to Become Ready to Lose Weight with Emotional Freedom Techniques(TM) (EFT)

What if you are not in the action stage but feel stuck in contemplation or preparation? Perhaps you can't quite muster the motivation you used to have for tackling that diet or exercise program. You still have hope (so you're not in the precontemplation stage) but you can't get off the misery-go-round of dieting. You are in the contemplation or preparation stage again and you're discouraged. Most people expect to lose weight and keep it off the first time they try and are disheartened and self-condemning when they regain the pounds. We allow a learning curve for every other new behavior but not weight loss! According to Prochaska and his colleagues, this is unrealistic. But with EFT, you can become ready for action.

EFT is a form of energy energy therapy. Eliminating your negative thoughts and feelings (and many physical problems, as well) is achieved by balancing your energy system since these symptoms are a result of a disruption to it. With EFT, you use fingertip tapping on your acupressure points, achieving the same balance as acupuncture does with needles.