The first time when I had to say this, a new world opened up for me. I have not stumbled so much over a word in times. Yet I was very fascinated by this topic. As a dietitian (in training), you have to encourage someone to change their behavior.
NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming)
This sounds easy, but practice shows otherwise. Your brain is used to a certain pattern, a certain routine and you have built it up. This did not happen in one week, no, months have passed this. That is why you often hear when someone is busy with a new diet for a week:
“Oooh how hard, I now eat small meals more often during the day and normally I only eat three or one in the evening I am often used to eating two filled cakes and that is now no longer possible”.
You go against the “normal” and those neurological paths don’t like that. But guess what jobs you have created, you can break them. And this does not only apply to food, but also to smoking and alcohol, for example.
A bag of chips basically does nothing. It’s a bag, it’s just there. You open it and you eat it.
NLP is about how we perceive the world and how we respond to it.
➣ Neuro: The processing of 5 senses, hearing, touch, smell, taste and vision
➣ Linguistic:Representations are coded, ordered and given meaning in your brain.
➣ Programming: Discovering, changing and using your patterns (quite important for us all in the change process).
All external influences influence our communication process. We absorb these through our senses. The following happens internally:
External influence ➤ senses ➤ internal process (brain) ➤ communication and behavior
What techniques are there and how can you apply them in such an “empty the bag” moment?
-The wonder question –
“What if you get up tomorrow and you’re 15 pounds lighter?”
A question that makes you think. What are you doing it all for? Why do I eat a chicken salad if I can also eat a chicken burger? This is a question you can ask yourself in difficult moments.
Normally this question is asked by an NLP coach to give you a new perspective, but it is up to you to take all thoughts that come with this question seriously and to act accordingly. So give as many reasons as possible to yourself to choose the “right path”.
-Anchors-
You want to generate a positive thought about someone. You do this in steps, but you can also do this with yourself. You anchor this thought in difficult moments.
❶ Remember a moment from your past (related to the subject, such as a healthy weight) that you were extremely proud of, that you were able to achieve this.
❷ Get a visual image in your head (as if a photo / short excerpt).
❸ Give a short title this moment.
❹ Talk briefly about something else to distract the person (for the NLP coach).
❺ Bring the subject up (by the NLP coach) and concentrate on that beautiful moment that you were proud of yourself. Feel your feelings shifting as it were.
❻ Apply this at difficult moments.
This was a small introduction to NLP, but there is so much more! Tony Robbins is a bit of the guru of NLP and if you visit him you will find many ways. These two methods worked very well for me and that’s why I write about them. I recently applied them to clients and they find it very abstract (and a bit weird in the beginning), but in the end, it is fun to be more involved with their thoughts than just eating.
Give them a try! The more often you do this, the easier it goes.
Read also: How to maintain the weight loss program and stick to it
I Weight Loss Expert 