"How long will it take me to lose this weight?"
I wish I had an answer, but there is no answer and there is no timeline. There are too many variables involved. The weight loss industry has brainwashed us to believe the best diets are the ones that promise amazing results in a short amount of time. This couldn't be farther from the truth; the reality is healthy living means living healthy for a lifetime.
Be confident and believe that you are no longer dieting, but rather...
... you are living healthy regardless of the time of day or year;
... you make choices and decisions that are in line with living healthy; and
... you have incorporated every aspect of your life into your health.
Living healthy takes many adjustments. You need knowledge, patience, and practice, and without patience there is no practice.
Ursula Pietrzykowska, known as Ula, is a body-oriented therapist working in private practice in New York City. According to Ula, body-oriented therapy differs radically from traditional therapy. Traditional therapy is focused on talking issues through using only the mind. Body-oriented therapy is based on incorporating the mind, the body, and the spirit as one, a crucial connection for a healthy lifestyle.
The Mind:
According to Ula, "90 percent of our brain is unconscious, and that's the part we act on. Only 10 percent functions for things we understand."
This tells us that when we decide to live healthy, healthy thoughts must be the strongest and most prevalent. Making our conscious decisions stronger will allow us to understand what we want and why we crave certain food items.
If you've had a lifetime of unhealthy thoughts and habits, it will take time to change these messages so that you can act on the healthier ideas without so much opposition from your unconscious. This is how your mind supports a healthy life.
The Body:
"When a baby's needs are not met, it is painful for them and they begin to cry," Ula explains. "If their needs are still not met, eventually the crying will stop, not because the needs are met but because it is more painful to continue crying." For many of us, we learn at a young age to suppress what is painful and instead turn to food to smother our emotions, but food can never satisfy an emotion. The eating continues while the feelings remain.
When you decide it's time to live healthy, you must learn how to manage feelings and emotions with a non-food approach, and disconnect food and feelings. Allow the time needed for this switch; it may take time to acknowledge the many different emotions you have been silencing for years.
The Spirit:
"Deep inside each person is wisdom," Ula says, "Regardless of how we cover it up or defend it. It is this wisdom that is our spirit."
Your wisdom, as Ula states, or will as I like to consider it, guides your mind to make choices for your body.
Once your mind, body, and spirit are connected to help shift you into a healthier lifestyle you will instantly know it. This is when you have the knowledge.
Now it's time for the practice and patience.