Can You See It?

When someone comes to see me for help with losing weight, I will always ask them if they can see themselves at the weight they want to be.

This is very important. It is difficult to steer yourself in a particular direction and keep going if you don‘t have a clear idea of the destination.

Sometimes my client will have a favourite piece of clothing they want to be able to wear again. Sometimes they will have a photograph from a time when they felt they were at a healthy weight. It doesn’t really matter. The main thing is to have some kind of image.

There is a range of things I do with someone who wants to lose weight. I will though always include at some point in the treatment a visualisation of a slimmer you.

I will get into some detail with the person so that they see what they are wearing, how the clothing fits to the shape of their body, how their skin looks now they are slimmer, the contours of the muscles under their skin, the shine of their hair and so on.

Imagery isn’t just about the visual however and I will include the other senses. For example, I might get them to imagine touching their arms and feeling the tone of their muscles (because of course they will have been exercising!), hearing positive feedback from others and so on. I might get them to imagine they can actually step inside this slimmer self as if stepping into a body suit and “trying it on for size” and noticing how it feels to feel slimmer, lighter, having more energy, what they are saying to themselves.

Imagery such as this can be very powerful. I once read about a woman whose picture was of herself wearing her favourite jeans. She said that it was strong enough for her to turn down chocolate when offered it. She would just call up the picture and it would work its magic.