Every good story has a great villain who is working to prevent the hero from reaching success.  I like to look at the obstacles to weight loss as a villain in my hero’s journey.  Hey, it’s my story and I get to make it work for me!

My husband and I have recently STARTED watching The Game of Thrones and I am freaking out watching Joffrey Baratheon’s villainous behavior.  He is dripping with immaturity and drunk from power.  He thinks only of himself and not the people of his kingdom.  He is a spoiled child from an incestuous relationship with a deep need to hurt others who stand in his way.  Such a great bad guy! 

What does that have to do with wanting to lose weight and keep it off, you might ask?

Joffrey Baratheon’s character has a purpose in the story.  He is a catalyst and because he is so bad, he reveals the character of those around him by how they respond to him. Will they stand up to his brutality or appease him and do his bidding? Will they succumb to the villain or be the hero we want them to be?

Villains are central to every story worth telling! Every hero’s journey has a villain!

Now, let’s take your story.  Look at your life as your own hero’s journey. Maybe the costumes aren’t as extravagant, but the drama of your life is being played out every day in your mind and imagination. 

If your cause is health and weight loss, you face a different kind of villain.  It is a thought, a belief or an opinion that lives in your mind that blocks your way to success.

There is also the outside world that tells you it’s fabulous to eat food that has been designed in a lab to taste just so.  In King’s Landing, the people shout, “Off with his head.”  In your world, they whisper, “Just one taste, come on, it’s no big deal.”

Perhaps the reason you haven’t been successful at weight loss up to now is that you started strong with lots of willpower and even enthusiasm, then you lost the excitement of something new and your commitment withered.  It isn’t as easy as you wanted it to be.  The obstacle feels large and looming and you don’t feel like a hero, just a failure. 

You think, “I can’t give up the food that feels so good.”

But does it?  It feels good for a momentary pleasure.  The consequences – continued weight gain and disappointment in ourselves – are negative and not pleasurable at all.

Like the anti-heroes in your favorite story who serve to make the hero fight and try again and again, your own mind can become a force intent on your failure or your success.  Your villainous thoughts are the anti-hero, the force that drives self-sabotage by breaking your resolve to eat healthy foods, get enough sleep and move your body.

Thought Villains - It’s all in your head.

When you decide on a plan (with my help) for what you will eat, it’s like putting a stake in the ground.  You can expect attacks to come from your thought villains. 

Suddenly, reasons to abandon your weight loss goals take shape and loom larger than life and seem quite reasonable and sane.

Your desire to eat something processed and quick overcomes your reason to choose something whole and healthy.

You need help.  That doesn’t mean anything has gone wrong.  You expect that villainous thought, you see it coming, we strategize to overcome it.

The Thought Villains of Weight Loss & a Healthy Lifestyle

     Lack of commitment

          Thought errors

               Over desire

                    Over hunger

                         These are the villains in your story. 

They come disguised as reasonable and provide bulletproof excuses for your rational brain.  “I’m too tired to prepare my meal.” They seem familiar and friendly.

Instead of being struck down dead by your villain in one swish of the sword, this villain acts within to get you to do the dirty work of preventing you from reaching your weight loss goal. Then it seems the only rationale response is to blame and hate yourself and the cycle of self-sabotage continues.

These villains pretend to be your friend; you feel yourself taken in, understood and consoled. Think Cersei Lannister consoling Catelyn Stark about her son, Bran’s  “accident.”  You are shocked into reality when you see their true face.  Often it is too late.

Luckily, this journey of losing weight isn’t as unforgiving as the world created in The Game of Thrones. 

Don’t think it doesn’t kill.  It does. 

I can give you tools to overcome your thought villains.  Many clients start to lose weight quickly, often in less than 21 days.

Don’t believe what you think.

Instead of the sword and an army to fight the villains, we have access to the most powerful tool in the universe - our pre-frontal cortex.  The pre-frontal cortex or PFC is the youngest part of our brain evolutionarily speaking; it is a complex processor of information, functioning as the great planner and carries out intricate actions and oversees diverse learning functions.  And you have one. 

How do we slay these thought villains?  One thought at a time.  One mouthful of healthy food at a time.  One walk at a time.  Once coaching session at a time. One phone call.

Here’s the deal.  You pick one of the villains below that prevent your weight loss.  The more heinous they are to your journey, the better. In 30 minutes, I’ll give you a tool to slay that particular villain and keep your weight loss on track for success. 

1.       How to Make a Commitment

2.       How to Correct Thought Errors

3.       How to Solve your Over Desire for Unhealthy Foods

4.       How to Solve your Over Hunger for Unhealthy Foods

Schedule your free villain slaying call!