Control Your Cravings and Lose Weight

     Many people mistakenly believe that's cravings or urges to eat occur because of physical with-drawal, and because of the need to eat. But this isn't true. Most of our urges or hunger pangs are triggered by unrelated things, like the time of day, certain people whom we're around, a type of feeling, or the kids coming home from school. Some people also mistakenly think that if they expe¬rience a hunger pang, that they must eat something. This is something which isn't true. Cravings or urges to eat are very often conditioned responses that seldom last very long. Plus if you do not give in to these feelings then you will very often find that they get weaker and easier to ignore.

So when you feel a craving or hunger pang, you can talk to yourself in your mind and remind yourself that, in a minute or two it'll go away. Hunger pangs are always fairly brief and time-limited. This is something which many people fail to realize and because of that they fear that it won't stop unless they eat. So if you do get a hunger pang or craving just tell yourself that it will go away in a minute or two. And that you don't have to eat right now.

If you make this a habit then you will soon discover that these urges to eat will not last very long and before you realize it, the cravings are gone. If you can practice this then you will learn to have control over food and feel better about your weight loss efforts.

Another technique which I teach my clients when they come to my office for help in losing weight is the balloon technique. In order to do this you would first close your eyes and take a few deeps breaths just to get yourself in a comfortable state. Then you would imagine yourself holding a helium balloon. You then imagine tieing all of your hunger pangs or cravings to the string of this balloon. When you have done this you then slowly count backwards from 3 down to 1 and then you imagine releasing the balloon.

At the same time feel the relief as you watch the balloon floating up into the air, taking with it all of your hunger pangs or cravings. Almost feel as if a weight or a burden is being lifted off your shoulders and is putting you back in control. Once you have done this exercise, slowly open your eyes and notice how good it feels to be in control again.

Just like the first exercise this one works best the more times that you do it. So make it a habit of doing this technique and if you do that you will discover that you can begin to do it much quicker. You may even get to the point in which you do not have to close your eyes. Many of the clients which I work with perform this exercise with their eyes open and sometimes whilst doing something else.

1. Prev:7 Healthy Tips For The Fastest Way To Lose Weight
2. Next:How to Lose Weight as a Vegetarian with Your Brain