Journaling to Achieve Your Weight Loss Goals
Presented by Dr. Alexandra Gellman Doctor of Homeopathic Medicine & Executive Behavioural Coach Motivati...
Presented by Dr. Alexandra Gellman Doctor of Homeopathic Medicine & Executive Behavioural Coach Motivational Weight Loss Coach for Slimband®
History of Journaling • Been around since 1500 in the Orient and Europe • There are records about scribes recording info long before this • In the Orient, concubines would write in their books late at night and hide them under their pillows - came to be called Pillow Books • Journals were used to record information for science and knowledge. Personal information was often written in code for protection • Journaling came to America with colonization and has grown quickly as a healing tool to help deal with emotions and to make decisions
Review of Triggers • You can change behaviour by diffusing what you tell yourself • Tell your journal • Change what you tell yourself and you will change the outcome • Tell yourself three different ways you could talk to yourself • Try for three weeks
Supplies • Notebook - do not need a fancy book bound in leather • A good pen • Can be done on your computer if you prefer not to write • Needs to be private so you feel safe • Nobody will see it
Where to start Beginners • Journal every second day • Same time, same place for a set amount of time • 10 minutes
Advance • Go with your opposite nature • If you are a person who embraces structure, go spontaneous • If you are a person who prefers to run their life in a spontaneous style, make it a point of embracing structure • Journal at the same time in the same place every day for 10 minutes
Five Ws
• Who, What, Where, Why, and When • Other key questions to get you started • Ask yourself: What does this remind me of from childhood? • How do you deal with this feeling - what behaviour often follows? • What fear does it bring up?
Not Easy • YOU may not want to really hear the answers as to why you sabotage yourself over and over again • You will stare at the page with no answers as to the sabotage behaviour • Listen closely, write everything you hear in your head, do not EDIT; do not JUDGE • Take off the rose-coloured glasses • We all like to believe it is only the food • The food is only a symptom of deeper factors • (story of mother and daughter trying to lose weight)
Resistance
• YOU are ready to write and nothing comes up • Write about that experience • How it feels to sit in front of this paper and have nothing to say?
Example • You are doing great for a year - losing weight • Suddenly over the summer, you start to over-indulge every night with cookies and chips, and gain back a significant amount of weight
Journaling Process • Answer the five Ws • And the three consecutive questions
Use Colour
• Felt markers, pencil crayons, cut outs from magazines • Colour will engage the right side of the brain and begin to heal the inner parts
Group Work #1 What do I tell myself when I reach for food late at night or after I have fulfilled the needs of my body? • What am I feeling? • Any physical sensations in the body? • This process is called “mind mapping” and is a tool to turn around negative self-talk
Scrapbook • Cut out pictures from magazines that appeal to you • Write about the picture • Create a goal journal with photos of what you want your life to look like • Plan it out in 1 year / 3 years / 5 years • Do you truthfully believe you deserve this life? • Are your expectations realistic?
Group Work #2
• What would my life be like if I reached my weight loss goal? • What is appealing about this? • What is not? • What do I feel in my body? • What keeps me from sticking to my food plan? • Is there a rebel part that does not like to told what to do?
Journal Ideas • Dream journal – journal your feelings, how you felt about the dream • What part of your history in your subconscious brought forward this dream? • Use journaling as a tool to scribe difficult flashbacks of unpleasant events you have tried to forget Remember you are safe now and the journal will help you process thoughts, emotions and memories – if the memories are overwhelming, seek professional help. • Gratitude journal – write 5 everyday • Create an accountability journal
Homework: Pick 2 to Start 1. Ways you nurture yourself? If you don’t currently how could you start? 2. How do you deal with your feelings? What behaviours often follow? 3. Are there regrets in your life? How do you deal with them? Where do you feel them? 4. What fears are attached to your potential weight loss? 5. Write about your empathy. How do you feel towards others who are also trying to lose weight? 6. How do you deal with family and friends that have not supported you?
