Yesterday on Day 7 I asked you to consider the three parts of you: your past, present and future self.
I discussed how this process of weight loss, as well as any other goal you want to achieve, is all based on developing the relationship with your future self.
However, that does not mean that your relationship with your future self is more powerful than your relationship with your past self.
It is actually your relationship with your past in each present moment that determines your result.
If you make a plan with your past self and honor that plan with your present self, there’s nothing that you can’t accomplish.
See, your past self is much better equipped to plan what you eat right now than you are.
The reason for this is that your past self is thinking about you in the future with the prefrontal cortex, which is the highest, most evolved part of the brain that is designed for planning with your future interest in mind.
Humans are the only species that can plan ahead, so when you plan, you are functioning at your highest level as a human.
Your present self is much more likely to get distracted and give in to its current desires and interests, using a lower part of the brain that is much more interested in immediate gratification.
So planning ahead is a gift that you are giving to your future self that will then become your present self.
Your result at the end of this month will prove this concept.
Here’s how to do this.
Each day from now on you will decide what you are going to eat the next day and write it down.
You want to do this twenty-four hours ahead of time, NOT in the moment or right before each meal.
When you write down what you are going to eat, you can look at this as an amazing gift from the highest part of your brain.
You should expect that in the moment during this process there are going to be numerous times when you will be hungry for some type of food or there is food sitting in front of you that is not on your plan for that day.
Here is the question to ask yourself every time this happens and you make a decision: Am I going to honor the gift of my past self and the relationship that I have with her and honor that decision that was made for me with my best future interest in mind OR am I going to indulge my present self and let down my future self by overeating?
See how this relationship works?!
You are taking care of your future self by what you eat in this moment AND you are honoring your past self by what you eat in this moment.
So every decision in the moment connects your past self to the future self that you want to create.
You are developing and strengthening that complete relationship with yourself in every decision that you make in the moment.
Your result is that you will lose weight, but even more important is the relationship with yourself that you will establish and build each time you make that decision.
From there, you will be able to honor that relationship with things that have nothing to do with weight.
Actions to take:
- Decide what you are going to eat each day and decide that the day before. Today you will decide what you will eat tomorrow. Tomorrow you will decide what you will eat the next day and so on. Write down every single thing that you are going to eat.
- When tomorrow comes, you will only eat that.
- Plan with care. The better you take care of your present self, the easier it will be for her to honor your request from your past self. This means don’t plan too little food or food that you hate that will set you up for failure.
Some questions to consider when planning your meals:
- How many meals per day?
- What is my eating window? Example: I only eat from 7 am to 7 pm or I only eat from noon to 8 pm each day.
- What foods or types of foods will I allow?
- How much will I eat at each meal?
If you have any specific questions or need help with anything I have discussed so far, feel free to email me at mindfuldocmom@gmail.com or you can schedule a free call with me by clicking on the link below.
