Set-up: "Even though I still want to eat _________, I'm fine just way I am."

Reminder: "Still want to eat _________."

While I'm doing EFT round, I might find myself thinking things such as, "It's not that I want to eat them all, it's just that once I start I can't stop."

So, for next round I'll use that statement:

Set-up: "Even though I can't stop eating cookies once I get started, I deeply and completely accept myself anyway."

Say "even though" part with gusto, you really mean it! You are okay, just way you are.

Reminder: "Can't stop"

This round might lead to, "That's not true, I can decide how much I want, I just don't want to limit myself," so next round might be:

Set-up: "Even though I hate to limit myself, I deeply and completely..." or "Even though I don't want to limit myself," or whatever words fit your situation.

Reminder: "No limits"

Make this process yours and let your personal thoughts guide you. Doing this will help you unearth core issues and beliefs you may not have realized were there.

More often than not what happens with these simple and effective techniques is you will stop using them. Not because they don't work, but because they do. You will stop because you aren't ready to give up your eating habits - you like food, you enjoy taste, pleasure you gain from eating is greater than pleasure you anticipate by making a change in your habits. It's as if you say to yourself, "Screw it, I don't care. I want it now, and I'm going to have it." Much like a small child, you are simply feeding your instant desire, and that's okay too.

Be gentle with yourself. Realize you will do this on occasion, and accept it. It doesn't make you a failure, it simply proves you are human. Accept yourself as you are. If you make a commitment to do EFT exercises, even though you don't want to, you will reach success.

In my work reluctance to do something that will work explains why people continue to seek something new. They read new books, they try new diets (witness Atkins, now South Beach Diet), they ask each other (usually their overweight friends) what they are doing (why not ask someone without a weight problem instead?). The answer is they don't really want to make a change for better, they just want easy fix. Give me a pill, a simple food plan, make it easy for me, and I'll do it. I can keep on any plan for short-term, lose some weight, then as I'm gaining it back I can just blame myself. It's my fault for stopping diet. It's my fault, for not staying on plan.

This is not a healthy way to live. Take back your power. You decide what you will or won't do every day. Stop giving that power to others - stop blaming yourself for not staying on someone else's plan, and make your own plan.

This is single most important thing in anyone's change process: Realizing what you want for your health, your body, your life, is more important than what you get by instant gratification.

Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of http://www.OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Why I want to lose Weight

What's my first mini-goal? (1 week to 1 month). What's my longer-term goal? (1 month to 1 year) How strict must I be for this to work? (Pre-planned or legalized deviations works very well for many people) Sometimes, especially if you use a plan that incorporates "legalized cheating" then you'll end up with some leftover food. Get used to getting rid of it. Give it away, throw it away, it really doesn't matter. You're not doing yourself any favor by eating all leftovers. So what if cinnamon rolls go stale? I ate one and really enjoyed it, and that's what's important. Others also ate some cinnamon rolls, and even if no one had any, did I make them to eat them all, or did I make them because I was in mood to make cinnamon rolls? Does eating them all myself make any sense at all?

Sometimes I feel a little guilty making goodies and then giving them away because I think I'm not making it any easier for others to stick to their plans, but then I remember what I do in that situation, and I have to assume others are adult about how they decide to take care of themselves too. If I decide I'm going to eat in a more healthful manner, and someone brings something unexpected, it's not difficult in most all circumstances to simply say, "No, thanks. I already ate," or take some on a plate for later.

Since I don't go on "restrictive" diets, then I can incorporate pretty much anything into my day's food plan. I just eat it, when I'm hungry. I find it so much easier to base my eating on whether I'm hungry, than on whether something is there. Just because unexpected people show up, doesn't mean you use them, does it? Honestly, do you think anyone is upset when you leave a bit more for them? I don't think so.

The Case of Missing Wedding Cake

When I was a teenager my mother remarried and I offered to buy wedding cake. I had an ulterior motive though. My favorite bakery, Beaverton Bakery, was where I intended to get cake, and I knew by ordering far more than would be necessary there'd be lots and lots of leftovers for me to gorge myself silly on after festivities. Ha.

What happened instead is a blur. I don't know really what happened to cake but I do know I not only didn't get any leftovers, I never even had a piece at wedding. I tend to get caught up in people and don't usually eat at parties, so I paid it no attention, and much to my dismay someone else had bundled it up before I got there to do so. Alas, I was never to taste that cake at all. Such a disappointment - it must have been, I still remember it now and that's been more than 24 years ago now! LOL.

Food memories stick with me for a very long time. That day is my prime example of how I would not have minded one little bit if more people had said, "No thanks, I just ate," and passed on cake. I just wish I'd been a little more alert in setting aside a hunk for later.

Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of http://www.OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss. http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/getnews.html