Everything that happens in life is neutral. Every circumstance, situation or action that is outside of our control is neither good nor bad. It’s just neutral. Only when we have thoughts about it, does this change.

Why, because our thoughts create how we feel. What we think and then feel, gives meaning to the circumstance, situation or action.

When I wake up in the morning and open the curtains, it brings me joy to see a beautiful blue sky day. I instantly feel happy, excited and grateful for the day ahead.

Yet, if it’s grey and raining, I don’t have these same feelings. I feel glum, disappointed and a little down. I don’t have the same spring in my step as on a glorious sunny day.

But I could!

It’s just my thoughts around what certain weather means that is creating how I feel. Rather than thinking, “What a shame it’s raining today”, I could choose to think that I’m feeling happy, excited and grateful for the day ahead

I can create a spring in my step with my thoughts no matter what the weather is.

This is great news because when we feel good, we’re more likely to take positive action which leads to positive results.

This can help you when you have a goal or dream you’re working towards, including to lose weight and improve your health.

So, how do you start working on changing your thoughts?

I like to use The Model, a weight loss tool I learnt about from Brooke Castillo at The Life Coach School. You can use this tool to start changing the thoughts that are no longer serving you with new thoughts that can help reach the goals and dreams you desire.

The Model is also a great tool to use to process the thoughts that come up when using The Urge Jar and you have urges to eat when you’re not hungry

The Model has five components:
Circumstances, Thoughts, Feelings, Actions and Results

• Circumstances are the facts of the world that we have no control over. These are outside of you and can be your past, situations or people, including what people say and the actions they take.

• Thoughts are sentences in your mind about a circumstance. They have the power to create feelings, actions and results. You are not your thoughts and your thoughts are not true. You can choose your thoughts which is fantastic news! This means you change your thoughts about a fact (you can’t change facts) and fix what you think is a problem.

• Feelings are a vibration in your body caused by a thought in your mind. We feel happy, sad, excited, angry or stressed because of a thought about a circumstance.

• Actions are our behaviours. They are what we do or what we don’t do. We take actions based on our thoughts and feelings of a circumstance.

• Results are the outcomes and effects of our actions. They are what happens in our lives because of actions we decide to take or not

So now you know the components of The Model, how do you use it?

You can start on any line in the model. If you have a thought you want to change, put it in the T line. If you have a result you want to achieve, put it in the R line and so on.

Let’s keep to the theme of Learning to Love the Weight Loss Journey and dive into what you think and how you feel when you stand on the scales to weigh yourself.

It’s time to work through a Model.

Circumstance = Ask yourself, what is the fact, but not your opinion.

C = My weight (be specific eg. 80kg)

Thought = Ask yourself, what do I think about the circumstance?

T = I’m a failure, I haven’t lost any weight so what’s the point. I will never be able to lose weight and should just give up and eat what I want today. Sound familiar?

Feeling = Ask yourself, what is one word that accurately describes how I feel. If you have more than one word, do a separate Model for these.

F = Miserable.

Action = Ask yourself, when I feel ________ eg. miserable, what action do I take?

A = Buy a sweet treat to cheer myself up

Result = Ask yourself, what was the effect of taking that action?

R = Eating off plan which affects your next weigh in.

The result always provides evidence to prove the original thought.

In this case, when you weigh yourself after overeating and your weight doesn’t change or goes up, it proves your original thought that you’re a failure. This loopback is the way to know you’ve done your Model correctly by seeing that result proves the thought.

But remember…

“Your thoughts are always optional.”

Brooke Castillo

Now it’s time to create a new model with a new thought that will serve you better.

C = My weight (eg. 80kg) NOTE: The circumstance always stays the same.

T = I can figure this out and reach my goal weight. I’m learning to love the weight loss journey and I will keep to my 24 hour meal plan today.

F = Hopeful.

A = Keep to my 24 hour meal plan.

R = Feel good about eating on plan and see the scale slowly go down. This proves your original thought that you’re figuring it out and making progress.

Sometimes, doing a model creates fear or negative thoughts around an outcome. For example, after deciding to use the 24 Hour Meal Planning tool maybe you start questioning your choice. You feel like you’re not doing enough and think about how many things you’ve tried before but had no long term success with.

This is normal!

You can put the new circumstance, thought, feeling, action or result into another Model.

Problem model:

C – 24 hour meal planning tool

T – It won’t work, I’ll fail again

F – Doubtful

A – Eat off plan and overeat

R – Don’t lose weight which proves your original thought that it won’t work

New model:

C – 24 hour meal planning

T – It’s possible this tool could help me to lose weight

F – Inspire

A – Stay on plan and don’t overeat

R – Slowly lose weight over time which proves your original thought that using the 24 hour meal planning tool can help with losing weigh

The best thing about The Model is you can use it to create any result you want in your life.

It’s not just a tool for weight loss, you can use it for any problem you have. If you have a result you want to achieve, put this in The Model to find the thought you need to keep you motivated. Then check out Overcoming Weight Loss Obstacles to learn another tool that will support you in achieving your goal.

Now I want to hear from you. Give The Model a try and see what you uncover. You might find out why you have a certain habit that you can’t seem to change. If you get stuck, post your Model below and I will help you to finish it off.

Did you try doing a Model? If so, please leave a comment below and share with me how you felt working through this and you learnt. The more we talk about our struggles and wins with each other, the more support we feel. This also helps us all to achieve our health goals.

Join me in the Healthy Lifestyle Journey today!

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I look forward to sharing the Healthy Lifestyle Journey with you.