- Hello and Welcome to This Week’s Edition of Adam Up
First up this week, I wanted to thank you all for your enthusiasm and generosity with my charity fundraising efforts. The webinar series I wrote about last week completely sold out within a couple of days and I have smashed my fundraising target for 2015 already.
So - we are going for it - can you help?.
If you are interested in attending any of our forth-coming seminars then make sure you check out this latest news post that has been added to our College News/Blog page today.
You could save money and help our charity at
the same time.
Soooo, it’s December.
The festive season is upon us. In my house, it feels as if Christmas began in October as my children have become rather taken with Christmas films and songs. It is the first time my son really understands what is going on and
our toddler daughter just goes along for the ride.
I’ll also tell you this… My one year old daughter’s advent
calendar has no chocolate left in it at all and both her and my son had a lot of chocolate on their faces when I discovered them…. The remains of said advent calendar were in pieces and scattered about our playroom, and we had two very hyper little people yesterday evening. Yes - Christmas is different for me now!
The reason I mention the festive season is because it is an incredibly busy time for me this year. As I write this, I am about to head off for a group supervision session this afternoon and afterwards I host our peer support group where we’ll be welcoming a number of wonderful speakers. On
Friday I run a one day seminar and then I run my diploma course all weekend. Next week, I run a five day training course. Then it is mid December and Christmas is on our doorstep and I’ll get to spend lots of time with my wife and children, which I can’t wait for.
It is going to be a different Christmas for me this year, not just because of the children getting to the age where they understand it more, but because of the way I’ll be eating and drinking throughout.
It is going to be very different
indeed for me. I am really looking forward to it, I have planned to be able to still feast and celebrate, but in a way that is conducive to the lifestyle I now choose.
Let me explain… |
Over the years of marathon training and running, I have found that my mind is the best indicator of how I’ll perform. Sometimes, I jog 50 metres to the postbox on the road where I live and walk back because my legs
feel tired from that 50 metre jog. I give in to that feeling, convincing myself that I am tired, and I walk back.
And yet...
Other times, I run 24 miles in a fast time on an
empty stomach. I have spoken often about one of the seemingly perverse joys I have when competing in marathons; when I am pushing myself hard in miles 20-26 and facing demons, feeling pain and using my mind to get over it and keep going.
The fact is we are almost always more capable than we believe ourselves to be. I would add that we also are wise to listen to our bodies and don’t go pushing ourselves towards
injuries!
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the ways I have developed my approach to leading a healthy life and my running. As I have adopted a very particular approach to eating in a low carb / high fat way, I had to get my mindset right first. I researched what I was going to do and this particular approach is based on a great deal of science and evidence, so I had the foundations of belief in the
process.
Then I had to plan things; this involved me looking at what we needed in our weekly shopping and what we no longer needed.
It meant I had to plan how to eat this way in line with my training and my schedule.
I adapted the journal
that I already use daily.
I started using the My Fitness Pal app that also links in with my Garmin connect account - this meant that all the steps I take each day, all my runs recorded on my watch, my heart rate and activity levels all get synced up with a breakdown of what I consume.
I got to look at the carbohydrate content of what I was eating and monitor my progress.
I set this all up before I started in earnest.
What this also did was enable me to set some initial goals and look at how I was going to measure outcomes and chart my progress.
- I had some small goals regarding my weight, but did not really need to reduce it by much.
- I
wanted to alter some of my body’s measurements in line with a more ideal runner’s physique,
- I had training goals,
- I had race goals,
- I had lifestyle goals,
- I had goals about sticking to the goals
I am firmly of the belief that ‘what gets measured
improves.’
Within my hypnotherapy work with clients and when I am training others to become successful hypnotherapists,
I teach the value of planning with their client, but also of being able to measure: -
- progress,
- response,
- level of belief,
- success,
- self-efficacy and much more besides.
I would be measuring many aspects of my lifestyle and that would in turn enable me to make adjustments, see what was working and examine how I do things. You see, I encounter so many people who struggle with major lifestyle changes especially when it comes to eating, exercising and developing the body physically.
In the past 3 months since I made my changes, I have averaged 15,000 steps a day, not eaten any wheat, not eaten any sugar, not drank any caffeine, (there is more, but I don’t want to sound conceited) and I have stuck to the plan.
Here’s the point though. I dived in head first.
That term is usually reserved for explaining doing something too hastily, or without thinking about your actions too deeply.
For me, it means the very opposite. It means that you get things straight in your head first. You ascertain and develop your motivation, you plan, set goals, work out ways of measuring your success and your progress. You get your beliefs in order; that is, you believe
in what you are doing without reservation.
If your mind is right, the body will follow. If your mind is right, then any challenges are more easy to deal with.
Why say this now? It is December.
January is on it’s way. Rather than grind out some exercise or a fortnight of eating salad leaves as a
form of obligatory resolution to get fitter, why not get prepared for it now?
Get your head in the right place.
Plan,
- be optimistic,
- believe in the process you intend on applying,
- research it,
- find ways to monitor and measure your progress,
- find ways to motivate yourself and get your head sorted first.
Go head first!
I do not recommend any one particular way of training, or diet, or lifestyle preferences because I firmly believe that we need to find the right fit for ourselves as individuals.
But there is a commonality that I do wholeheartedly recommend; get your mindset right before you start with any new path.
- are you thinking about new year resolutions now.
- you might be
thinking about how the gluttony of the impending festive season is likely to affect you.
- you might have plans that never seem to be actualised….
Change the mindset - the brain is the most
powerful organ in the body and retraining it, setting it up for success will lead you in the correct direction.
Have a great week.
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Joke of the week:
A guy says, "Doctor, Doctor! Help me, I keep thinking I'm getting smaller!"
Doctor replies, "Well, you'll just have to be a little patient."
Hahahaha…. I know “groan”…. I thought it was time I shared one of the Doctor Doctor jokes I received. |
Articles of the week:
My podcast Hypnosis Weekly gets back into flying action this week and I welcome Felix Economakis. As a result, I was admiring the media work he had featured in and thought this week, I’d
simply share those stories with you too.
- Firstly, I thought I’d mention something that I saw Felix lecture about
As the Daily Mail story suggests, Felix worked with a lady named Ashley for three sessions and her breast size was increased
by three cups. The before and after pictures are impressive. I know when I saw Felix present this information, a couple of people in the audience objected in some part to this application, however, every person I spoke to found it impressive.
For me, it is not about the breasts. It is about the notion that the mind is capable of affecting the body.
As Felix is quoted as saying in the article:-
“The mind basically controls the body and if you know how to work with the mind you can get it to make changes in the body.
We know emotions affect the body. When people get stressed they get headaches, for example.
Using hypnosis, I can work directly with the mind. I speak to the part that
controls hormones to encourage growth."
This is fascinating. Of course, I’d love to see formal studies conducted on this before I should hallelujah, but have seen several of Felix’s case studies and the results were universally impressive despite not being conducted under laboratory conditions.
The other two stories I wanted to mention are
directly related to the professional discussion I had with Felix on my podcast where we explore his approach to selective eating disorders.
It tells of a teenager James Duckworth who was eating 40 bags of crisps a week and sought out the help of hypnotherapy. He had suffered from a selective eating disorder for 10
years. He’d eat ready salted crisps washed down with pints of lemonade and ate very little else. He spent two hours with Felix Economakis and started eating new foods for the first time.
Hannah Little ate chips every day since she was five and suffered from selective eating disorder…. I must say, when I read those headlines, I expect to see photos of an emaciated, sickly looking individual with bald patch on their head, teeth falling out and very bad skin, at the very least, yet both Hannah and James in the previous story look remarkably well - the human capacity to adapt is simply
amazing.
Hannah feared eating other foods, and could not eat anything when out with friends or family…. She even tells of a story that she went on date to a boyfriends house who she had not told about her selective eating disorder - the Mum had made a pasta bake and Hannah pretended she had a allergy to tomato sauce… Aaaagggh.
After a single session with Felix,
she ate pizza, her first meal in over a decade. Hannah spent an hour with Felix and went on to eat many other kinds of food and there is even a photo of her humming down some salad. Brilliant stuff, eh?
More next week. |
Some Places We Would Like You To Visit:- Adam's Main Website: This is the command centre of the business - a revamp of this site is currently in
progress. You can also find out here about personal therapy with Adam if you are seeking help.
AECollege Blog/News: If there is anything new to tell you about what is going on with courses, seminars or post graduation support this is where we will post it. See some
charity news posted 4th December.
Hypnosis For Download: An online store with about 160 self help hypnosis audio products - always look in the Offers of the month. Please note there will be some extra
special discounts coming this month.
Hypnosis Weekly: A weekly podcast where Adam interviews peers in the field of hypnosis. Adam is in his element in this section as
he loves to debate all things hypnosis. A place for serious students of the subject. A tad geeky!
Adam's Hypnosis Hub: A community site which you can join
free as a member. Many of the members are former or current students of Adam's Training School/College. A great place to interact and wise to check out if you are thinking of training with the college.
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