How to Make Pleasurable Changes for a Joyful Weight Loss

This alligator jokes is quiet old and I'm sure you've heard this somewhere. For today's post I want to retell you this story, it will be entertaining to those who do not know the story, refreshing to those who do.

Alligator Jokes
A rich millionaire decides to throw a massive party for his 50th birthday, so during this party he grabs the microphone and he announces to his guests that down in the garden of his mansion he has a swimming pool with two alligators in it.  
'I will give anything they desire of mine, to the man who swims across that pool.' 

So the party continues with no events in the pool, until suddenly, there is a great splash and all the guests of the party run to the pool to see what has happened. In the pool is a man and he is swimming as hard as he can, and the tails come out of the water and the jaws are snapping and this guy just keeps on going and the alligators are gaining on him and this guy reaches the end and he gets out of the pool, tired and soaked.

The millionaire grabs the microphone and says, 'I am a man of my word, anything of mine I will give, my Ferraris, my house, absolutely anything, for you are the bravest man I have ever seen. So sir what will it be?' the millionaire asks.

The guy grabs the microphone and says, 'Why don't we start with the name of the bastard that pushed me in!' 

The reward offered by the rich man is fancy enough. He promise to gives just ANYTHING to his guest, 1 million cash, Lamborghini, or a luxury trip to Maldives, you name it but under one condition. Swim across a swimming pool with two alligators in it. Obviously the man who accept the challenge is not really after the prize at all even though it sounds attractive much. He made it because someone push him in it and he was scared to death that he swim as fast as he could to reach the end. I bet he'll win the Olympic gold! The pool surrounding area is the guest's comfort zone. The lucrative reward the rich man offered are their goals. But before claiming the prize, they need to face off the challenge, the swimming pool and it is not just a normal pool. There are two alligators in it!

Similarly, we have our own goals. If you and I want to lose weight, we know we need to change in order to achieve our goals. Instead of sitting on the potato couch all day watching our favorite telenovela, we need to get moving. And not just that, we must watch what we put in our mouth. You eat crap, and you'll feel like crap and never lose weight.  But change is terrifying. Like the story above, the guest are not brave enough even to dip their foot into the water. They may think, what if the alligator catch me?

What if I lose all the weight, but I'll gain it all back anyway? What if I lose all the weight, but I will get loose skin? What if I lose weight, but that makes my face look older?  This mixed emotions sometimes cause us to be uncertain as to what to do and keep holding us back from achieving our goals. Anthony Robins in his book 'Awaken the Giant Within' wrote that the only way we're going to make a change NOW is if we create a SENSE OF URGENCY that's so INTENSE that we're compelled to follow through. To turn around our mixed emotions, Anthony Robins talk about reaching a pain threshold. That means you experience pain at such an intense level that you know YOU MUST CHANGE NOW. Maybe you're not able to squeeze into your skinny jeans anymore, that kind of experience will finally push you over the edge. But Anthony said, if you've tried many times to make a change and you've failed to do so, this simply means that the level of pain for failing to change is not intense enough.

Why would someone not change when they feel and know that they should? Because changing will move them out of their comfort zone. Because making a change is painful than to not changing. Anthony list down two ways to reverse this so that the idea of changing is pleasurable instead of painful.

1 - Ask yourself pain-inducing questions
"What will this cost me if I don't lose weight?" "What will I miss out in life if I stay obese?" Make the pain of not changing feel so real and intense that you can't delay your action any longer. Focus on how it will affects your children, and the people you care about.

2 - Use pleasure-associating question
"If I lose weight and reach my ideal weight, how will that make me feel about myself?" "What other things in life I could accomplish if start losing weight for good?" Get lots of strong reasons why must take action immediately.

Now your turn: You can intentionally train your brain and create positive emotions to start making a change and lose the weight for good. Apart from the hack above, what other ways to trick your brain into doing what you want? Leave your comments below.

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