We all know the basic rules of weight loss are summarised within the four words “eat less move more”.

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In these modern times, we have wide access to healthy eating and exercise advice that can help and guide us to gain success in this area. However, why is it that we start on these plans and remain motivated and in control, then only a short time into this great plan, we start to loose will power and motivation runs out of steam?

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Intellectually, we know exactly what we should (and should not) be eating and how we can exercise to boost our plans, yet we find ourselves craving foods that we know are not good for us or can derail us on our well-intended plans. These cravings may be short term or sometimes they can demotivate us completely leaving us back on that weight management cycle of loosing weight then re gaining this weight time and time again.

The constant battle between starting a well-structured plan that will improve our health and well-being and the old patterns of behaviour we possess (e.g. comfort/emotional eating, cravings for unhealthy food) derives from two separate areas of our brain.

Within our brain we have two areas that house both sides of his inner struggle for a more healthy life style. In one area we have our intellectual mind which lives at the front pre-frontal cortex of our brain.

This part of the brain knows that the new healthy lifestyle plan we have embarked upon will be good for us. The intellectual brain knows that a healthy lifestyle will help us feel better emotionally and physically. When we are using this area of the brain we are planning ahead, eating the right foods and getting regular exercise as part of our normal routine.

In order to remain on our plans for a healthy lifestyle we need to be operating mainly from this area.

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There is another area of the brain that houses all our stored emotional responses and behaviours. This part of the brain is called our primitive emotional mind and it is housed in the limbic system area of the brain. This primitive emotional mind has the ability to take control of the intellectual mind if it receives sensory information that we are in some sort of crisis or danger.

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If we feel tired, stressed, have negative thoughts or experience an upsetting event then our primitive emotional brain will take over, activating our stress response and refer to previous patterns of behaviour to see if we have experienced a similar “danger” before. If we have (e.g. a stressful day at work and feeling exhausted), it will refer to how we responded to this event and encourage us to do the same again.

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Therefore is you have a regular habit of eating sugary foods or junk food when you are tired or stressed this is why you suddenly feel the urge to break your new good habits and revert to your old ways.

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So if we are operating from this area of the brain we will keep repeating the same cycle until we re gain control our the intellectual mind area of the brain that will resume our healthy lifestyle plans.

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In order to break this never-ending cycle we need to understand the characteristics of both these minds. This will give us our own inherit ability to break free from this cycle and allow the intellectual mind area of our brain to regain control.

To regain intellectual control of our minds we need to quieten the stress response activated in our primitive emotional brain whenever it perceives that we are in danger. Once this has happened our limbic system of the brain will stop the flow of stress hormones through our body and release feel good hormones such as “Serotonin” through our bodies to help us feel calm, in control, motivated and enhance our coping ability to live our daily lives.

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At Serotonin solutions, I will work with you to help you understand the characteristics of these two minds from our very first initial consultation. I will then guide and support you through our weekly sessions showing you how to limit the amount of time we spend in our primitive emotional minds.

Within our sessions the focus will shift from a sole focus on food and exercise to a more holistic approach where we will look at ways in which you can improve your overall well-being to achieve your desired outcome.

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This results in a more constant flow of serotonin throughout our bodies allowing us to work together, embedding new behaviours for the long lasting lifestyle change you wish to achieve. You will start to visualise how you will look and feel once you have achieved your goal.

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In addition to the proven and effective talking techniques specifically for this area, I have the significant advantage of using hypnosis that will also form part of our therapy sessions. Hypnosis is a very natural state of trance that will allow you to relax and find the unique solutions to move these visualised images into a reality.