Prudence Ticknor

Please share how you have retrained them. Its always great to hear what successful people are doing! Thanks so much for sharing!

How do you stay mentally strong on your weight loss journey? Are you currently satisfied with your results and the direction you are going? For most of us, having the knowledge of healthy foods, exercise and even having bariatric surgery is not enough. The missing piece, the training we most skip is addressing our mental strength and how we think. “Anything is possible when you shift and go inside, to ask, to be silent and to listen. This is a journey where what you once thought would be a miracle becomes a reality” –Mind over Eating Stop and become aware of the thoughts you have attached to food and why you are eating. Your thoughts are what drive your actions to eat. Therefore, making lifestyle changes requires becoming aware of and altering how you think. We all have automatic dialogue, mind chatter or what I like to call “mind monkeys”. This mind chatter distracts us from our goals, accomplishments and success for long term weight loss. This mind chatter is what leads us to feelings of discouragement, regret, guilt and all sorts of negative feelings. You will reinforce new habits by first training the most efficient machine in your body; your brain. Do you want to make decisions about creating healthy habits and really sticking with them? You can do this by accepting the fact we all have voices, internal dialogue in our heads. Your thoughts program you to act or react in a certain way. If you want new behaviors, you need to train your brain and recondition your thinking. Start learning to reprogram your thoughts by watching the video below. Sending you warm wishes

“Anything is possible when you shift and go inside, to ask, to be silent and to listen. This is a journey where what you once thought would be a miracle becomes a reality” –Mind over Eating Stop and become aware of the thoughts you have attached to food and why you are eating. Your thoughts are what drive your actions to eat. Therefore, making lifestyle changes requires becoming aware of and altering how you think. We all have automatic dialogue, mind chatter or what I like to call “mind monkeys”. This mind chatter distracts us from our goals, accomplishments and success for long term weight loss. This mind chatter is what leads us to feelings of discouragement, regret, guilt and all sorts of negative feelings. You will reinforce new habits by first training the most efficient machine in your body; your brain. Do you want to make decisions about creating healthy habits and really sticking with them? You can do this by accepting the fact we all have voices, internal dialogue in our heads. Your thoughts program you to act or react in a certain way. If you want new behaviors, you need to train your brain and recondition your thinking. Start learning to reprogram your thoughts by watching the video below. Sending you warm wishes

Long term weight loss can be maintained by mastering one simple but very deep question. Even after bariatric surgery, weight loss or weight maintenance is a mixture of self-love, discipline, commitment, courage, will, focus, determination and taking responsibility for our actions. As human beings, we tend to want instant gratification, usually reacting to our emotions instead of doing what Full-Fills us in the long term. Although many WLS patients may be deceived early on, bariatric surgery does not change this. We have two urges that unconsciously control us: the need to feel good at any cost and to avoid pain at any cost. Therefore, if we do not consistently ask the questions and check the real motivation behind our behaviors, we will react to our emotions instead of choosing options that will empower us in the long run. The beauty is, every moment is a fresh opportunity to make new choices. You are bigger than any conditioned behavior you want to change. You are always able to regain control and shape your live in the direction you desire. The crucial first step is awareness. In order to alter any behavior you must first take the journey of self-discovery and ask the questions to get to the core of why you do what you do. Do you love yourself enough to learn what will truly full-fill you and keep you satisfied? Watch this “how to” video to create daily mindful actions that will assist you in reconditioning your thinking and reaching and maintaining long-term weight loss.

We have two urges that unconsciously control us: the need to feel good at any cost and to avoid pain at any cost. Therefore, if we do not consistently ask the questions and check the real motivation behind our behaviors, we will react to our emotions instead of choosing options that will empower us in the long run. The beauty is, every moment is a fresh opportunity to make new choices. You are bigger than any conditioned behavior you want to change. You are always able to regain control and shape your live in the direction you desire. The crucial first step is awareness. In order to alter any behavior you must first take the journey of self-discovery and ask the questions to get to the core of why you do what you do. Do you love yourself enough to learn what will truly full-fill you and keep you satisfied? Watch this “how to” video to create daily mindful actions that will assist you in reconditioning your thinking and reaching and maintaining long-term weight loss.

Such a beautiful article. thank you!

It was so much fun to read your posts! Thank you for the smile I love hearing about all the positive inspirational living!

To change a behavior, leading neuroscience expert Joe Dizpenza says, “You need to become greater than your conditioned or current habitual state or environment” You need to fall in love with a new thought/feeling state to experience lasting change. It’s about making what you want in the future a reality now. We can do this by being a visionary. Surgery is a tool to support you. It is now up to you to create your own motivation for staying focused. Watch this video for a simple technique to create daily motivation: PS: This is my brand new YouTube station! If you found this information helpful, I would appreciate your support by liking my video and subscribing to my station. Sending the biggest hug!

Creating Motivation? How do we create daily motivation to stay focused on our desires? You made the big and brave decision to have weight loss surgery; which is in your stomach. Now we need to have surgery on our brains. To change a behavior, leading neuroscience expert Joe Dizpenza says, “You need to become greater than your conditioned or current habitual state or environment” You need to fall in love with a new thought/feeling state to experience lasting change. It’s about making what you want in the future a reality now. We can do this by being a visionary. Surgery is a tool to support you. It is now up to you to create your own motivation for staying focused. Watch this video for a simple technique to create daily motivation: PS: This is my brand new YouTube station! If you found this information helpful, I would appreciate your support by liking my video and subscribing to my station. Sending the biggest hug!

If you are still in the process of deciding whether to have WLS or not; I think you are asking a great question. I have been a professional specializing in bariatrics for over 10 years. I will say I have never heard that high of a number and I have not seen any research to support it. I will tell you that the research does show between 30 - 50+% of the people gaining the majority of their weight back after two years depending on which research you look at. It's a big concern and a topic of discussion within the professionals of the industry/surgeons. Many surgeons will just recommend a different WLS never really to address the real issue; your mind and the mental aspect of behavior change. Many people go into surgery with no education or training and really believing the surgery does it all for you. The surgery is just a tool and probably one of the strongest tools with in weight loss and healthy weight maintenance. Without WLS, the stats on losing weight and keeping it off is less than 2%; so that 50+% increase sure does make a huge difference. If you do the prep work, working on being a mindful eater, becoming aware of your emotions, etc.. and know that the surgery is in your stomach and not in your head and there will be work for you to do to make the surgery work, you will be successful! I wish you the best of luck in your journey to health!

Hi Georgia, Thank you for the link You might want to check out Mind over Eating at www.moe-vt.com. This is an on-line behavior change program specifically designed for bariatric patients and emotional eating. Becoming aware of your thought/feeling states is a great start and very crucial since feelings drive our unconscious behaviors. It will be an on-going journey but the more aware you become of the old tape recorder in your head and learn the tools to create new recordings it gets easier. I did not have WLS but I was an emotional/binge eater for years and through the mind over eating tools have lost 80+ lbs.

Many of us have thoughts that seduce us into doing things that are not in line with our goals. At the onset of a craving, the thoughts of seduction are telling you, “You deserve it. You’re special. You've been good all week. Go ahead and eat whatever you want. You are going to be strict tomorrow. Eat all the foods you love because you will never be able to eat them again.” How many of you remember that last thought before you had surgery? How many of you are now eating those exact foods those thoughts told you that you would never eat again? Take a moment to reflect on this next question, as it is imperative that you become aware of your internal dialogue. What seducing thoughts are currently controlling you? The conscious decision to have surgery and achieve and maintain a healthy weight is just that: a conscious decision. Where many of us lack awareness is the understanding that the subconscious part of the brain is controlling and ruling our behaviors 70 percent or more of the time. So, that leaves you with the question of how do you get your subconscious on board with your conscious decision to reach and maintain a healthy weight? What is the secret to working with the subconscious mind, the boss of decision making? Drum roll, please! The secret is meditation and guided imagery; you communicate and work with the subconscious through images and visuals. Below, I will walk you through a meditation that I do when I am craving certain foods and I am not physically hungry. Craving Meditation Read through the meditation a few times before actually going through the process. Before you begin the meditation, think about the food(s) you are craving and rate the intensity of the feeling on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being low and 10 being high. 1. Close your eyes. Imagine a large auditorium. 2. Silently ask your inner voices of seduction to enter the stadium. 3. Take a moment to listen to what they have to say. 4. Take a microphone and acknowledge that you have heard what they have said. 5. Then, tell the voices that you do not need them anymore as you are taking charge. 6. Open the doors and have all the voices in the stadium leave. Bolt and lock the doors after they leave. 7. Now, imagine those same foods you were craving and notice the difference in the intensity of the feeling and the mind chatter you had about the foods. The next time you are experiencing a craving, a thought-feeling state, take a moment to do this meditation. This is a wonderful technique for creating new responses to your desires. I would love to hear from you. What did you notice after doing the meditation? If you have a technique that has helped you work through your cravings, please, pay it forward and share!

How often are you seduced by your thoughts to overeat? You’ve gone ahead and made the commitment to have weight loss surgery; you are not physically hungry, so why are you still eating? The simple answer is that your thoughts create feelings that drive your unconscious behaviors. Many of us have thoughts that seduce us into doing things that are not in line with our goals. At the onset of a craving, the thoughts of seduction are telling you, “You deserve it. You’re special. You've been good all week. Go ahead and eat whatever you want. You are going to be strict tomorrow. Eat all the foods you love because you will never be able to eat them again.” How many of you remember that last thought before you had surgery? How many of you are now eating those exact foods those thoughts told you that you would never eat again? Take a moment to reflect on this next question, as it is imperative that you become aware of your internal dialogue. What seducing thoughts are currently controlling you? The conscious decision to have surgery and achieve and maintain a healthy weight is just that: a conscious decision. Where many of us lack awareness is the understanding that the subconscious part of the brain is controlling and ruling our behaviors 70 percent or more of the time. So, that leaves you with the question of how do you get your subconscious on board with your conscious decision to reach and maintain a healthy weight? What is the secret to working with the subconscious mind, the boss of decision making? Drum roll, please! The secret is meditation and guided imagery; you communicate and work with the subconscious through images and visuals. Below, I will walk you through a meditation that I do when I am craving certain foods and I am not physically hungry. Craving Meditation Read through the meditation a few times before actually going through the process. Before you begin the meditation, think about the food(s) you are craving and rate the intensity of the feeling on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being low and 10 being high. 1. Close your eyes. Imagine a large auditorium. 2. Silently ask your inner voices of seduction to enter the stadium. 3. Take a moment to listen to what they have to say. 4. Take a microphone and acknowledge that you have heard what they have said. 5. Then, tell the voices that you do not need them anymore as you are taking charge. 6. Open the doors and have all the voices in the stadium leave. Bolt and lock the doors after they leave. 7. Now, imagine those same foods you were craving and notice the difference in the intensity of the feeling and the mind chatter you had about the foods. The next time you are experiencing a craving, a thought-feeling state, take a moment to do this meditation. This is a wonderful technique for creating new responses to your desires. I would love to hear from you. What did you notice after doing the meditation? If you have a technique that has helped you work through your cravings, please, pay it forward and share!

I would love to lead or co-lead a group in my area. I am a health professional that has specialized in working with bariatric patients for over 10 years. I did not have bariatric surgery but I was obese for over half my life. I have lost over 70lbs and maintain a healthy weight. I am a true believer in support groups and being around people that understand your struggles and maximizing on the positive energy of being with a group of people who are on the same journey of health. I have a flexible schedule so support group days/times could vary depending on the demand.

great article! I love the awareness questions you shared