Book Excerpt: Flip the Switch

April 14, 2004 -- The first step in "flipping the switch" and achieving weight loss is letting go of fear, dropping your excuses and believing that you can really do it, fitness expert Jim Karas writes in his new book "Flip the Switch."

(This excerpt includes some written questions about your weight, so you may want to print a copy in order to fill in some of the blank spaces.)

Chapter 1: Believe In The Flip

"If you can dream it, you can do it" — Walt Disney

Dozens, probably hundreds of times each year, I receive the same phone call. One of my clients will leave a message on my voice mail similar to the following, "I can't believe it. I got on the scale this morning and I am down over nine pounds. I haven't lost this much weight in years and I feel great. For the first time, I believe I can really lose weight, but I am nervous. Please call me and tell me this is for real. Please tell me I can keep this up and lose even more weight. Please tell me I won't gain it all back. Please tell me this is not a fluke. Please call me!"

Believing in yourself is the first step to "flipping" the switch. My goal in this chapter is for you to once and for all believe in the fact that you can succeed at weight loss. At the moment, you probably don't believe you can succeed. Undoubtedly, you have attempted weight loss dozens, or if you are like me, hundreds of times in the past. I bet there isn't a diet that you haven't experienced. I tried fasting, food combining, high protein, low protein, high carbs, no carbs and skipping meals to name but a few. Did you really believe that you would succeed in losing weight on any of these plans, or was trying these diets just an act of throwing up your hands and saying, "At this point, I'll try just about anything. I've got to do something."

That's where you made your first mistake. Yes, of course these diets were nutty, but you were desperate and desperate individuals embrace all types of wild strategies. Your error was not in trying, your error was that you did not believe in yourself. Instead, you believed in what turned out to be a quick fix that has no lasting results. Even if these programs had some basis in fact, you were doomed to fail. To succeed you must believe in your ability to be successful. You undertook each of these diet plans believing that you alone were not strong enough to triumph; instead, you put your faith into a plan that didn't work. Doubting yourself is a recipe for failure. In "Flip The Switch" I am going to teach you to believe in yourself and consequently break the cycle of starting and stopping, starting and stopping, which guarantees failure. I realize that you rationalized your behavior by saying, "at least I'm trying something." And, as I said, I don't fault you for trying, but I know (and I'm sure you do as well) that approaching the complicated task of weight loss requires more than a hot, trendy diet or a celebrity endorsed exercise program. This process must begin with you first believing in your ability to succeed. You can allow fear and doubt to enter your mind, but you cannot let them take control.

Remember your American history? What did FDR urge the American public to realize in his first inaugural address in March 1933 at the height of the great depression? By stressing, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," FDR was able to convince Americans that they could achieve economic victory if they successfully avoided being paralyzed by fear and doubt. In other words, the president was stating the obvious. Don't allow fear and doubt to prevent you from taking action. That same attitude applies to any challenge you undertake and that includes weight loss. Don't be afraid to believe in the power of yourself. By doing so, you will be creating a foundation upon which to build success in many areas of your life, not only weight loss.

Are You Comfortable?

Look at it this way. Right now, you are probably comfortable not believing in your ability to flip. You are, however, unhappy with your weight. Holding this book in your hands indicates that you have a desire to change. Change is scary. We are all most comfortable with those issues, experiences and situations which are familiar. Why do you think we keep going back to the same restaurants, the same vacations spots, the same stores? We know what to expect. No surprises, no discomfort. But, once we entertain a desire to change, or directly experience change, our comfort level begins to diminish.

Statistics Anyone?

I remember being at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and hating statistics. Just the thought of this class on Tuesdays and Thursdays made me sick. So what did I do? Well, I frequently skipped class, refused to open the book and constantly had a sense of agitation about the class — classic avoidance. Halfway through the semester, at the last possible moment, I dropped the class. What a sense of relief I felt as I walked back to my fraternity house and realized that I no longer had to deal with the "statistics" issue. This lasted about two days. Then it dawned on me that it was a required class. I needed it to graduate. Sure, I was relieved that I didn't have to deal with it at that moment, but was not very happy when I realized that I had only created a temporary solution. Next semester, I had to take statistics again. Had I been smarter, and braver, I would have realized that I was already halfway through with this "torture." So why did I drop this class when half the pain was over? I didn't believe in my ability to succeed. I doubted myself and withdrew from the class.

Weight Loss = Change

The same principles apply to weight loss. How many times have you said to yourself, "I'm going to start losing weight this Monday, or next month, or [the big one] January 1st." You take the pressure off at the moment, and that gives you a sense of relief, but the problem hasn't been solved. If you are overweight, the sooner you begin to deal with that issue, the faster the weight will come off and the better you will feel.

Draw From Your Inner Power

Start believing deep down inside that you can flip the switch and lose weight. Go deep within yourself all the way to your emotional epicenter. Draw from those feelings that are deep within you. You must begin to accept and believe in the power of the human mind to foster change. To reinforce this point, consider the following studies.

The Body And The Mind Work Together

The human mind is an extremely potent mechanism and researchers have long noted its power. In January 2002,The American Journal of Psychiatry, reported on Andrew Leuchter and his colleagues at UCLA, who performed brain scans on 51 patients suffering from major depression. Half the patients were taking antidepressants and the other half had been given a placebo (a substance having no effect). Surprisingly, an equal number of people in both groups reported feeling better. More importantly, though, was the fact that of those individuals who received the placebo, their brain scans recorded significant increased neurological activity in the brain's prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain which regulates mood, among other things. "What this study shows for the first time is that people who get better on placebo have a change in brain function, just as surely as people who get better on medication" stated Leuchter. Simply put, those individuals on the placebo believed that they should be feeling better and made their body physically respond to enable it to feel better. Both the body and the mind had a similar goal and worked in tandem to achieve that goal.

Additionally, there have been numerous accounts of the power of the mind contributing to a changed physical state — such as individuals with multiple personalities being diabetic in one personality and free of diabetes in another. The power of the mind is awesome. Believe me, you can tap into that mental power just as others have done.

What follows is recent research additionally supporting the power of "belief." Jane Ogden, Ph.D., a health psychologist at Guys Kings and St. Thomas' School of Medicine in London, studied groups of women, those who successfully lost weight and kept it off and those who didn't. She found two interesting points. First, the women who believed their weight problem was a function of their behavior, as in their eating and exercise habits, and not a result of external factors such as genes or metabolism, were "more successful at losing pounds because they believed that they were in control of their weight — and, therefore, believed they could lose weight." So, if you first take responsibility and believe that your behavior has led you to be overweight, then, if you believe that it is in your power to change that behavior, you can succeed.

Second, she found that "once you believe weight loss success is possible, you'll feel less intimidated by challenges you encounter along the way." This is the mistake I made with my statistics class. I didn't believe that I would succeed, felt intimidated and quit. Had I believed, I would have stayed, passed and prevailed. You can do the same with weight loss.

Wipe Out The "Mental Graffiti"

Briefly look at this the opposite way. What does doubt do to your ability to succeed at weight loss? I refer to this doubt as "mental graffiti." This is clutter, a cacophony of doubt that is flowing through the brain: "I can't lose weight. I can't succeed. I can't stay on my program. I can't eat the right foods. I can't exercise. I can't look better and feel better. I can't even stop gaining weight." When negative phrases like these ricochet through your mind the "c" word — "can't" — is winning. Here's where I start to get really tough with my clients. The first time I hear the "c" word I say, "No, no, no, we are not saying 'can't.' Substitute the 'can't' with 'can.' That's a 'c' word I can accept. Now repeat after me. Say I can lose weight. I can succeed. I can stay on my program. I can eat the right foods. It's time to wipe the negative mental graffiti off the board, start with a clean slate and begin the flipping process.

Go Back In Time

Let's start at your beginning, that is your childhood. I want you to think about your first impressions of your body. Don't overly intellectualize this impression. When you go back to your childhood and recall your perception of your body, what is the first thought that comes into your head? This will be your first "exercise" toward flipping the switch, and you thought I would probably have you doing push ups, didn't you? It is important to begin with a mental exercise because, as you have just seen, ultimately one's mindset contributes far more to success at weight loss than one's physical behavior.

Fear of failure is a conditioned response. The probability is great that you were conditioned to feel a certain way about your body and that conditioning has stayed within you. What I'm going to assist you with is the letting go of that past negative conditioning. Okay, let's get started building a new positive mental imprint. To help you to reach that point, I want you to get out a pen and complete the following thought in the space provided:

Believe In The Flip Exercise OneMy very first impression of my body was …

Here's what I wrote about myself:

My very first impression of my body was that it was plump. People referred to me as "husky," "pot bellied," "non athletic." I couldn't run very fast, I didn't play sports, the thought of gym class made me sick and I never, I repeat, never wanted to take my shirt off at the beach.

To this day, this first impression lives within me. I know now that it is not true, but I do remember what that feeling was like and honestly, it hurt. It hurt a lot.

Pause for a moment. Look at what you have written. Reflect on your comments for a few minutes. Let your mind drift back in time. Recall those feelings. This exercise probably will be painful but please don't feel that I am attempting one of those, "no pain, no gain" strategies. That's not my intent. It's important that you start at the beginning. By recalling these first impressions, though painful, we begin the emotional rebuilding process.

During childhood you formed the first impression of your physical self. First impressions tend to remain in our mind's eye. My first impression of my physical self was a negative one. So, it is that impression that I needed to overcome to ultimately succeed at weight loss. In time, we will also look at examples of individuals who began their lives with positive impressions of their body, but then that feeling changed as they proceeded through life and gained weight.

Now, in the space provided, complete the following sentence,

Believe In The Flip Exercise Two

My current impression of my body is …

Once again, using myself as an example, this is what I would write today:

My current impression of my body is that I am strong, lean, able to lift my kids high in the air (and don't forget, they keep growing.) I can run down the block or up a flight of stairs without being out of breath. I open my closet and choose what to wear not by what will fit, but by what will make me feel good, and yes, now I can take my shirt off at the beach!

Do you see how different my first impression is from the current one? Please bear in mind that it took a long time mentally to develop and accept this new one. I had to work very hard to break with my initial impressions of my body. Compare your two descriptions. How different is your first impression from the present one? In working with clients I have learned that people generally fall into one of two categories when answering these questions.

Some fall into category one, "Lifelong Strugglers." This is the individual who remembers always being overweight. Whether this person truly was overweight, or was connected to a parent or another individual who led them to believe this was the case, the fact remains this individual has had a life-long struggle with this issue. I am one of these people. I remember being overweight, and even though I have developed the tools (both mentally and physically) to keep the weight off, I will always vividly recall that feeling, though that no longer is my reality.

Do you see a pattern of slow, consistent weight gain each year?