Reform Your Identity and Cut Your Need For Willpower

The fundamental reason people struggle with weight loss and fitness is that they are fighting against their own identity. The strongest force in the human psyche is our need for our own identity to match up with our actions. If our identity is one of a fat person, we will stay that way or rebound back to it when we do lose weight.

Breaking out of your struggle pattern requires re-writing your identity. This means re-programming your subconscious. Because your identity is located in your subconscious, many people don't even know what their identity is.

Some people even have conflicting identities between their conscious and subconscious minds. This can be observed when someone is surprised by how fat they look in the mirror or in pictures. They say to themselves, "Wow, I'm not that fat" or, "Cameras sure do add extra weight."

It really doesn't matter what your conscious mind thinks you are like. Your subconscious mind always wins. Whatever picture you have stored in your subconscious will be the one that is controlling both your conscious and unconscious actions to make sure you are that way on the outside.

The key to permanent change is to reprogram your subconscious picture of yourself or your "mind's eye". There are a handful of techniques I use when counseling clients on this, but one of the most effective and easiest to implement is through the use of verbal proclamations.

I write customized proclamations for my clients based on their three highest human needs which I score according to a list of questions I ask them, but some general proclamations are listed below. You will find some that work better than others based on your personality, so stick with the ones that elicit the most emotion for you.

When you are saying your proclamations, make sure you are feeling them with the highest emotional intensity possible. Be emphatic and repeat them over emphasizing a different word each time. They will cause the proclamation to have a different meaning every time you say it.

Stand/sit up straight with perfect posture, keep your chin high, and speak forcefully. Pick a convenient time and place. I do mine in the shower or in the car at least twice a day.

My main proclamation is "Every day and in every way I am getting stronger and wiser." I say this a minimum of 12 times because I emphasize a different word each time.

Making yourself do this exercise every day regardless of whether you feel like it or not is the true key to making it work. Remember that commitment is the difference between "can do" and "will do." Anyone can talk about what they can do, but what you will do is the only thing that counts toward reprogramming your subconscious.

Here are some proclamation examples:
"I choose to be fit because I deserve it."
"I know I have that within me to achieve success."
"I command my subconscious to produce only thoughts that empower my goals."
"All the tools I need are already within me."
"I choose healthy foods because I choose a healthy life."

Let these move you emotionally, and they will speak to your subconscious. As your subconscious hears these repeat messages, it will believe them and implement them. Then making the right choices comes naturally and effortlessly because there is no more struggle!

I couldn't have said it better myself

I was planning on writing an article for New Year's resolution folks, and then got this from Dr. Sears. It's so great to see other progressive professionals preaching what I do. His article was so good, I just cut and pasted it here. I will post a blog entry soon about specific tips for brain training to help with your fitness resolution, so stay tuned! -PJ



Al Sears, MD
11903 Southern Blvd. Ste. 208
Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411
January 01, 2009

Dear PJ ,

Losing weight is probably at the forefront of your mind this time of year. So here’s a “doctor-recommended” resolution for you to take into the New Year: work out less and eat more.

I’m not kidding. One of the discoveries I’ve made in my years of working with people on fitness and weight loss is what I believe to be the nature of “true” exercise—short bursts of high-intensity workouts.

The reason’s simple: your body wasn’t designed for long, repetitive exercise. What your physiology really evolved to handle is short, intense periods of exertion, followed by rest.

Think about it: is there any circumstance you can picture that would have led our ancestors—early caveman—to run seven miles three days a week or isolate their biceps and work them until they couldn’t lift a one-pound rock?

I can’t think of one.

Same goes for diet. There’s a right way and a wrong way. The bulk of the calories in the pre-agricultural diet came from lean, wild-caught meats, fat from the kill, and above-ground edibles, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

This is what you were meant to survive on. Millions of years of evolution created a digestive system optimally suited to processing protein and fat.

What’s more, if you over-consume protein, your native physiology interprets it as “the hunting is good” and starts to shed excess fat stores, since they’re then seen as inefficient drags on speed and energy levels by the body.

Modern medicine is finally waking up to the health benefits of this approach. Diabetes experts just this year found that high-protein dieting really does lead to lower fat stores and more lean muscle. They’re looking at it as a way to prevent or even reverse the effects of diabetes.1

Another study published late last year found the same thing: the authors concluded that low-carb dieting promotes weight loss, brings soluble fat levels in the blood into balance, and “can be simply incorporated into a person’s lifestyle.”2

The most up-to-date research on high-intensity, low-duration workouts also supports my point about exercise.3

Scientists at McMaster University in Canada took 20 healthy men and women with an average age of 23 and put them on a weekly workout schedule using stationary bikes. Some exercised five days a week, doing 40 to 60 minutes of moderate-intensity cycling. Others did four to six sets of 30-second sprints on the cycle, allowing 4.5 minutes of recovery time between sets; their total exercise time was about 15 to 25 minutes—for only three days a week.

After six weeks, the researchers found that the intense sprint interval training improved the structure and function of arteries just as much as traditional, longer endurance exercise—without all the wear and tear.

So start eating more protein—ideally from grass-fed, organic, or wild caught meats—and go for shorter, high-intensity workouts!

Best wishes for the New Year from all of us here at the Center for Health and Wellness.

To Your Good Health,


Al Sears, MD


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1. Brehm BJ, D’Alessio DA. “Benefits of high-protein weight loss diets: enough evidence for practice?” Current Opinions in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Obesity. 2008. 15(5):416-21.
2. Thomas DE, Elliott EJ. “Low glycaemic index or low glycaemic load diets for overweight and obesity.” The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2007. (3):CD005105.
3. Rakobowchuk M et al. “Sprint interval and traditional endurance training induce similar improvements in peripheral arterial stiffness and flow-mediated dilation in healthy humans.” American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology. 2008. 295(1):R236-42.