I have been involved with Natural Medicine for 30 years now and never during this time have I see a pattern like this before.

More clients, customers, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, colleagues etc., have mentioned that they have lost weight this year (January to now) than in the past 4 or 5 years combined. Anywhere from 10 pounds up to 35, men and women have emailed, called or spoken to me about this. It is odd, albeit in a most pleasurable way.

Given this trend, I decided to contact as many as I could and ask them specifics; that is, how did you lose the weight, why now, what motivated you etc. Below are the results:

• About 1/3 focused on eating less
• 50% focused on reducing the amount of sugar (and sugar laden foods)
• 25% focused on exercising more frequently
• 10% focused on exercising more intensely
• About 75% did not know exactly what they did that worked

It was the last group that obviously caught my attention. Most said something to the effect of “I am not sure. I watched what I was eating and exercised about the same amount but it ‘just seemed to work this time.'”

Playing “Sherlock Holmes” and finally asking the right questions, I think I found the answer and it is this:

Virtually everyone I spoke to started focusing on the process, not the goal.

What this means is they stopped saying phrases like, “I have to lose weight” or “I am going to burn off 30 pounds” or some other very specific goal. Instead, they simply began to focus on eating a healthy breakfast or committing to going to the gym 4 times a week. They concentrated on the WAY they would lose weight, not the actual NUMBER.

The irony is that most of these individuals were not even consciously aware that this was the key shift taking them from “I failed” to “I did it!”

This was a powerful shift as goal setting is not always the ideal. For many, they obsess about the specifics and when Failure comes to visit, it brings along a lot of negative emotions. In many instances, people feel so poorly at even temporary setbacks that they quit. Invariably, this becomes a habit/pattern that is repeated in areas such as weight loss.

Stop this pattern and begin to focus on daily activities. Add 1 or 2 at the most per week.  For example:

• This week, I will take my supplements after every meal.
• This week, I will go to the gym 4 times and make each movement there, productive.

Forget the scale. This week, nothing else matters except that I take my supplements after each and every meal.

Focus on something “process” oriented. You may need to make adjustments here and there until it fits you but once in place, focus on these. The weight loss/Body Re-Shaping will take care of itself.

Personal Note:  With complete ease, I lost 16 pounds by simply focusing on the Breathing Method that I teach in my online school. After every meal, I took about 3-4 minutes to do specific breathing and after about 5 weeks, I noticed the difference.