I’ve talked to several people lately who have mentioned trying hypnosis to try to lose weight. I usually tell them,

“If hypnosis was the key to losing weight, everyone would be doing it!”

But in our ultimate quest to understand what determines our own success in weight loss (or anything for that matter), I realized something…or at least I started seeing it in a different way.

If you go back to my last thoughts on the notion of our “mindset”, you’ll see how I have come to believe that mindset is this overarching way of thinking that can determine everything about what we do, and what we ultimately become.

And so, hypnosis, may not be some magical way of brainwashing us into doing something in particular, but what it might do for some, is put them in the proper mindset. That is, for some, the very belief that they have been “hypnotized” is a mindset – it gives us this powerful notion that something is causing us to do the right thing. Something more powerful then ourselves…so it just works. Actually, it probably works because we believe it works, and that ultimately makes us do the right things more consistently.

Maybe hypnosis does work!

You are getting verrry sleepy…

Over the course of the project, many of my perspectives have changed related to weight loss. When Mariah and I first lost our weight, we didn’t really count calories at all, we just ate things that we intuitively knew had fewer calories, more protein and less refined sugars. We didn’t have a true sense of the number of calories we ate per day.

Still, we had tremendous progress, and ultimately got into great shape. So now we often recommend that people stay within a caloric range, even when first starting out…why? We’ve never stopped learning and getting better and managing our weight or our health over the last 2 years.

There are different thoughts on this concept, most are valid. As always, it depends on the person!

Why does it always depend? Because we all think a little differently! For some, counting calories creates a negative mindset, and makes everything feel more difficult (and as I mentioned earlier…mindset is everything!). But I think this can be overcome, depending on how we are introduced to the concept of monitoring how many calories we eat.

The term, “Calorie Counting” is a bad term in my opinion, because it makes people believe they are making the number of calories some major part of their day, that takes away from work, and other everyday tasks. It give us a sense that we are now so strict about everything we eat, that we need a calculator to keep track of it all.

In the beginning, understanding calories is a new concept. So we have to approach this with a positive attitude, and realize that understanding how calories relate to our health or our weight is actually something valuable to learn. It isn’t just a tool in weight loss, it teaches us about how our bodies work in the long run.

From a very simplistic viewpoint, the number of calories we eat, and the number of calories we burn each day, will determine our weight loss (or gain). So if this is true, doesn’t it also make sense why we should know how many calories we eat?

Now many nutritionists and dietitians will disagree with this concept, because they don’t want clients to feel like they are “on a diet”. This makes sense. But in this scenario where someone is working with an expert, they are paying the expert to keep track of their calories, whether they know this or not. Most dietitians do have a good sense of the number of calories their clients consume.

So if we are trying to lose weight, and we have no idea of how many calories we are eating…how do you suppose we can be certain of what we are doing? Well, intuitively we can eat less, and we can make better choices, so most positive changes will result in weight loss if we are eating healthier.

So from one standpoint, if we are eating better, eating a bit less, and we are losing weight as we expect to, then there is no need to count calories.

It is when we feel like we do not have control over what we are doing, that our efforts are not yielding the results we expect, that knowing how many calories we are eating can really be useful.

I prefer to call it “calorie awareness” rather than calorie counting, because the idea of being aware of how many calories you assume (roughly) is very valuable. If you were to ask the average person how many calories they eat a day, or for a particular meal, they’d most likely have no idea.

This matters, if we don’t understand that eating a meal with over 1000 calories is too much for most people.

If we desire something like weight loss, we must be prepared to learn how it works, which means knowing how many calories you eat each day, and ultimately finding out what your own caloric needs are (based on your individual metabolic rate). The easiest way to determine your own target, is to start paying attention (ok, COUNTING). See how many calories you are eating on a normal day, and see which direction your weight is going. This takes some patience, that is for sure! But ultimately you will come to understand your own body.

If you want to know how many calories are in just about anything, go to www.nutritiondata.com, or go buy yourself a small nutritional book at the bookstore. No, you don’t have to carry this around for the rest of your life, this is just for a short period of time for you to learn a little bit more…to become more aware of calories in general.

The next time you are at the grocery store, try looking at a typical can of nuts, or even a small can…calculate how many calories are in an entire can (multiple number of servings times calories per serving). You might be shocked!

If you need a place to start, 2000 calories per day is a nice conservative target. You can adjust from there…

In December, Mariah and I visited Dr. Brian Wansink’s Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, after he graciously invited us to Ithaca after hearing a little bit about our project.

Dr. Wansink is the author of the fantastic book, Mindless Eating, and is doing some really interesting research related to why we eat, and the factors that determine how much we eat. The lab was pretty cool, an extension of his office, but it looked like a regular kitchen/dining area you might find in a typical home. The idea is to recreate settings that cause people to forget they are part of an experiment.

We spent an entire day (10:30am – 7pm) filming in the Lab, with Dr. Wansink and one of his research assistant’s Lenny, and we did get lots of really good footage. They were so helpful and willing to spend the day with us…what a great trip!

Below is some of the footage we shot, that will be integrated into the film…hope you find it interesting!

Many thanks to Dr. Wansink, Lenny, Ben, Michelle, and Pam for all their help. I’d urge anyone interested in their research to check out his book, or his audiobook (we have both)…and also his website, www.mindlesseating.org.

So I’ve decided to start sharing more semi-raw footage from the documentary on the web…It helps me to measure the value of content as I get feedback from others, and it also helps other people who might be struggling with their weight…providing some inspiration (I hope) and some good quality info.

Revver is kind of like YouTube, except for it does stick ads on to the end of each video. The idea is that people who post good content will be rewarded when viewers watch the video and subsequently click on the ad at the end. While we are against having sponsors for the film who might dictate what the film is ultimately about, the Revver model might allow us to raise money to ensure we can complete INSPIRED at the quality level we envision.

So while it’s not exactly “selling out” to corporate advertising, it kind of is. We’ll give it a try to see what kind of ads they stick on the end of our videos, and go from there…if it ends up being a bad idea, we’ll stick to traditional fundraising methods!

We can’t really urge anyone to click on the ads, but we would love for you to share videos with others by sending links and adding the videos to your blog if you find them interesting!

I often wonder, if you were certain of an outcome, and you knew you would not fail, would you do whatever it takes?

I’d like to think so. However, I don’t think this is the case, or at least I don’t think anyone ever really can be 100% certain.

Some of our documentary subjects are able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Others, no matter how clear it should be, never truly believe or are able to see what is possible, if they just stay focused. So they lose focus, and waiver, and ultimately stop believing in what they ultimately desire…and without any intervention, they’d surely quit. Some have.

Our documentary is about what is real, not about how we can intervene and force people to succeed. Because it is what makes us desire to succeed that we are trying to understand…how it motivates us to do the right things. As we will allow people to fall down over the course of their journey, we do at times pick them up, and point them in the right direction. Ultimately, I do instill a sense that we will not allow them to fail in the end, if they trust where we are going. Often times, this isn’t enough to keep people interested. Left to their own devices, they consistently wander back to old habits, and find it hard to believe that in less than a year they can have far exceeded their expectations of what is possible.

It can be so frustrating! Since Mariah and I will often rearrange our entire day or week to help someone, and they just don’t see the value it has to them, and ultimately don’t keep an appointment…is it because they don’t care? I don’t think so. I think it’s because they don’t see the end of the tunnel clearly enough to understand that it is each week, each day, and each moment that counts. It all adds up to where we are going in our lives, and it directly impacts how well we succeed.

Success is not in question, if we understand that each step to get there is often critical. Critical not only because consistency is key, but because it has so much to do with our mindset, our momentum, and our perception of habit versus occasional activities. We must convert those actions that are necessary to our success into habits, that we do every day, instead of a few times a week. We must change how our brain works. While 30 minutes of daily exercise may seem like “overtraining” to some, it is to others, the minimum level of activity that is a part of their day.

This week I received an email from a non-profit film and video organization in Atlanta that I had applied to:

Steve,

Congratulations, I am pleased to inform you that the Board of IMAGE Film & Video has approved your project INSPIRED: The Movie for fiscal sponsorship. Your contract will be mailed to you shortly. Please sign, keep a copy for your records and mail back to IMAGE. Feel to contact me if you have any questions.

Best,

Holly

So…now we can start accepting donations that are tax deductible for the donor! Great news!

So if I were to say, the secret to weight loss is all in your mind, that all the mechanics are so simple. Would you believe me?

Would you believe Oprah, or Bob Greene (her trainer?). Would you believe Kirstie Alley? Or the winner of the Biggest Loser?
Would you believe that eating Subway Sandwiches is truly a weight loss program if Jared said so?

The interesting thing about what we believe, is that it has everything to do with who is saying it. There are individuals in the world who have more influence over what we think, some based on their earned credibility, and some perhaps as mass media has lead us to believe. So as it stands now, my word means very little to you, because you have no idea who I am, or what makes me an “authority” on anything.

So it is, the challenge of changing the world with a documentary. Establishing trust and credibility. As Steven Covey might agree in his recent book, The Speed of Trust…what we choose to believe has everything to do with how we percieve the person saying it…do we trust them? There is a reason why Dan Rather, Katie Couric, and Oprah Winfrey make so much money! They command our trust. Why do you think so many people tried the Maple Syrup and Pepper Diet? Because Beyonce did it to lose weight!

So when I place a call to a celebrity’s publicist, asking for an interview for a documentary that might “change the world” – they might care less. It has everything to do with who I am not. If I were Oprah Winfrey, it would mean something totally different…and unfortunately I am not (in this case).

Perhaps someday it won’t be so hard. Until then, I’ll keep calling…

I’ve come to realize that excuses are OK. While I don’t necessarily like them, I know we all need them to feel OK about ourselves. It is some sort of defense mechanism that all of us use, no matter who we are. I make excuses all the time!

But…excuses are not OK, if we want to achieve something great. If we want change – incredible change in fact. So ultimately my view on excuses is:

Excuses are totally fine if you want things to stay the way they are. However, excuses have no place on a journey to greatness.

I know, sometimes I sound like I’m just stating the obvious. But I do think that although it is the obvious, we often do not even acknowledge it. There is a difference between the obvious, and the immediately apparent, I think.

So I’ve been thinking of the notion of mindset lately. Since I’m no psychologist who can define in scientific terms what it is and the different types of mindsets, I have decided to come up with my own interpretation of them. That means that for now it is one thing, and probably next week it might be a little different!

Our “Mindset” is what we believe we are doing, and it can change in an instant, and there are multiple levels of what our mindset is. Nevertheless, whatever our mindset is determines exactly how we act and how well we do in the specific context of weight loss.

So if I were to say someone is in the Vacation Mindset, it means that we have decided that everything we do until after the vacation, is part of what we are doing, and whether we have been trying to lose weight or not, we are currently “on vacation” from that type of behavior. Everyone does this, but it’s important to understand this concept if we are to ultimately succeed.

So we go to a holiday party, and what is our mindset? Is it, “I’m trying to reach my goal by New Year’s Day” or is it “I am going to wait until after January 1st to start again” – these are two opposite mindsets, which will ultimately determine the outcome of your holiday parties. It determines if you eat 4000 calories or just 500 calories.

It is when we can become more “aware” of our own mindset, and what it means to our behavior, when we can start changing the outcome and be more in control over what happens. Because we often allow ourselves to adopt a specific mindset to give us “an excuse” to behave a certain way.

If we continually find we cannot control our own mindset, we may find it helpful to surround ourselves with those who can put us in a positive mindset…it is up to each of us to determine the best way to keep our mindset focused on our goals in life.

It has been about 18 months since we began production on INSPIRED: The Movie, and I think I’ve started to understand more about inspiration, and how powerful it can be, and maybe what it cannot be.

“INSPIRED” as a title is perhaps a bit broad, and possibly misleading. Since what we have learned is that “profound life change” only begins with inspiration. It is a starting point in most cases. Sometimes it is only a single event or person or story, that is enough to start us down a path of change, and the entire journey ends up having little to do with the inspiration that started it all. Sometimes it is the inspiration that guides every single action that leads us to a new possibility in our lives.

INSPIRED: The Movie is about how to lose weight. If you’ve ever wondered how people do it, why people do it, and why some people always fail, then this is the film for you!

What we’ve come to learn over this whole process is that quite often inspiration alone has little to do with our probability for success and degree of success. We’ve worked with people who have been inspired countless times, sometimes weekly, and a year later they are not much further than they started.

What I think we’ve learned is that as each of us is different, our minds work vastly different. Some people’s minds are able to translate a source of inspiration into a long chain of consistent behavior, and others, cannot seem to last a day or two from a source of inspiration. It’s so complicated I’m sure we don’t really have the answers yet. Why people are generally optimistic, or generally skeptical, or lack confidence obviously relate to how focused and consistent we can do what we know we should do. The real “secret” is figuring out what causes us to do the right thing day after day, because in the end it is all about how consistent we can be.

I am certain we cannot come up with a perfect formula, but I am also pretty confident we have nearly nailed down the things we can do to reduce the “random” nature of our success in losing weight.