The Brain Science Solution To The Weight You Can't Lose

The New Year is only days away, or maybe we are already weeks to months into the New Year, and millions of people have set goals to lose weight, improve their health, exercise more, join a fitness center and you name it. In fact many people did this at the beginning of this year and each year for the last several years.

I bet you are one of them. What I hope is that you were not part of the 90 percent that failed. But, if you were don’t feel bad you are part of the majority. So, why do so many people set these kinds of goals really hoping to accomplish them never get very fare with them? And what can you do to change this trend once and for all.

Well, this short article will shed just enough light on this problem to get you started on a path to successful weight loss. What you will learn is so cutting edge that only a had full of people will know it. If you were a psychologist, neuroscientist, biologist, or just reading the latest research on brain science you would have undoubtedly come across this fascinating and almost hard to believe research data. Now, since there is little chance you are a brain scientist, psychologist or just sitting around reading neuroscience research papers, I will give you the short version that you can take and use right now.

We will begin with your brain. Yep, we are talking about that 3 pound hunk of neurons sitting between your ears. According to, Dr Daniel Amen, a clinical neuroscientist, psychiatrist, brain imaging expert, and winner of numerous writing and research awards, “your brain is involved with everything you do.” That’s right it’s involved with everything from the time you wake up until you go back to sleep and every moment in between even while you are sleeping, your brain a playing a role.

Understanding this single simple piece of knowledge forms the foundation for changing anything you want to change about yourself, including your health, fitness and most importantly your weight loss. Pay attention to this, if you have a weight issue, it begins with your brain. If you attempt to lose weight with any program that does not take this into account you will not succeed in the long run. You might lose weight at first, but just like Oprah, you will gain it back.

Now, just like your body is made up of cells, your brain is made up of cells also. The cells in your brain are called neurons and what makes them different from most of the other cells in your body is that they communicate with each other. Brain cells send messages back and forth to each other. When brain cells communicate with each other they create what I call neuro-networks. Basically, a neuro-network is a group of brain cells that have communicated or are communicating with each other.

This communication can represent something you did either mentally or physically. This could include cognitive things like thoughts, feeling, day-dreaming and even wishing or setting goals. The physical things would include anything physically you did like talking, walking moving your finger or just turning your head. Each of these processes either cognitive or physical and they are all represented by a set of neurons communicating with each other.

In fact everything you see, think, believe, touch, feel, smell, taste dream, wish for, and imagine creates a neuro-network. Even your thoughts and memories have an associated neuro-network in your brain.

From new brain imaging we now know that even your thoughts, imagination and everything else you do all have chemical, electrical and biological properties that can be observed and measured in your brain. That’s right we can observe and measure your thoughts, memories and imagination.

From this ability to observe what goes on in the brain, neuroscientists have discovered that our brain can not tell the difference between what we actually take in though our senses and what we imagine. In other words our brain can’t tell the difference between what we imagine and reality. This will play an very important role in your weight loss success later.

This discovery is one of the most important things we have learned from brain science for controlling and managing your weight, and for that matter setting and achieving goals. You see, brain scientists also know that certain types of thoughts and beliefs’ effect your behavior and body chemistry in different ways. Some types of thoughts have a positive affect and some have a negative affect. This is not new, as an example, the negative effect that stress has on your mind and body has been known for years. What’s new is that through brain imaging we can actually see at the brain cell level the negative or positive affects your thoughts have on your brain cells and your eventual behavior and body chemistry.

Every thought, belief, imagination and feeling you have each have an associated set of chemicals connected to it. Negative thoughts have certain chemicals connected to them and positive thoughts have another set of chemicals connected to them. These chemicals are called neurotransmitters or hormones and they play a major role in how you feel and the actions or non action you take. These neurotransmitters or hormones are also directly involved in whether you feel like or don’t feel like doing something.

Neurotransmitters and hormones also play a significant role in your bodies’ ability to regulate weight. One example of how negative thinking can cause you to gain weight and not be able to loss it is a chemical released when your thoughts are stressful. This chemical is called Cortisol, and I’m sure many of you have heard of it. Here’s the short version of what you must know.

Cortisol is a hormone, produced by the adrenal gland when the body is under stress. Your hypothalamus, via the pituitary gland, directs the adrenal glands to secrete both cortisol and adrenaline. Adrenaline makes you energetic and alert, and increases metabolism. It also helps fat cells to release energy. Cortisol helps your body become even more effective at producing glucose from proteins, and is designed to help quickly increase the body’s energy in times of stress.

This works great for those moments when you need to be a little stressed. But when you are constantly under stress this process can causes serious problems, like gaining weight and not being able to loss it. When you are constantly under stress, this leads to a constant state of excess cortisol production. Excess cortisol stimulates glucose production. This excess glucose then typically is converted into fat, ending up as stored fat and in most cased in your belly, all because of stressful thoughts.

And here is the worst of part of this stressful way of thinking. There are a number of research studies that have shown that fat cells can, in the presence of too much adrenaline, become resistant to the effects of adrenaline. Eventually, the fat cells become unresponsive to adrenal stimulation to release fat, but through the presence of high cortisol, they’re more responsive to fat storage. At the same time, high levels of circulating cortisol increase the risk of obesity and increased fat storage -- and particularly, abdominal obesity, one of the most dangerous types of obesity, and one that contributes to an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and heart disease.

This is just one example of how your brain is involved in everything. It’s your brain that tells those chemicals what to do.

What does all this mean? Well, the neuro-network that makes up your self-image, your beliefs about yourself and the self esteem you hold of yourself operate from your subconscious mind. The neuro-networks that make up your self-image, beliefs and self esteem is essentially your subconscious mental programming.

Your subconscious mental programming is about 100 times more powerful than your conscious mind. If you attempt to change anything about yourself without first changing the programming in your subconscious mind, your brain will literally start working against you and make your goal difficult if not impossible to accomplish. And this is the main reason people fail to accomplish their weight loss goals, they have simple not changed the mental programming they already have and that’s the program their brain will work off.

And here is the big secret everyone’s been hiding. When you learn to re-program your beliefs and control your thoughts, imagination and basically your mind, you can take control of your body’s internal mechanism that is in charge of your weight. Once you take control you can loss weight and keep it off automatically. Think about this, if you had a mental program that said your are a skinny person your brain would make that happen. You would not even need to participate it would happen automatically based on what your mental blue print says. WOW, and you can re-write your mental blue print or mental program.

I know some of you out there will say or are thinking right now:

• I have always been fat.
• I will always be overweight.
• My mother was overweight.
• My grandmother was overweight.
• My farther was overweight.
• I was just born to be overweight.
• This is just the way my genes were given to me.

So, you think your genes are responsible for your situation. Ok, about 1% of the population is overweight because of genetics. Not just genes but a genetic problem, the chances you are one of the 1% is slim, but if your doctor has told you that you are genetically born to be overweight well I guess you are in that 1%. But I doubt it.

Now, if that’s not enough, here is one more little piece of mind bending research, from Epigenetic Modification. Epigenetic Modification is the science of how the environment influences our genetic make up. According to research conducted by Dr. Bruce Lipton, who conducted pioneering studies at Stanford University School of Medicine, “our biology adapts to our beliefs”. His research has shown that our genetic make-up is not curved in stone and can actually be influenced by our belief system.

What does all this mean? Let me compile everything you have read so far into one sentence. “Your weight and or physical condition have more to do with your beliefs and the way you think than exercise and dieting combined.”

If you have seriously dieted and exercised on a regular basis and still can’t lose the weight, there is a very good chance your thoughts and beliefs might be the problem.

However, if you combine exercise and dieting with control over your mind power you will put your weight management program on jet fuel. Learning to use your mind the right way is the most important factor in achieving your health, fitness and weight lose goals.

How do you apply this knowledge to losing weight? Remember, you already have an internal image of yourself, that’s your mental blue print. This image is what controls your body’s chemistry and your weight. If you are over your maximum weight and you are struggling to drop those pounds and there is no underlying medical explanation, your internal image is keeping you in-line with what your brain is already programmed to believe. In other words you have a neuro-network that says you are overweight, and until you change that neuro-network it will always bring you back to what your subconscious mind believes.

Every time you look in the mirror you reinforce the image you see, every time you have the thought you are overweight, you strengthen the neuro-network. Every time you attend a weight control program you remind your own neuro-network that you are overweight.

Now I’m not saying don’t do these things, I’m going to say change the thoughts and the beliefs you have about them. Remember the stronger the neuro-network the more difficult it is to change. But the best part is you can change it. And what follows is a brief overview of the top six ways to make rapid and permanent changes in your life.

The NeuroFactor6 (NF6) is the world’s first neuroscience based belief and behavioral modification system. NF6 applies the latest cutting edge neuroscience research to help you make rapid and permanent positive changes in your life. If you add these six factors to a basic exercise and diet program it becomes almost impossible for you not to achieve the weight loss goals you set and never gain the weight back.

The NF6 applies Conscious Neuro Directed Action (CNDA). CNDA is the science of consciously programming your beliefs and creating positive habits at the neuroscience level. CNDA is the neuroscience of consciously intentionally changing what you think and believe in a way that changing the structure, shape and size of your brain. This in essence gives you a brand new mental program or mental blue print for success. Once your new blue print is in place your weight loss will become natural and automatic.

When programmed properly you will put your goals on auto-pilot and move towards them without even thinking about it. This process is similar to the same un-conscious neuro directed programming that occurs when smokers get addicted to smoking, or over-eaters get addicted to overeating. It happens without you thinking about it, and the next thing you know you have become addicted to the negative habit.

Smokers become so addicted they smoke automatically and overeaters just sit down and eat with out even giving a second thought to it. It’s all programmed into their mental blue print. Once programmed these become bad or negative habits that are very difficult if not impossible to break unless you start with the brain and re-program it.

In the same way smokers and overeaters become addicted to their negative habit you can use this same mental programming process to consciously program positive beliefs and behaviors related to losing weight and weight management. And once these new programs are in place they will become very difficult if not impossible to reverse. This is like creating a new mental program that will take over and become your new beliefs and behavior. Once this is done, your body will then follow automatically.

The process to create this new mental program is based on the new brain science of COPENOLOGY. The process involves 6 steps. Each step will be COPENIZED to speed up the process of creating the new neuro-networks. When properly COPENIZED you will have a new set of behaviors and beliefs that will control then control your weight without you thinking about it.

COPENIZED refers to the process of creating new neuro-networks in your brain. When you do this properly you essentially change yourself from the cellular level up. This in effect will change how your brain chemistry operates. When you COPENIZE your dreams, vision or intention you change how your brain uses the various chemicals and hormones that affect your body.

To COPENIZE something means to make it an unconscious behavior, belief and habit. There are several techniques used to COPENIZE a new behavior, belief or habit. Listed below are the most powerful.

Goal Setting: When you set a goal you actually begin the process of creating new neuro-networks. The act of writing down a goal signals your brain you intend to do something. The first step in COPENIZING a dream, vision or intention (DVI) is to set a goal to accomplish it.

Many success scientist say a goal not written down is not much more then wishful thinking. So, you will start to COPENIZE your dream, vision or intention by writing it down as a goal.

Visualization: Another powerful technique for creating new beliefs and behaviors is visualization. Creative visualization is the ability to use your imagination, see images in your mind. If you add concentration, feelings and emotions visualization becomes a powerful tool to change beliefs, behavior.

Visualization might be the most powerful way to create new neuro-networks that change beliefs and behavior know to man. Many say it is the power behind success. We know it literally changes the shape, size and structure of your brain. There is nothing mystical about visualization it simply creates new neuro-networks in you brain, and these neuro-networks are at the foundation of who you are and what you do and achieve.

Affirmation: Affirmations are positive statements that describe a desired situation, and are repeated many times, in order to impress the subconscious mind and trigger it into positive action. Affirmations are also very powerful in re-programming your mental blue print.

In order for affirmations to work, they have to be repeated with attention, conviction, interest and desire. Affirmations basically re-program your mind and mental blue print the same way commands and programs control a computer. Affirmations work the same way that visualization works. Repeated affirmations help you focus your mind on your goals and automatically build new neuro-networks in your brain. When done properly affirmations change the shape, size, and structure of your brain. This will result in a new set of beliefs, attitudes and habits that ultimately change your behavior.

To use affirmations only choose positive words, describing what you really want. If you desire to lose weight, do not tell yourself "I am not fat" or "I am losing weight." These are negative statements, and they only bring into the mind mental images of what you do not want. This would produce the wrong neuro-network. Say instead, "I am getting slim" or "I have reached my right weight". Such words evoke positive images in the mind. And remember your brain doesn’t know the difference between what you imagine and what is true, it will work on whatever your tell it.

Always affirm in the present tense, not the future tense. Saying, "I will lose weight", means that you intend to lose weight one day, in the indefinite future, but not now. It is more powerful and effective to say, “I am losing weight” or even better “I am ??? pounds my ideal weight.” This is perfect because it tells your brain what you want it to believe. Once you have created the new neuro-network and your brain starts believing it your body will then simply follow what your brain says is true. That means it will start causing and doing whatever it needs to do to bring that belief into reality.

Dream Building: Some people may think dream building is corny or a waist of time. They simply don’t understand how the brain creates your success or causes your failure. However, you now know that it is your mental blue print that either helps you succeed or causes you to fail. There is nothing secret about this. People that achieve certain things did it because of how their brain was programmed and the way they thought. If you have the wrong mental program and your thinking is wrong the chance that you will succeed at any thing you attempt will be limited.

If you are in San Diego, California driving with a map of Dallas, Texas what are the chances that map will help you find anything in California. That’s the same way your mental blue print works. The map you use for your mental blue print will only help you achieve things it is programmed to achieve. If your mental blue print is programmed for you to be 40 pounds overweight unless you change the blue print at the neuro-network level nothing you do will work in the long run. You don’t have the right mental blue print for permanent weight lose so any weight lose is only temporary.

However, once you get the right mental blue print your weights lose will become automatic. Dream building is just another powerful way to help you create the blue print you need for success.

So what is dream building? In simple terms dream building is the process of thinking about your dreams and goals and actually imagining you are living your dreams and goals now. There are 5 stages to dream building.

1. Think about your dreams and goals and imagine you are actually living it now.
2. Visit your dream and goals. You can do this by buying magazines, using the internet, and even visiting the car dealer and sit in the car of your dreams. You can visit home that are like the one you dream of. Cut out pictures of your dream.
3. Join a dream building group.
4. Talk with others that support you and your dreams. Stay away from negative people.
5. Put together your own dream team.

When you do these things they lead to higher levels of passion and desire for the thing you dream of. Dream building is a very power source of neuro-network development. People that dream build on a regular stay motivated longer than those that don’t, and lack of motivation will kill you chances of achieving your dreams and goals faster than anything else. Dream building is also a fun and enjoyable way to re-program your old mental blue prints.

When you us goal setting, visualization, affirmations and dream building techniques to you will move in the direction of your dreams and goals faster than you ever could imagine. You quickly start to notice that you are doing things that bring you closer to your goals without even thinking about it. You will literally put yourself on autopilot and fly towards your goals because you have re-programmed your brain to help you.

So how do you re-program your old mental blue print with a new and better one? That’s what this article is all about.

So lets get started.

We have a simple six step process based on the latest cutting edge brain science research coming out of the colleges, universities and private research institutes. This process applies what we know about how your brain works to create success for you and how it causes you to fail. These six steps are based on six brain factors that help you succeed.

Utilizing the knowledge that our neuro-networks create who we are, what we believe and how much we weigh we have named these six steps NeuroFactors 1 though 6 and abbreviated them NF1-6. NF6 consist of 6 simple actions you must take to begin the process of creating a new mental blue print that’s exactly the one you desire. Each of these actions has a foundation in neuroscience and if followed to the letter they always produced the desired results.

To lose the weight you can’t lose simple follow and apply each NeuroFactor to your situation and you can’t fail.

NeuroFactor 1: Kill the ANTs. The first thing you must do is kill the ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts). These are success killing thoughts that come into your mind without you even giving them a second thought. They are the negative thoughts you have about your weight or physical condition. And, remember every thought you have, everything you imagine and everything you believe all have electrical, chemical and biological properties that can be observed and measured in your brain. Once you accept these negative thoughts they then affect every cell in your body. Examples of these negative thoughts are:

• I’m so overweight
• I can’t lose this weight
• Diets never work for me
• I wish I could lose this belly fat
• I’ll never lose weight
• I just don’t have the discipline

Research has shown that negative thoughts create stress, and stress over a long period of time will have serious harmful effects on your brains ability to function properly and control your weight. So when you feel the ANTs coming, you need to stop them and replace them with positive thoughts. This factor alone will work wonders on your self-esteem, self image and ultimately your weight.

One very easy and effective way to stop the ANTs is with what I call the “Shut Up I’m In Charge Here” process. It works like this. You feel the ANTs in your mind coming. They come across as a thought or even the other voice in your head. When you feel them coming or hear the voice and begin to think the negative thought just say “Shut Up I’m In Charge Here”. This stops the negative thought from gaining any power. Then you immediately replace the negative thought or voice with a positive one.

Example: You look in the mirror and you get that thought, “dang I’m fat”. Immediately say “Shut Up I’m In Charge Here. I’m beautiful and I love myself.”

NeuroFactor 2: Create a DVI. After you learn to eliminate the ANTs, you then create a Dream, Vision or Intention (DVI) to do something or create a better situation. In other words you consciously make the decision to change. Just ask yourself what would be a better situation?

• You 20 pounds lighter.
• More energy.
• A size or two smaller.
• Other
Create a clear vision of what your situation will look like, feel like and be like when you achieve the results you want. Really decide you are ready to do something and you are going to take action now, not tomorrow.

This process will turn your brain on to the fact that you intend to do something about the situation. This will also initiate the growth and development of a new set of positive neuro-networks. What happens after this is a chain reaction in you brain. The more intense the DVI the more powerful the neuro-network will be. But this is just the beginning.

NeuroFactor 3: COPENIZE your DVI. Once you have identified a DVI the next thing you need to do is to COPENIZE it. The term, COPENIZE comes from COPENLOGY which is the science of, Cognitive Optimum Performance Enabling Neuroscience.

COPENOLOGY is essentially the new brain science of peak performance, personal development, team and individual success. When you COPENIZE your DVI you will be applying neuroscience research to cause your dream, vision or intention to become a strong and powerful neuro-network. This will actually become a new set of neuro-networks that represent your DVI. When done properly this new neuro-network will be a new belief, habit and behavior. It will also be difficult to change just like the habits of smokers and overeaters.

To COPENIZE your DVI you will use visualization, affirmations and other COPENOLOGY techniques.

Example: Lets say your vision is to be 20 pounds lighter. You want to apply visualization techniques to see yourself looking 20 pounds lighter. You could get old photos of you that depicted you at the weight you want to be at. Or you could just get the body of someone out of a magazine that’s at the weight you want to be at. Cut their head off and put your head on their photo.

Remember your brain can’t tell the difference between what you imagine and what reality is. Your brain will start creating a new blue print showing you with the new body. Over a period of time this will become what your brain believes to be true and then it will start doing what it takes to make it reality.

This step also starts creating excitement, passion and desire in you for the attainment of your DVI. The more you think about your DVI more it grows on you. The more it grows on you the more powerful the neuro-network grows. The more powerful your neuro-network is the stronger your new belief will be. This is basically a new attitude, belief and a new set a behaviors based on your belief system.

Your goal for NeuroFactor3 is to create a new level of belief and passion for the accomplishment of you DVI. This will turn on your internal monitoring systems and cause it to start reacting in a positive way towards your DVI.

NeuroFactor 4: Set goals and COPENIZE it. When you have developed a sufficient amount of passion and desire for your DVI you will then set a goal and COPENIZE it. The purpose behind this step is to strengthen the neuro-network you have already created. If your neuro-network is strong enough you will have created an actual new set of neuro structures in your brain that can be observed and measured. This is how habits are created, and you now have your goals programmed as a belief and habit.

To COPENIZE your goals use the SMART system of goal setting. This is the most powerful and simplest model for setting goals. In fact people that set goals that don’t create the results they desire probably didn’t set SMART goals.

SMART Goals:

SMART is an acronym for goals that are: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based.

A specific goal is simple and easy to describe. When you set goals for yourself, are they specific and precise? "I want to be happy" is not specific. "I want to live happily in Hawaii" is specific. Your personal power lies in clarity.

A measurable goal is one that has a specific outcome. How will you know when you've achieved your goal? If someone videotaped you reaching your goal would it be obvious that you achieved your goal or not? For example, the goal of saving $10,000 in a year is measurable. On December 31st you have either reached the goal or not. It can be easily measured.

An attainable goal is one that allows you to stretch, but is not impossible. Let's say you want to make a million dollars. Great goal. But, if you are currently out of work or are not saving money, this goal is currently not achievable. If financial prosperity is a goal, start by getting work or saving/investing and then move on to the next attainable goal as you work towards your vision.

A relevant goal is one that has meaning for you. It is not just a good idea or a "should". It reflects who you are and what you value as a human being. Pick something that gives you joy. If you want to lose weight connect that desire to a larger intention. Living a healthy and fit life is the larger intention that makes the weight loss goal relevant. Choose things that are important to YOU and that make a difference in your life.

A time-based goal is one that has an end date. Even if you don't know if you can accomplish your goal in the time you've set for yourself set a date anyway. The mind responds to specifics. Setting a date and creating a plan or path for the goal will notify your mind you mean business!

Once you have your goals identified and written out then COPENIZE them. This turns the goal into a passion in your mind.
NeuroFactor 5: Develop a Plan of attack and COPENIZE the plan. If you have done everything correct, by the time you get to actually developing a plan you should have a pretty solid neuro-network being developed. During this stage, you simple create a plan that tells you what to do daily, weekly and monthly. This helps strengthen your beliefs at the neuroscience level.

To COPENIZE your plan, start by writing it down and committing it to memory. You should visualize yourself doing what you have scheduled on a daily basis. Schedule the days you are not going to do anything also. This plan is the one thing most people that set goals fail to do. With out a plan to accomplish your goals you are like a ship on the ocean without a sale. You just go were the wind blows you.

Using the visualization technique to COPENIZE you plan will also make working on the plan easier. It will become so easy that eventually you will be on autopilot and do whatever it takes automatically.

NeuroFactor 6: COPENIZE your daily action. When you COPENIZE what you should be doing on a daily basis with visualization and affirmations, your behavior will become automatic. This is very important. Doing this creates the habits you need to develop so you do whatever it takes. You don’t have to think about them because they are part of your subconscious programming.

If you have done everything correctly, your DVI now has its own neuro-network; your goal has its own neuro-network connected to your DVI neuro-network. And you have a neuro-network of your daily plan all connected to each other. If you are trying to lose weight you now have a program in your brain that will run 24 hours a day doing everything it can to bring your weight in line with your new beliefs.

At this point you will find it easy and motivational to exercise, stick to a diet will be easy and your genetic make up will start to adapt to your new beliefs.

The simplicity of these six factors should not be taken for granted. Each of them are backed by brain science research and practical experience. They work and will work for you.

Author's Bio: 

Dr. Clint Pearman, Ph.D. has been in the profession of helping people become more successful for more than 25 years. He has worked with world class companies and government organizations like, World Vision, James Hardie, Drug Education for Youth, USAA, U.S. Justice Department, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps to a few. He has also provided life strategies coaching to over 600 individual clients since 1989.

He is the Founder, CEO and Chief Research Scientist at the North American Center for Optimum Performance Enabling Neuroscience Research. A research, development and training company dedicated and focused on identifying and applying cutting edge brain science research to health and wellness, peak performance, personal development, team and individual success.

He is the Founder of COPENOLOGY©, the new brain science of success, and he is the creator of the Neuro-Factor 6, the worlds most powerful brain science based system for achieving more success.

He is also the Founder and Chief Coach at the Synergistic Coaching Solution, were he works with a team of coaches focused on improving the lives of people around the world, by providing health and wellness, small business development and life strategies education, motivation and coaching.

He is the author several article and ebooks on the topic of health and wellness, peak performance, personal development, team and individual success.

And you must get his soon to be released book "Brain Science Life Solutions, Preparing your brain and mind for optimum performance. Scheduled release date is 15 September 2008 by Xlibris publishing.

Dr. Clint is known for his ability to translate complex brain science discoveries into simple step by step highly entertaining, educational and motivational workshops and seminars that send the attendees away fascinated and inspired to make immediate positive changes in their own lives.

For more information or to contact Dr. Clint visit: The Synergistic Coaching Solution at http://www.thescs.com