Honest Hypnosis

Master Your Mind... for a Change

Intermittant Fasting

The Great Sugar Conspiracy

by

48863412_mlOne of the challenges I have as a hypnotherapist who has worked in the hypnosis for weight loss field for over 15 years is the HUGE impact of CULTURAL HYPNOSIS on our basic eating patterns.

By cultural hypnosis I mean the prevailing bad science that vilifies fat and cholesterol yet celebrates “heart healthy whole grains” and “Fruit Juices”.

It doesn’t take much effort to discover that eating whole grains and more “fruit” is not a healthy choice if you want to lose fat.

In fact wheat is higher on the glycemic index than bananas. In other words grains are sugar. Potatoes are sugar. Fruit is sugar.

Recent research points its finger DIRECTLY at sugar in all its forms as the cause of the current obesity epidemic.

It turns out a “calorie is not just a calorie”.

The low fat diet ends up being a high carb diet simply by default.

So the first job is to counter the mass hypnosis of the food industry which is one of the largest advertisers on all media  – (along with the pharmaceutical companies)

and trust me on this one, advertising IS hypnosis. And anyone who has any exposure to the media and all the various forms of advertising are being hypnotized. And very few people are even aware of how their beliefs and behaviors are guided unconsciously because of the influence of advertising.

The question is whether YOU are going to take charge of your own mind and what you believe and what actions you will take to change your life.

And something HAS to change doesn’t it? Because if you keep doing what you’ve been doing you are going to keep getting what you’ve been getting.

So my main job as a hypnotherapist is not just to educate my weight loss clients and it’s not to “hypnotize” them to suddenly crave only “healthy” food. It’s to teach them how to take charge of their own hypnosis so that they stop BELIEVING the media baloney about what is actually “healthy”.

  • The Paleo diet has been labeled “the most recent diet fad” by the media and yet it is exactly the diet that we evolved to eat over MILLIONS of years. The large scale introduction of grains into our diet only happened a mere 10,000 years ago.
  • The increase in simple carbs into our diets only happened 300 years ago and the “low fat diet” was only introduced 30 years ago.
  • With the addition of corn to the human diet we suddenly see evidence of tooth decay in human remains.
  • With the influx of a ton of sugar we began to see heart disease and dementia ever increasing…

hmmm… who is hypnotizing whom here?

If you don’t want to take my word for it. Do a little reading.

check out this article:

The Sugar Conspiracy

Then check out

Grain Brain by David Perlmutter

And then if you would like my support and help in hypnotizing yourself to get off the diet rollercoaster and on a practical, sustainable healthy lifestyle that includes mastering your mind for a change, check out my course:

The really important thing is just to be fully aware that you can realize the change you’re looking for…

And here’s how

Click the link below to:

When Change Takes Too Long

by

When Change Takes “Too Long”…

Hey! I was just reflecting with a friend on the process of discovering the keys to consistent weight loss and the sustainable shift to a new way of eating and taking care of your body…

Part of what triggered it was that I hit another new weight loss/fitness milestone yesterday.

I weighed 207 pounds for the first time since… MY EARLY 20’S…

COWABUNGAH!

In the past whenever I wanted to slim down a bit, I would just increase the number of clients I took on for weight loss hypnosis… LOL…

Because ALL hypnosis is SELF hypnosis, the hypnotist often gets the benefit of the hypnosis sessions he or she does with clients as well.

But there came a moment about 5 years ago when the stress I was going through and the way I was eating were overpowering my “Personal Mind Mastery”…

So, like millions of other middle aged people, I signed up for a gym membership and a twice a week personal training session… I mean after all, I was eating “healthy”. So it had to be the exercise.

Right?

6 months later. Nope. same weight. Same size. Just a little stronger.

Screw that! :o)

Then one day my personal trainer guy just never showed up… The gym had no idea where he went.

So I went back to my own personal supervision…
I took response-ability for my results and started researching and shifting through all the weight loss and fitness BS to find out what actually, consistently worked for me.

One of the first things I did was get rid of all grains and white, starchy foods like potatoes.

No change weight wise but my mind got much clearer.
So I kept that change and only indulged in bread or white stuff one day a week on “cheat day”.

(BTW reduced calorie diets fail because after about 7 days or “eating less” your unconscious mind adjusts your metabolism down to burn less. You can “reset” your hormone levels back to “normal burn” by “feasting” once every 7 days.)

I increased my healthy fats.

No significant change except I stopped feeling hungry as often… and wasn’t as obsessed with my next meal…

Next I got rid of my chair and made a standing desk… starting doing “slow burn” resistance training for less than 10 minutes a day…

Made progress! Started seeing the fat go down, the weight go down, the muscle % go up

Next I got rid of fruit and any “hidden” forms of sugar except on “cheat day”

Made more progress! Who knew FRUIT was making me FAT? Isn’t it supposed to be healthy?

(to test it I added fruit back in, in moderation once per day… and guess what? I started gaining weight back. So nix the fruit except on “cheat day”/”feast day”.)

Next I got rid of BREAKFAST… actually you CAN’T get rid of breakfast EVER… because it literally means “Break Fast”… but I started started moving my breakfast back on hour or so each week until I was actually having “Brunch”…

so I was fasting pretty much 5-6 days a week from dinner to “lunch time”. It saved me a lot of time! And I basically stopped even feeling hungry until noonish.

And I made progress…

And the key thing for me, the thing that has helped me smash through the “plateaus” was one or two days a week, fasting for 24 hours. From dinner to dinner.

I recommend you check out a book by Brad Pilon called, “Eat. Stop. Eat.”

So I would have dinner around 7 pm, eat nothing else afterwards, go to bed pleasantly satisfied and then push breakfast back until dinner time the next day… Once a week to maintain, Twice a week to lose.

And I combined it with every Friday doing what I started calling a FEAST day. On that one day, I eat pretty much the way I have eaten all my life.

Breakfast first thing.
Then Lunch
Then an afternoon snack
then dinner and a snack after dinner…
as much fruit, chocolate, carbs and bread as I want…

And it is pretty obvious that eating that way every day was why I was getting fat.  I was eating way more than my body actually needed…

So after what seems like a MASSIVELY LONG TIME, Instead of frustration, I have started getting MASSIVE, STEADY, PREDICTABLE RESULTS…

And the positive feedback loop is keeping me motivated.
I am setting my sights on ACTUALLY SEEING MY ABS!

and what’s really cool is that all of this TOOK A HELL OF A LONG TIME. This process took about 5 years! However when I got super serious about it was October of 2014. I saw a picture of myself and I was shocked by the size of my belly…

Ever have one of those moments of truth? The key is to hold on to that intensity of MOTIVATION over a long period of time. Particularly when progress seems elusive.

This has been a process of experimentation and practice that has not been without frustration. But with the tools of self hypnosis I was able to keep myself in the game even when it looked like I was not getting anywhere.

The point of today’s Mind Mastery Message is this:
Sometimes the desired goal or result we long for in our lives just takes WAY LONGER than we think it SHOULD.

And that is NOT FAILURE! It is only FEEDBACK.

It’s a sign of some limiting beliefs and old programs that need to be addressed.

It’s a sign that you are simply not done yet with exploring different ways of thinking and taking action.

Ultimately physical fitness starts in your MIND. However, if it just stays in your Mind, and you don’t actually implement intelligent action that actually leads you towards the results you want, you ain’t gonna make much progress…

We HAVE to combine the Mind and the Body.
We HAVE to get support from the important people in our lives.
We HAVE to keep track of our progress in multiple ways so we can Measure our successes.

One key to success in any endeavor is to uncover and clear the “hypnosis” of false beliefs and expectations.

If you’re interested in going deeper with me in this area of your own life, you might want to check out my online weight loss program that I call, “It’s Not Just About The Food!”  (this is a $900 course that you can grab for only $99 bucks right now)

In it you will discover and implement the tools and techniques that quite literally will work for anything in any area of your life that you want to accomplish or change.

If we don’t care of our bodies, where will we live?

So your Mind Mastery Assignment today,
should you choose to accept it, is to look at your own physical level of health, fitness, strength, size, weight, whatever you most important challenge is, and see if you can notice the repeating pattern.

You might want to make a note of what worked in the past and where you habitually stopped doing what worked. Or Notice what Never worked in the past and see if you just kept doing it anyway.

And as always be GENTLE with yourself.

Today’s Transformation Tune
is one I’ve shared a few times recently. It bears repeated listens as it is quite literally a Weight Loss/Fitness hypnosis Session in the form of a song…

Song #330 “Eyes On The Horizon”

have an awesome day!

– Mark

p.s. I’m off to CT to do an African Drumming and Storytelling program for some awesome 7th Graders… Speaking of things that “Take Too Long” remind me to tell you the story sometime of how long it took me to actually get my first paying school gig after I decided to “go for it” and do assembly programs for kids…

The really important thing is just to be fully aware that you can realize the change you’re looking for…

And here’s how

Click the link below to:

Or just leave a comment below 🙂

Track Your Progress

by

How Can You Tell You’re Making Progress?
The quick answer is…

…By Keeping Track.

For example. I weigh myself every morning when I first get up.

But body weight doesn’t always tell the whole story.

So I took the leap and invested $25 bucks in a scale that also has Body Fat, Water, Muscle and Bone percentage measurements. All of which I write down. Pretty much almost every day.

The other day I hit a new low weight wise, (which was a new high progress wise!) and all the other numbers moved in the direction I’ve been working towards as well.

My body fat went down. My muscle went up. etc.
So I wrote it down. I made a note of it. And set my intention and self hypnosis for the next small goal in this area of my life.

I can look back at October 12, 2014 which was the day I got SERIOUS about creating a life long SUSTAINABLE fitness program for my body and look at the numbers:

October 12, 2014

  • Weight: 228
  • Body Fat %: 20.4
  • Total Body Water: 62.5
  • Muscle Mass: 34
  • Bone: 8.2
  • Waist measurement: 40″

and compare it with Today’s

March 18, 2016

  • Weight: 208.6
  • Body Fat %: 17.6
  • Total Body Water: 65.1
  • Muscle Mass: 35.1
  • Bone: 7.4
  • Waist Measurement: 35″

Now also understand that this cheapo scale is not the most accurate measuring device for some of this stuff. For example, I’m probably not losing bone density. But I am staying more hydrated, and my body fat is going down and my muscle is going up. It doesn’t have to be perfect to still keep you on track.

So we don’t just weigh ourselves on the scale and use that one single metric to gauge all our progress.

Measure enough to get as accurate a picture as you can.

It feels good to make measurable progress. It reinforces what is working.

We ARE animals after all. We move TOWARDS Pleasure and AWAY from pain.

And to celebrate and reinforce my progress even more, I also bought a new pair of pants with a 34″ waist.

And… I can actually… button them!
(admittedly they are a little snug).

However,

A little over a year ago, I was wearing 38″ waist size (but with those stretchy things in them for “comfort”. so truthfully I was more like a 40″)

BTW if you would like to join me on the health and fitness quest, check out my program, “It’s Not Just About The Food”

It is simply the exact program I follow in my own life and that I developed over 15years of working with weight loss hypnosis clients… It combines leading edge research with self hypnosis sessions and NLP Mind Mastery Tools to make getting fit and healthy not only easier, faster and better but more SUSTAINABLE.

So the mind mastery tools, plus the food choices I’ve been making, the intermittent fasting I’ve been doing combined with a “feast” day once a week, getting rid of my chair and using a standing desk as well as the Slow Burn fitness techniques that take only a few minutes every other day or so, are working.

And NOW I WANT MORE! Don’t YOU?

Do you see how it works?

If you don’t keep track, how will you actually know if you’re making progress?

If you are keeping track and NOT improving then you can intelligently explore different approaches and ideas until you DO see progress.

Does that make sense?

It’s also why businesses track expenses as well as income. The mantra of many millionaires is, “You can’t improve what you can’t measure”.  And I think there is something to that.

It’s why peak performance athletes keep track of their workouts and times, personal bests in practice and in competitions etc.

So how are you doing? Have you been noticing improvements in your life?
Or do you just keep track of the failures, the disappointments and the struggles?

Remember one of the immutable laws of the universe is:

“We get more of what we focus on.”

Your Daily Mind Mastery Challenge today (should you choose to accept it) is to pick a single area of your life and begin to keep track of your progress on a daily basis.
We get more of what we focus on, so focus in on what IS working.

  • Are you better at practicing self love?
  • Are you making progress in your health and fitness?
  • Are your relationship skills and communication skills improving?
  • Are you practicing your Anxiety Crushers on a regular basis?
  • Are you cutting back on junk food and eating more veggies?
  • Are you practicing meditation daily?
  • Are you writing out WDIWOBTICPI? And making a note of how things actually turn out?

I mean, after all, What’s good in your life? Do you even know?

Make a note of it. Write it down. Keep track of your good days. Keep track of your successes.

Forget about the “failures” for now.

And if you look at things with the appreciation that even the “Failures” are part of your ultimate success, you can surely find SOMETHING to track that will give you hope and encouragement so you can take another step and another step and another step towards becoming even more fabulous than you already are…

And I am NOT suggesting that you measure EVERYTHING… Just track the stuff that’s IMPORTANT to you. And do it INTELLIGENTLY so you are fairly sure you aren’t fooling yourself like the person who wants to lose weight and starts working out and building muscle getting discouraged by their increasing weight. They don’t want to lose WEIGHT. What they really want is to Lose FAT and BUILD MUSCLE! And they very well could be succeeding but not measuring it correctly!

So give “keeping track of your successes” a shot!

Your Transformational Soundtrack to support your assignment (should you choose to accept it) is….

Song # 337 “Walk Through Roses” (It’s all about focus)

Enjoy!

Have an awesome, fabulous, groovy, love filled day!

– Mark

p.s. I will see YOU on the INSIDE!

The really important thing is just to be fully aware that you can realize the change you’re looking for…

And here’s how

Click the link below to:

Or just leave a comment below 🙂

Hypnosis For Weight Loss

by

hh-09-29-15-carbs-calories-ss2cropStop Counting Calories!

One of the main areas of practice for MOST hypnotherapists is helping people to lose weight with hypnosis. My practice was no different in the beginning. Smokers showed up. People who wanted to lose weight showed up. And interestingly enough, both groups confessed to smoking or over eating as a result of feeling over powering ANXIETY.

So that got my attention and I began to work more and more with helping these folks to manage their anxiety. And as a result a number of them stopped smoking and lost weight.

But there was a piece of the puzzle missing.

One of the common traits that I noticed among weight loss clients was the notion that if hypnosis was legit, then they could keep on doing whatever it was they had been doing (or not doing), keep eating and drinking the same crap they’d been eating, and the pounds would somehow magically just fall away and they would be thin.

Then when they stayed the same size, they could BLAME the hypnosis or ME for their lack of progress. Convenient huh?

The fact remains that we need to obey the laws of reality that our bodies have evolved to deal with. While the prevailing weight loss Myth of “Eat less and Move more” permeates our culture, we need to wake up and challenge it. Because it has been PROVEN to be a failed and erroneous THEORY.

I want to keep this short so I will stop here and let you watch the brand new video I made for you, but the fact remains there IS a way to retrain your body to burn fat!

And while hypnosis plays a key and powerful role in changing ANYTHING, including eating and exercise habits, in this case hypnosis needs to be a part of an intelligent approach to eating and moving our bodies that mimics as much as possible the way our bodies evolved to eat and move.

What’s cool and groovy about this is that The solution is simple, practical and enjoyable.

Video:

What’s cool about my approach to fat reduction is that the foods that actually trigger fat burning and muscle building, taste great and are more filling than anything “Weight Watchers” can mix up in their laboratories…. and you don’t have to spend half your life in a smelly gym.

If you are interested in learning more about my approach to weight loss and physical fitness, you might want to check out my MASSIVE course, “It’s Not Just About The Food!” in it I typically over deliver value for you and give you at least 90 days of support and inspiration to get yourself lean and fit, SUSTAINABLY. In other words there is no “regain” plus 10 or 20 percent like the “counting calories” aka starvation diets that MOST people, even “experts” mistakenly BELIEVE to be the ONLY way to fat loss…

Wow! did I ever get up on my soap box for this post! HOLY GUACAMOLE!

You can learn more about the course and take it for a risk free test drive right here: “It’s Not Just About The Food!”

Got questions? I have answers and I want you to have them, so…

Let’s talk

Want to join the adventure? Check out this book!

Super Slow Work Out

by

27356790_sIn my extensive research to find the most “bang for your exercise buck”.  I’ve discovered two significantly superior ways to exercise that take a LOT less time and faster, better, more long lasting results.

By “results” I mean triggering…

  1. Muscle building
  2. Fat burning that continues AFTER you are done exercising.
  3. Both methods carry much LESS risk of injury.
  4. Both methods take a LOT less TIME out of your busy schedule.

The first one is High Intensity Interval Training or H.I.I.T.

This is typically using a recumbant bicycler or elliptical machine where you do a short warm up, then alternate 90 seconds of easy movements with 30 seconds of full out intensity. Eventually you can work up to 8 intervals. This is a 20 minute workout that should only be done 2-3 times per week because you need recovery time. How cool is that?

No need to FORCE yourself to schlepp off to the gym every single day.

The second way to a much more effective workout is the “Super Slow” or the “Slow Burn” workout where you take away all the momentum usually associated with lifting weights. You use smaller, lighter weights and slow all your movements down so that your muscles have to work much harder. This is my favorite because it is almost impossible to hurt yourself moving so slowly AND you can feel it start to work IMMEDIATELY.

Just do a couple of super slow squats right now… notice how you can immediately feel the “burn”.

If you do a full 30 minute full body super slow work out that’s going to be enough for the week.

Seriously.

You will absolutely need the rest of the week to recover. You can still walk, ride your bike, play tennis or golf, work in the garden, or do whatever physical movement you want during the rest of the week but in this case more super slow is NOT better. 30 minutes once a week. How does that sound?

Personally I’ve modified the super slow method so that every other day I do something like 5-10 minutes of compound movements EXCRUCIATINGLY SLOWLY… doing it every other day gives my body time to recover but it becomes more of a regular part of my day. I also use every opportunity to walk or bike to do my errands. I’ve also gotten rid of my desk chair and use a standing desk… So moving every day is part of the overall plan.

For my slow burn workout, I’ll do a super slow squat with two 10 pound dumbbells in my hands.  As I get to the standing up part of the squat I do hammer bicep curls the then press the dumbbells up directly over my head… I can usually do only 4-8 of these. It is a full body movement that is safe (I have some shoulder issues) and effective as well as time efficient. The time I am moving the weights over my head, my legs are resting. and while I am in the squat part of the movement, my arms are getting a little break. So it actually is a combination of both of these methods.

Learn More!

In my new online Weight Loss Course, I’ve taken Dr. Mercola’s recommendations and made them even more friendly for you and your hectic lifestyle.

My approach is to make moving so satisfying and restorative that it requires absolutely no discipline or “will power” to get yourself to do it. Adding the component of effective hypnosis can trigger your unconscious Mind to begin CRAVING movement… and more good things for your body…

Check it out!

It’s Not Just About The Food Online Weight Loss Revolution

Got questions? I have answers and I want you to have them, so…

Let’s talk

Lean, Fit and Healthy In Your 80’s ?

by

I had a chance to sit down and interview my 87 year old dad, Lew Shepard, the other day. He started exploring healthy eating habits when he was in his 40’s. In addition to steadily improving his nutrition and his understanding of what the human body actually needs to eat in order to thrive healthfully, he has also worked on his mind-set.

He’s the guy that introduced me to the revolutionary ideas of:

  • Slow burn fitness.
  • Emotional Freedom Technique
  • NLP by way of Anthony Robbins books “Unlimited Power” and “Awaken the Giant Within”
  • The Paleo diet
  • High Intensity Interval Training
  • Lacto fermented vegetables
  • and so much more!

Watch the interview and get inspired!

Want to get on the health and fitness train easier, faster, better?

Check it out! It’s Not Just About The Food Online Weight Loss Revolution

Got questions? I have answers and I want you to have them, so…

Let’s talk