7 tools to lose weight without changing anything that you eat
7 tools to lose weight without changing anything that you eat or making any lifestyle change. I know sounds too good to be true, but if you stick till the end, you will ultimately realise the power of these tools and reap tremendous benefits. So whether it is that you want to lose weight, maintain weight, or gain freedom around food, these tools will certainly.
Hi, I'm Dr. Anu Gupta and I'm the founder and creator of weight wise school. And I work with women who struggle with emotional eating and binge eating and I help them stop the obsession around diets around & lose weight permanently. So, welcome. Today, I’m talking about seven powerful tools and I have my notes right in front of me.
And so I'll be referring them. I'll be looking down towards them. Now, the first thing is I wanna clarify is that I am not promoting to not make any dietary or lifestyle. No, that's not what I'm doing. That's not the purpose of these tools. But when you actually understand that the major root cause of extra weight is unconsciousness, which I'll explain in a minute, you will realise that it’s actually impossible to not make dietary changes or lifestyle changes. You will not be able to continue with your current set of habits and the changes that you will make, those will be triggered from inside and they will be sustainable. Okay.
So the root cause of extra weight, always, always is unconsciousness, unconscious eating. Basically not being aware of your action of overeating and the consequences of overeating in your life and not being aware of the root cause that is sponsoring the, the driver of the action of overeating, which is always. Thoughts, the thoughts in your brain cause you to feel a certain way and those feelings then drive your actions.
So the action of overeating is hands down, is triggered by a way of thinking that do not serve you. And you are unconscious about it. If you were conscious, let me tell you that you would not be continuing with that habit. Why do I say this? Because we, human beings come to this planet, well equipped with that, you know, quality of caring for ourselves.
Truly caring for ourselves, not just caring for ourselves, but also caring for our loved ones and the entire community. It is actually impossible to hurt ourselves to engage in self defeating habits. But we do that. How do we do that? Because of unconsciousness somewhere, we stop paying attention to our way of thinking to our feelings, to our actions.
And gradually our bodies become heavier as a consequences of those actions. We may not like the results of those actions, but we somehow. Convince ourselves that it is because of lack of time. It is because that I'm not able to move much, or it is because of my love for food. We have all these reasons that we end up, you know, justifying our actions, why we are doing what we are doing because of all these reasons.
And that's a way of, you know, unconscious. Okay. So the tools that I'm explaining to you will trigger change from within. Why? Because they are going to deepen your awareness. Okay. So awareness of the thoughts, awareness of the feelings, awareness of the actions, awareness of the results. And once the awareness is cultivated and it's deepened, and you're literally bathing in that awareness.
Not awareness for a day or a two, many, a times we are aware like I am over eating and I’m 20 kg overweight. I know that, but still I am not able to stop…stop myself around food, around my favourite desserts. Right. So it's not that we are not aware and we are fully unconscious. Right. When we start paying attention consistently day after day in that experience of overeating, when we are paying attention to the very act of overeating that triggers our wisdom and our wisdom is like a GPS, which cannot, it's not possible for that wisdom of yours to, you know, make you continue on the path of hurting yourself. Right. It's not possible to continue with those non-beneficial actions.
Okay. So that's the purpose of these tools. All right. So when I say unconscious, I actually mean ignorance. Like you're not aware. your actions are leading to consequences and you're not liking those consequences.
Okay. I just wanted to clarify that. So coming to my first tool and that is a food journal. Okay. So I recommend that you start noting down every single thing that you eat, every single day in a journal. Okay. Get a notebook or a diary & use this for only this purpose and write down, make a note of everything that you are going to eat.
Right. And, I mean also the licks and the bites and everything like everything that you eat and everything that you drink. Now, the purpose of this food journal is not to count calories. It's not to count the protein grams or the carbohydrate grams. No. No, that's not the purpose at all. It is an awareness tool.
Okay. And as I said, when you bathe in that awareness day after day after day, it is impossible for you to continue to make choices that do not serve you. So my coach once told me that Anu, if you maintain a food journal for 30 days, your life is gonna. Completely your relationship with food will be a totally different one.
So I challenge you to take this habit because it's gonna cultivate your awareness to an altogether new level. Right now, the thing is just like, I resist it for those of you who don't know me. I used to be 30 kgs overweight in my teens & in my twenties and I lost all this weight because, um, with the help of the work that I teach now, that's a side story.
Okay. So, I resisted keeping the food journal for the longest time. Okay. I resisted it so badly. I was like, listen, this is obsessive. I cannot, cannot maintain a food journal. And so if you're thinking this. I hear you. what I want to offer you is that please don't buy all those thoughts by your brain.
Okay. They will prevent you from becoming aware. Okay of your actions of the results of the consequences. And we don't want that. Okay. The purpose of the food journal, the food journal in and of itself cannot make you obsessive. It is the obsessive thoughts that we have, and we work on the thoughts as well, but understand that keeping a food journal is not obsessive.
You know, it's like a businessman having, the accounts log and it's quite irresponsible on the part of the businessman to not have the accounts log. Okay. So writing down everything that you eat is not obsessive. So do not let your brain offer that to you as an excuse to not use this powerful tool. Okay. So start writing everything down.
Everything that you eat in your food journal. Do not let that resistance stop you. When that resistance comes, accept it. As part of being. You know, as a normal part of this journey and do not stop, do not believe that resistance. Please continue with your challenge of maintaining a food journal. Okay.
The other thing that I want to mention here is writing down, everything that you eat is all the more important when you binge eat or when you eat that something that you do not intend to eat. Okay. So I am sharing this because I remember all those times when, um, I used to be "bad". I used to be like, no, today I won’t write whatever I ate in my journal. Do not fall for that trap.
Those opportunities are the best opportunities for you to get to know your brain and develop and an intimate relationship with yourself. Those are the moments that are a must, even if you binge ate. So I remember the times when I used to binge eat. Starting from that one single candy, then pastry, then samosa then burger then some namkeen.
Everything that I ate during the time of the binge goes in the food journal. This is going to change your life. I'm telling you, get into this, get into the habit of maintaining a food journal.
Now all the people who do not have extra way to lose for maintaining the weight for them also food journal is this amazing, amazing tool that I cannot stop stressing… about the power of this tool. So take this on.
Okay. The next tool on my list is, again, a very powerful one… decisions ahead of time now. I mean, make a plan. Okay. Make a plan of what exactly you will be eating. Preferably what I recommend, in writing like breakfast will be a bowl of oats with the an apple and coffee… mid morning let’s say. two biscuits… lunch, I will have one vegetable, dal, whatever… you get the point. I want you to make a plan. Okay. Now you might say, listen, I don't know what to put in my plan. That does not matter. What I'm teaching you is absolutely super powerful and life transforming. There is a purpose of deciding ahead of time.
And the purpose is that we have this habitual part of our brain, okay. This mid and posterior part of the brain, which is this impulsive part, this part of the brain has practiced a certain way of eating. Okay. And so it keeps making those choices. And when the moment comes in that moment, even if you have super good intentions of, you know, sticking to your diet and making healthier choices …promising to yourself that you will eat healthy, when the evening comes, when you're tired, when you're stressed, your primitive brain, that impulsive, lower part of the brain will not make that.
And so if you have decided ahead of time, like this is what I'm going to eat, and if you've made necessary preparations, you are actually assisting the higher part of your brain to win. Okay. So what I'm saying is don't change anything that you're eating, whatever you are eating, simply make a plan of it, bring consciousness to it as it is.
Most of the time you're eating. There is this plan. Most of the days we eat this breakfast and this particular lunch and this particular snack right now, what I'm telling you is to bring that consciousness into it. Okay. Don't alter the portions and don't even alter your food choices. Simply make a plan, according to what you've been eating. Of course you can make a very good plan for yourself, a realistic, doable plan for yourself, with the wellbeing in your mind, but get in the habit of making a plan ahead of time and then making it non-negotiable to stick to that plan.
Okay. So if I have written two rotis in my plan, I will eat two rotis. What this will do is build trust. Let me tell you that overweight people struggle with trusting themselves around food. This is a skill which if you start cultivating and building upon, it's going to do wonders for the rest of your life.
Listen, losing weight is…ok…part of the process, but the bigger part of the process is developing skills that will help you stay at that goal weight for the rest of your life. That is a priceless skill. Okay.
So one of the tools that really, really help, which I practice still date is having a plan like really deciding what exactly. I will be eating a day ahead and then making necessary preparations, like checking if my fridge has all that stuff. Okay. And having a plan written so that there's no ambiguity in what you will be eating. No confusion. This - that… today let's cook that. No, you've decided ahead. And now your job is to simply honour that decision of yours.
Okay. So moving on. and yes, I do wanna mention that again. This will also trigger resistance, like anticipate resistance. When the moment comes, your brain might offer you thoughts. Like, uh, it's not a [00:16:00] good idea to stick to that plan. You don't remember that the resistance is normal. It's a part of the plan.
Nothing has gone wrong. You simply listen to those. But you do not follow them. Okay. Let the chatter be there, but you stick to your plan. Okay. You don't have to fight with those thoughts. In fact, you welcome them. You're like, of course I knew that in the moment, I would not feel like eating what I have written down in my plan, but it's me, who has written down this thing in my plan and I'm gonna honour the plan. Okay. So if you feel like eating something particular, that goes in the next day's plan. Okay.
So, next on my list is get in the habit of eating when hungry. Okay. Start using hunger as a tool. Okay. So many of us, because of our diet culture, the societal brainwashing, we just grab something just because people are eating just because, we feel like eating irrespective of whether or not we are hungry.
Okay. Bring your awareness to this magical powerful tool, which is given by the almighty, that higher intelligence has given us in our body. And this will require you to really tune in with your body. Like, Hey body. Are we hungry? If you are genuinely hungry, like allow yourself to get hungry, get present to the sensations of hunger, do not squash that sensation of hunger the moment it arises, like especially people who struggle with the weight.
I remember all those years. I used to be literally scared of hunger. I used to do this preventative, you know, eating. Like I would not let myself get hungry because of the fear of a hunger & because of another fear of overeating. And actually we were taught to continuously eat, eat, eat six times a day, eight times a day, put all that aside.
Okay. Tune in to your body. And get in the habit of eating when hungry. Okay. So if your mind says that, uh, I want to eat that, just tell your brain that we are going to eat that when we are hungry. Okay. And if you start making, uh, use of that tool decisions ahead of time, you already have decided what you will be eating.
Now, the only thing is eat that when you are genuinely physically hungry. Okay. Don't eat when just it's time or people are eating, as I just said, all that non hunger eating, bring your awareness to that. Because as I'm saying, the more awareness you develop in this area of your life, the more, um, sustainable the changes are, are going to be okay. So, get in the habit of, uh, letting yourself be hungry and then honour your hunger eat when hungry. Okay.
And, the fourth tool on my list is called fuel versus taste. So what I want you to do is to start practicing that, few moments before you eat, just become aware of, whatever choices that I'm making right now.
Are they fuel? Fuel simply means this is a healthier choice that serves my body worse taste. Okay. So if I am choosing to eat a chocolate or a brownie, I know that this does not serve my body very well. Listen, We all have a generalised sense of this is good for my body and this is not. And I want you to start practicing that wisdom itself.
Okay. Even my seven year old daughter knows that an apple is better than chips. An apple serves her body way more than chips. So the other day she came to me and she was like, mama, I want to lose weight. Tell me how. And I, you know, um, I was. Start, you know, running in the park and get more physically active.
And I even told her that we'll have some conversation around this topic, all that. So the, the other thing which she said was, um, so no more chips. And I was like, wow. You know, even a seven year old knows that this is junk. And yes, part of this is education in the school. They're actually taught that these are the junk foods and these are healthy.
I don't deny that, but the point being, we all have a generalised sense of this is healthy and this is not. And that is what I want you to start practicing now, in the beginning of the video, in the beginning of the episode, the podcast, as well as I'm recording it in the podcast format as well. I mentioned without changing anything consciously.
This tool is simply to bring your awareness as to whether your choice is fuel or it's simply driven for taste. okay. So chips is not fuel. It's driven by taste, right ! Chocolate is not fuel. It's driven by taste. Simply having that moment where you take a pause and you're like, okay, why am I eating this?
I'm eating this because of taste. Why am I eating this? Because it's healthy for my body. That awareness is paramount to make, sustainable changes over time. As I said, as your awareness deepens, you would, you know, make changes in your diet and lifestyle. It’s impossible that it doesn't happen. But what I'm trying to say is that those changes will be happening without you even trying.
To make those changes happen. You get the point. Like I mentioned in the beginning of, um, this, that, uh, we, uh, you know, we are inbuilt to care for ourselves. And so we cannot continue the self defeating habits for long. If we become conscious, if we deepen our awareness, we are bound to make changes on their own.
Okay. That's what I mean. So, Simply pause and just become aware. Why am I eating? What I'm eating is this fuel? Is this, uh, driven by taste? Okay. That was my fourth tool.
The next tool on my list is my mindful eating. I mean, get in the habit of eating without distractions and with intention. Okay. So if you're overweight, chances are that you love food. Right. And if you love food, I wanna ask you, why do you want to rush the experience? Okay. And let me tell you that it is because of our primitive impulsive part of the brain. Okay. It's not a fault of our own. It's that part of the brain, the habitual impulsive lower part of the brain, which is in the habit of hurrying up.
Okay. We say that we love food, but when we are eating, we want to eat in front of the TV, the tab, we want to read a book, we just do not want to be present. Okay. And research has shown that our brains, even though we are trying to multitask all the time are not very efficient at multitasking. Okay. So in the appetite centre of your brain, that satiety is not triggered.
When you eat, please get in the habit, cultivate the habit of eating when eating… be present. Engage all your senses. Slow down. Doesn't matter if you have 10 minutes or 30 minutes, whatever you are eating, slow down. If you love food, love it. Like show yourself that you really love eating the food by engaging all your senses.
Okay. And eat with intention. We just, for a moment. Say this to yourself, like I'm eating and, this food benefits, my body, this food benefits, my life, whatever little prayer or a thought. That you can, create for yourself, like take a moment to thank the food that is there in front of you. Okay. So, eat without distractions, slow down while eating, engage all your senses and eat with intention, whatever you're eating. Okay. That was the tool number five.
The tool number six is weighing yourself every single day. Again, just like, uh, decisions ahead of time and just like food journal, one of the most powerful tool that I have been using in my life. And I teach to all my clients is weighing yourself every single. That is to start making use of the weighing scale as a mind tool.
Okay. To get to know your own brain, when you climb on the scale. And for example, you see 70 kg and your ideal weight is 50 kg. And that 70 kg, uh, makes you feel horrible. And you're like, oh my God, I've gotten so fat. Okay. I want you to become aware of all those thoughts that 70 kg triggers, because the truth is that 70 kg is neutral. It has zero power to make you feel horrible, terrible, angry, sad. Nop…all the emotions that the 70 kg seems to trigger in you is because of your own thinking. And I want you to start using weighing scale as an awareness tool to get to know your own thoughts. What exactly are you thinking when you see the number as 70 kg, thoughts, like I've become so fat. This is hard. Whatever I'm doing, it's not working. Look at my body. It looks ugly. I can go on and on and on… Become aware. Okay. Become aware of those thoughts, become aware of what those thoughts cause you to feel. Okay. And then be very clear that that 70 kg is neutral. It's because of your thinking that you're feeling the way you're feeling and come to a place like when you start making use of the weighing scale every single day, you are bound to come to a place where that number, becomes a number one day, that number 70 kg will have zero power to trigger any emotion in your body. And all those negative emotions, they drive overeating. Let me tell you that.
One of the reasons for overeating is that we try to escape our emotions. Okay. So, become aware of the thoughts, emotions, and. you know, whatever is going on in your brain come to a place of peace. Like 70 kg is today's weight, that's neutral. And this is today's reality. Like come to a powerful place when you get down from that scale.
Okay. So again, a magical tool get in the habit of weighing yourself every single. Okay. We are not doing this to monitor our progress. We are simply using the weighing scale as an awareness tool. And one of the things that you will realize when you start making use of the weighing scale every single day is that the weight fluctuates a lot.
Okay. Just, because you ate, over ate at the party last night does not mean that you have become two kgs fat overnight. No, it's all that water weight and extra sodium weight, all that you will not just intellectually understand, but you will actually have the direct experience of understanding that weight fluctuates a lot 70 Kg of our bodies is water. Right. And, uh, as I said, you will be alert around your weight. So start practicing this powerful tool of weighing yourself every single day. Right!
The last tool on my list is meditation. Okay. Now meditation again is a huge, topic, which I would love to explain some other day and some other video, some other podcast episode.
But as of right now, I would, uh, like you to start practicing five minutes of meditation. Okay. And the purpose of meditation is simply to become aware of your thoughts, feelings, and, um, actions in life. What this does is that it cultivates that WATCHER perspective of yours. What, what that watcher perspective?
Watcher perspective is that when you start meditating, you start cultivating that awareness, that that number 70 kg is a fact. And I feel horrible is a thought. You would not only intellectually grab this. You would have a diet experience that, that this is a thought, and this is a fact. Okay. You would stop identifying with your thoughtS.
right. Another example that I love giving is that “I am a person who has weakness around sweets”. Now, many people live their life believing this, and this is simply a thought, and this is actually good news. If it's a thought that you've been repeating again and again, Thousands of times in your life, millions of times in your life, you can change that thought, right!
It's an optional thing…you can think in newer ways, but why does it feel that I am this person I'm born this way? I have this weakness around sweets. Why does it feel this way? Because you of the well practiced neural pattern in your brain, it feels that way. So meditation, , brings you back to that place.
This is a fact that, you know, this is a fact that sugar is neutral and my love for sugar, that’s a thought, okay. And meditation has also been shown to increase the prefrontal area of your brain, which is responsible for self regulations, which is responsible for constraint & discipline. Okay.
All those amazing qualities which are required to make sustainable changes in life. Right. So commit to only five minutes of meditation. What I want you to do is just sit down preferably at the same time every day, maybe in the morning, maybe during your lunch break, any time during the day. Commit to only five minutes of being still and watching yourself think. Now, every human being is born with that part of the brain that can actually watch what you're thinking.
Okay. That's the meditation, or you can watch your breath. Okay. Five minutes is simply life changing. Do not, undermine the powerful effects of this tool. Five minutes of meditation is going to increase your awareness to a level which is beyond your comprehension. Okay. So get yourself to commit to at least 30 days, and then you're not going to look back.
You can meditate, more for sure, but I want you to commit for only 5. So these were the seven tools to lose weight and cultivate awareness around your overeating. Okay. I want to leave. I want to leave you with this thing. I wanna leave you with telling you that extra weight is always a result of unconsciousness. There is a way you're thinking that you're not aware of. There is a way you're feeling, which is driving your action of overeating. And once you start becoming aware of that, once you start becoming aware of the impact of your extra weight on your life, not just for vanity purpose…vanity purpose is one thing, but the extra weight is impacting your life.
It is preventing you from living your best life. Once you get awareness around that, it is impossible to continue with your self sabotaging habits. Okay. Pick up one tool or pick up all the seven tools and you will see their magic play out in life. And I will leave you with this. And thank you so much for watching this video.
Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. I would love if you subscribe to my channel and so I'll see you next time.
