Can You Think Yourself Slim?

IMAGINE IF ALL YOU HAD TO DO TO START GETTING TRIM AND TONED WAS TO VISUALISE IT? WE TAKE A LOOK AT A NEW MIND-BASED TECHNIQUE THAT INVOLVES EXACTLY THAT

Seeking help for losing weight is no new phenomenon. People have followed diets, fitness plans and consulted therapists for years in a bid to transform their health. But now a new mind-based technique is achieving radical results when it comes to quashing cravings and helping people commit to getting fitter and leaner. The technique in question is Functional Imagery Training (shortened to FIT, which seems, well, fitting!) and it motivates you to make changes by employing all your senses. It’s not a miracle: you don’t simply think a different way and the weight falls off without any effort on your part, but what FIT does aim to do is to help you make positive changes more easily. It shifts your mind to focus on the good feelings you’ll get from making healthy choices, so you’ll actually want to order a salad or go for a walk rather than desiring pizza or to stay slobbing on the sofa.

What is FIT?

The technique was created by scientists at the Queensland University of Technology and England’s Plymouth University, and it involves spending a few minutes, a couple of times a day, imagining yourself achieving a goal and carrying out a step that will help you reach it. This might be saying no to an extra glass of wine or going for a run. However, rather than using visualization alone, you bring in all your other senses, too: hearing what’s going on around you, conjuring up tastes and smells and thinking about how you’ll feel while doing whatever it is.