Recently, I received a question from a listener who claimed to be addicted to her local 7-11…
In her email she stated that she visits convenience stores, such as 7-11, at least twice a day and when she did, she almost always purchased sugary and fatty foods like donuts, muffins, cookies, chips, and coffee…
After listening to the podcast she admitted that she couldn’t possibly achieve her fat loss goals unless she stopped going to these convenience stores to buy junkfood…
I disagreed with her, however…
You might expect me to hop on my soapbox and lecture her about how these stores are fat storage traps full of nothing but fattening foods and drinks.
Some experts might suggest that as long as she continues to frequent these stores she simply can’t be serious about achieving her weight loss goals…
I knew, however, that this type of advice would not serve her. How could I know this? Because I use to be addicted to convenience stores as well…
When I was in college, I too was frequenting convenience stores, such as 7-11 and Royal Farms. I too had tried the “cold-turkey” approach, and always seemed to find myself right back in the aisles with a Snickers bar in one hand and a Cherry Coke Slurpee in the other. That is…until I figured out the secret to curing myself from my addiction.
One day, while walking the store aisles it hit me…I wasn’t addicted to the store, I wasn’t even crazy about the food and drinks…I was addicted to good feelings that followed the first bite and the first sip of that cold and sweet frozen goodness. I realized that if I was to break the habit, I had to replace the feeling, not the food!
At the time I wanted to take a cruise but was too embarrassed to go in my current state of “chubbiness”. So, I determined that I would not try to stop going to the convenience store, instead, I would give myself permission to go to the store every time I had a craving, that is, with a catch…
Here’s what I did…
Whenever I would go to the area where my favorite food or drink was housed, I’d look at the price and instead of buying the item I’d picture myself walking on the deck of the ship surrounded by beautiful girls who looked on, admiring the young stud that was me (hey, what can I say, this is what goes on in the mind of a 19-20 year old college student!) Here’s the most important part of my plan…
I’d take the money that I’d normally spend on the food and drink, physically remove it from my wallet, and stuff it into my back right pocket as though I had bought and consumed the food!
Every time that I’d stuff that money into my pocket I FELT AMAZING!! Then, every night before bed, I’d empty the contents of the right back pocket into a jar labeled “Dream Cruise” and I’d relive the feeling all over again.
Here are the golden nuggets of wisdom in that experience…
- You aren’t addicted to the doughnuts and Slurpee’s within your life, you’re addicted to the experience that you get from the doughnut and Slurpee! The emotion and the feeling that follows the consumption of such things!
- You will fail every time if you try to remove the doughnut and Slurpee without replacing the experience with something that provides an equal or stronger emotional experience!
This simple hack can work wonders for you if you use it! Just remember, choose an experience that fills you with emotion and joy, picture it every time, physically remove the money and place it in a place solely designated for your dream experience (for me it was my back right pocket), and relive it again, each night, by physically placing the money in your dream jar!
Try it and let me know of your experience in the comments section below!