Weight Loss Guru

Do you have people in your life who are always telling you what to do, happy to dispense opinions whether you want to hear it or not? Do you seek guidance from friends, colleagues, books or magazines and then apply them to your own life? If so, have you ever been so confident in using that advice that you would pass it on to your friends and relations? Indeed, have you drawn upon that advice to form your own belief?

Beliefs form the cornerstone of our lives, they thread through our being, discreetly guiding us through life’s ups and downs allowing us to us to make sense of the world and to function in it.

We learned our beliefs about ourselves and the world in which we live, when we were very young. Our understanding of ourselves and our world derived through whatever versions were presented to us by the most influential adult figures in our lives. Without question we absorbed and believed all the messages which were relayed in our environment. These may have been spoken words which criticized or appreciated us or they may have been more subtle thought and behavior patterns which influenced our home life. Once a belief is formed, we will tend to persevere with that belief and use it secure us to our understanding of the world around us. In fact we will be insistent not simply on believing, but to believing just what we do believe.

Beliefs hold power, they have the potential to divide a nation, and they can create turmoil and unrest. You only have to switch on the TV and give a brief glance at the world news, to see how beliefs divide countries and lead to war. But what are your beliefs, what do you hold be true to you? This is not a question of religion; this is more an enquiry into what makes you tick. In 1951 a radio show entitled, 'This I Believe' by Edward R. Murrow, invited people from all walks of life to present their personal philosophies;

"People of all kinds who have nothing more in common than integrity, a real honesty, will write about the rules they live by, the things they have found to be the basic values in their lives".

The radio show presenter forewarned his audience that this would not provide an answer for the problems of life and help overcome the issues of the time.

"And yet in talking to people, in listening to them, I have come to realize that I don’t have a monopoly on the world’s problems. Others have their share, often far bigger than mine. This has helped me to see my own in truer perspective: and in learning how others have faced their problems - this has given me fresh ideas about how to tackle mine"

All too often people are happy to dispense of advice and more often than not we are happy to accept that guidance at face value. Those more astute amongst us may already be practicing a higher degree of restraint in accepting second hand advice. But what about passing on advice? I’m sure those of you with children, or those who work in education are pretty au fait with dispensing advice, even though it may be directives from above. But what infinite wisdom would you wish to convey to your kith and kin if given the chance.

We all have little nuggets of worthwhile advice from experiences and people we have encountered. They can remain locked away in our psyche for eternity, or they can be used rather like a manual to help us and others navigate our course through our being.

What part of your body sends messages at 240 mph?

What part of your body generates more electrical impulses in a single day than all the world’s telephones put together?

Which part of your body has over 1,000,000,000,000,000 connections – more than the number of stars in the universe?

Which part of your body is made up of 15 billion cells?

The answer to all of these questions is your brain.

Your brain is your body’s power tool.

Many people believe in the power of computers but the brain is more complicated than any computer we can imagine:

The world’s most sophisticated computer is currently only as complicated as a rat’s brain.

The brain controls everything in the body: it processes a vast quantity of information about what is happening around us and inside us.

It’s the decision-maker that issues instructions to the rest of the body.

Crucial messages pass in and out of the brain through a network of millions of nerve cells that pass on information to other nerve cells, rather like a very complex electrical circuit.

The brain is responsible for regulating our emotions and our bodily sensations such as pain, thirst and hunger. And as if it didn’t have enough to do, it also takes care of memory and learning.

Scientists believed until recently that, unlike the other organs in the body, the brain was not capable of renewal or growth once we had attained adulthood. Evidence to suggest that new brain cells can be produced throughout the whole of our lives.

In 1998, researchers working under the direction of Professor Fred H. Gage at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies in California and at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Göteborg, Sweden, discovered that large numbers of new brain cells develop in an area of the brain involved with leaning and memory.

This reinforces the ‘use it or lose it’ theory of brain ageing.

It suggests that we do not have to remain victims of the way we are made and we can develop new positive ways of thinking and acting.

 
What do you think? Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

Hi there everyone,

Most of you know that one of the most important things I talk about is the voice in our heads that quacks away at us like a duck.

Our basic quality of life comes down to how we communicate with ourselves and what we say to ourselves. Our lives can improve so much by getting the duck to shut up, so the next time you find yourself giving yourself a hard time, say the mantra to yourself: "SHUT THE DUCK UP"

I hope you like the picture of the duck flying away because with a bit of work may be yours will too and you'll be free to enjoy your life more!
Download a really big version of the picture here.

Oh, and - here's an older post on the duck... 

See you all soon!
Pete

I'm coming to London for a unique, one-off live stage event …. and you’re invited!
Click here save £50 and find out more!

Make 2008 the year that you finally break the habits that are holding you back, conquer your fears, smash through those limiting beliefs and learn the techniques to help you to create the life you want!

I'm working with The School of Personal & Professional Development who invite you to attend my amazing one day workshop called “SORT YOUR LIFE OUT”

I've already helped thousands of people to create the life they want, through television work (GMTV's resident Life Coach and motivator for the past 6 years), working with sport stars (Ronnie O’Sullivan, Sally Gunnell, Ellen Macarthur, Arsenal Football Club) and corporate seminars (IBM, Royal Bank of Scotland, BAA, Thomas Cook). Now I'm teaching these same techniques and principles in Central London on 21st June – at a price that only just covers my expenses!

Admission is normally £99 +VAT for the day, but if you register before 12th May you can snap up one of our specially reserved half-price tickets …. Just £49 +VAT! At this price, I'm only looking to cover my venue costs. This has to be the most valuable seminar that anyone could attend if they really want to make 2008 a year to remember.

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Hi there,

So lately I've noticed a lot of people who are following the petecohen.tv program are having great success using  Tool 3 - the Relaxation & Transformation MP3...

Here's just a few of their comments:

"I am still finding the MP3 tool is working the best for me"

"The MP3 is great. At the end I feel wonderful"

 "The relaxation MP3 helps me keep my stress levels down and increase my belief in my ability to keep losing weight."

"Pete is right about the MP3 - it does relax me and makes me feel more positive."

"I can't believe how much better the relaxation and transformation mp3 makes me feel. I am eaten better and feeling great"

[ Scroll down to listen to the MP3 ]

But, dieting is hard work?

So how can this Relaxation Track help people lose weight when it seems like a dichotomy; going against everything that people are usually told about losing weight?

Most people associate weight loss with dieting, and dieting with hard work, denial, sweat and sometimes tears. The process of losing weight makes many people tense and anxious as they are so concerned about how much they are eating or whether they have lost enough weight.

It has always been my goal that in helping people to lose weight, I would also teach them to enjoy the process and become more relaxed and calm. 

This is especially important because most people overeat when they are tired, bored, lonely, stressed, anxious or sad, along with many other emotions.  Bad eating habits are not often associated with feeling relaxed, calm and peaceful.

The transformation and relaxation tool relaxes the body and calms the mind. The knock-on effect of this is that people become better at managing their emotions and make better choices, automatically choosing foods which are healthier as well as having an increased desire to exercise and be active.

[ Scroll down to listen to the MP3 ]

The power of suggestion.

Everyone is open to suggestion and we are more easily influenced that we think. For example if I was to say to you "What do beans mean ?" - do you hear a voice in your head that goes "HEINZ" ?  Or if I was to say to you "Pringles, once you pop" - do you hear a voice in your head that says "You just can't stop" 

The power of positive suggestion or, as some people call it, positive affirmation is an essential part of achieving success in many areas of life, whether  that's sport, business or - of course - losing weight and getting fit.

In this tool I take the person, who wants to lose weight, on a guided journey where I make many positive suggestions to them and their ability to break habits and achieve. The result of this is that people start to give themselves more positive reinforcements and feel good about all the changes they are making. 

In addition there are many health benefits from using this tool because when people relax their brains works differently and this creates many positive changes in the body, like decreased blood pressure, heart rate, muscular tension and better digestion. 

So until next time, take time to chillax, which is my new made up word for relaxing in the modern world ;)

Hi there guys and girls,

Did you know there's an old saying that goes ‘A path with no obstacles goes nowhere’.

There are always going to be times when you make a mistake or think you’ve failed. Most of us fear failure because we think it means that we are failures. But failing is just something we have to do occasionally – it’s the other side of success. When we get things wrong, it’s an ideal opportunity to learn.

What you’ve done is less important than your response to what you’ve done. So if, for example, you overeat because you're stressed, or tired, or bored. Just say, ‘Ok, that’s what I did this time – What will I do differently next time?’

Think back to when you learned to drive or ride a bike. You almost certainly didn’t get that right first time. But the mistakes you made were signposts that gave you the opportunity to learn.

Dieters are always one mouthful away from failure: one piece of chocolate or a late night binge and they think, ‘I’ve blown it', and what a great excuse to dive back into your old bad habits that is! But once it’s eaten, it’s finished, it’s history! Stop beating yourself up and get on with your life. The successful slimmers I’ve worked with have used experiences like this as opportunities to learn.

Keep learning.

It’s only day one and already emotions have run high. First off we had technical problems today that stopped us showing any of Inch Loss live. But, what can you do? Technology never works perfectly... all we can do is hope that tomorrow runs more smoothly.

Our recruits were woken up at 5 this morning for a fitness session, it’s now 6pm and they're sooo tired, but still smiling. Karen from Scotland has been really upset today as she finally accepted what she has done to herself over the years. I had a heart-to-heart with her and she got pretty upset. I know though, that this is a good thing, because she's facing up to herself and allowing the stored negative emotions to come out.

They are great girls and I am sure they will do really well.

The experts have been working-out together... we have just finished a run around the island. How fit are Doctor Hilary and Amanda Hamilton? I tell you - VERY FIT!