In this article, we'll show you nine different ways to train your brain to lose weight. If you want to lose weight fast and safely and keep it off, while achieving greater physical health, brain health, mental health, and well-being, this article is for you.
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The human body has an amazing ability to adapt to changes in diet and exercise.
The brain controls our body weight through a complex system of hormones, neurotransmitters, and neural pathways. It works like a thermostat, regulating energy intake and expenditure according to how much we eat and move (exercise).
When you are overweight or obese, this can have many root causes. Your brain regulates energy intake and expenditure, appetite, metabolism, and hunger.
In addition, it plays a role in regulating emotions, mood, sleep patterns, and stress levels. By changing our lifestyle habits, we can change our bodies for the better and lose excess weight.
And by learning how to train your brain to change your lifestyle habits, you can achieve long-term success. This article shows you 9 evidence-based strategies on how to train your brain to lose weight.
1. Drink More Water and Calorie-Free Liquids to Hydrate Your Brain
Drinking water, green or black tea, coffee, broths, or even very diluted natural fruit juice helps keep your body hydrated and healthy and is one of the easiest and fasted things to do for more brain power, improved mood and memory, and overall health.
When you keep your brain and body hydrated, it makes it easier to stay active and burn more calories. What happens if you don’t drink enough water or other fluids? You can see on brain scans that your brain seems to “shrivel” and loses some function when you are dehydrated. No wonder you might find yourself feeling tired, moody, blue, unfocused, forgetful, bloated, have headaches, or even get constipated. Aim for at least 8 glasses (2 liters) of no-calorie fluids a day.
More is not always better: Don’t drink more than 4 liters (16 glasses) of water a day. There is a thing called water intoxication that can actually lead to brain swelling and other issues. The “golden zone” is in the middle, somewhere between 2-4 liters. (8 glasses to 16 glasses)
2. Exercise Regularly to Move Fat out of Your Body
It's also important to exercise regularly, or better: to move regularly because exercise doesn’t need to be something you need to schedule or even to go to the gym or take a class to do. Moving your body, especially in a way that I call Intentional intuitive Movement (IIM), will help burn calories while building muscle mass.
Move as often as you can during your day, even when you need to sit in front of a computer screen at work.
Aim to get on average at least 30 minutes of moderate activity five days per week where you move most areas of your body and are in the zone where you can “just so” carry a conversation and talk without being completely out of breath. But even if you do less: Science has proven that any additional movement will be beneficial for your health.
Moving properly improves your fitness level, strengthens your muscles, improves your balance, and burns fat. However, there are other benefits to exercising as well. Research shows that regular exercise reduces stress levels, boosts self-esteem, and improves sleep quality so you can wake up more refreshed in the morning and start the day with renewed energy and stamina.
3. Sleep Well to Get Thin Faster
If you're looking to lose weight, then you need to make sure you're getting enough sleep. A lack of sleep has been shown to cause weight gain by increasing appetite.
On average, adults need 7-9 hours of sleep daily.
Daily sleep deficiency (chronic insomnia) has also been linked to increased cortisol levels, which can lead to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome and contribute to type 2 diabetes.
It also can contribute to feeling stressed, tired and moody, or even blue.
You can download my Tipsheet with 10 Sleep Hacks here.
Make sure that you eat right and exercise regularly as well as go to bed early and get up at a regular time so you have the time to get enough sleep every night. Keep your bedroom cool and dark and as quiet as possible. These three things combined will help you lose weight faster than anything else.
Eating the right foods before bed can help you to sleep better (hint: carbs plus a bit of the right protein work best) and wake up more refreshed in the morning.
But how do you know which foods will give you the most energy without making you feel sluggish on awakening?
One proven strategy is a sleep-food-mood journal that will help you to figure it out.
4.Eating More Fat Makes You Lose More Fat
We all know by now that if you're looking to lose weight, one of the first things you should do is eat less added sugar.
This will help you avoid cravings and give you energy throughout the day.
It seems counterproductive, but most of us should eat more or the right fat because we eat too little good fats.
Our brain (dry mass) consists to about 60% of fat. So the right type and amount of fat are very important.
For example, many people suffer from an imbalance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, leading to chronic inflammation and the resulting illnesses.
(Read more about how you can learn about your omega-3 index and how to help in this article)
Eating more of the healthy kids of fats such as avocados, nuts, seeds, fatty fish like salmon, herring, mackerel, or sardines, healthy animal fats, and extra-virgin olive oil will keep you full longer and make you feel satisfied.

5. Mind Your Weight with Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness is a way of being aware of your thoughts and feelings without judgment. It helps you to become more present in the moment and notice when you are thinking about food, eating too much, or feeling stressed. This awareness allows you to make better choices and eat healthier.
It is truly Intentional and Intuitive Eating (IIE). Mindfulness can help people to lose weight because it helps them to focus on eating healthy foods and exercising regularly. It can also help people to cope better with stress and anxiety. Your brain always tries to get you more of what you focus on. This is the mechanism by which mindfulness meditation helps people to lose weight.
Being mindful can teach you how to control your eating habits. Mindfulness Meditation encourages people to eat slowly and chew each mouthful thoroughly before swallowing. This slows down the rate at which food enters the stomach and reduces the number of calories consumed.
Mindfulness meditation also can help you to lose fat. It helps you to focus on your breathing and to notice when you are eating too much food. This will make you aware of how much you eat and when you feel full. You may find yourself eating less because you become very conscious of the amount of food you are consuming.
Mindfulness meditation can help you to lose fat and build muscle by training your brain to focus on positive eating habits and movement and other lifestyle habits and routines. Over time, you will learn how to control your emotions and thoughts. This will make you feel better about yourself and your body.
6. Eat Real Food for Real Weight Loss Results
The best way to lose weight is to eat real, unprocessed food. Real food includes whole foods like fruits, vegetables, grass-fed (or species-appropriately produced) meats, nuts, seeds, beans, eggs, dairy products, fish, and healthy fat. These foods provide the vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, and good fats needed to keep your body and its complex metabolism and biochemistry running smoothly. Real foods also help you feel full longer so you don’t overeat.
Processed foods contain chemicals and environmental toxins that make us crave more food. Eating processed foods will not help you lose weight, because they also cause our bodies to store more fat in an effort to dilute the toxins. Eating real food will give you energy throughout the day instead of feeling tired after eating.
Real food provides all the nutrients you need to stay healthy and keep your metabolism functioning properly.
7. Reduce Stress and Release The Weight Easier
To help with stress management, try mindfulness meditation, yoga, TaiChi, or other relaxation techniques.
Psychosensory techniques like EFT, EMDR, and Energy Healing Techniques can help. My favorite for amazing stress reduction and weight loss is Havening Techniques®. This is self-care that you can do anywhere and reduce anxiety, and stress and even curb depression.
Another relatively easy way to reduce stress is by moving more - exercise. Intentional, Intuitive Movement and Exercise help us to release endorphins, which make us feel happier and improve our mood.
Regular movement and exercise also reduce average cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone that is released in excess of the normal circadian rhythm when we feel stressed out. It increases blood sugar levels and contributes to metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
Cortisol is not bad by itself. We need a healthy amount of cortisol to be released in the morning to have energy during the day. Towards the evening cortisol levels fall to prepare us for a restful sleep. This circadian rhythm is part of the body’s homeostasis (balance) and helps to regulate weight.
8. Change Your Thoughts to Change your Weight
How do you think about eating and food? One of the first steps to losing weight is to change your thinking, your automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) about food, eating, movement, and relationships (with others AND with yourself).
Do you believe that you will never be able to achieve your goals because you already failed so often at keeping lost weight off?
Instead, try to think about how much better you will feel when you reach your goal. This way, you will start to believe that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.
Stop seeing food as fuel and start viewing it as pleasure. This will help you make healthier choices when you eat. Don’t use food to fill up empty spaces in your life; instead, use it to enhance your life experiences.
One of the best ways to practice thought change is by journaling. Keeping a Gratitude Journal can be a great way to increase appreciation for yourself, your environment, and your food and foster healthy change. I devised the Journal: “My Daily Sparkle of Gratitude” to help you think in new and more helpful ways.
9. Get Support for Lasting Weight Loss Success
The best way to lose weight fast is to get support from your friends and family. They will encourage you to stick to your diet plan and exercise regime. You can also join a gym where you can meet like-minded people who want to lose weight too.
The best way to lose weight fast is to get support from your friends and family. You will need to make some changes to your lifestyle and diet if you want to lose weight quickly. It is important to eat healthy foods and exercise regularly.
The brain plays a huge role in our ability to lose weight. It controls everything from hunger levels to metabolism. In fact, your brain actually makes up about two-thirds of your total body weight. So if you want to lose weight, you need to train your brain to make better food choices.
In the end, it is about achieving balance in all areas of your life. Balancing your lifestyle, work, relaxation, stress, mood, food, movement, mindset, and support system and having a clear purpose and meaning for your life will help you not just to lose excess pounds, but feel happier and more fulfilled.
Meet Dr. Christine Sauer for a free weight loss consultation and get started!