Last week I wrote about getting really clear on your commitment to stop overeating and lose weight permanently.

What's so interesting is how once we commit to something, our brains then immediately show us all the obstacles that are in the way of achieving this goal.

My brain likes to tell me things like this:

“Oh sure you can lose weight, but it's going to be really hard because you're so busy, you have three kids, you're always behind on the housework as it is, and you don't even know which program to follow to start losing.”

“Losing weight will be really hard for you because you don't have a good metabolism. It's probably genetic because you've never had success staying thin.”

“To permanently maintain your ideal goal weight, you'll have to eat in a really restrictive way. There's no way to enjoy your food and eat treats sometimes and still stay at your ideal weight.”

Thanks brain, for pointing out every reason why this will be too hard and won't work!

Ultimately, our brains are just trying to protect us. The brain thinks its job is to show you all the ways this new goal will be too challenging. It really wants you to stay safe and to feel in control. Changing up the status quo can seem scary.

Here is the secret about all these obstacles that the brain immediately points out for you:

The obstacles are the path you need to follow to achieve the results you want!

What that means is that once you rationally evaluate each obstacle, you can create a solution to it.

So for instance, if a big obstacle for you is the fact that you never learned to cook so following complicated meal plans with new-to-you ingredients overwhelms you to the point of inaction, then you need to create a solution for that. But it doesn't have to be a complicated solution.

You could just decide that now is not the time to develop your skills as a budding chef but you do want to be able to eat foods that support your goal of weight loss. So then you ask your brain to start thinking of incredibly simple and basic foods that you know how to make or where to get pre-made that you could eat again and again.

So the solution to this obstacle becomes part of the path to success. You eat these simple and basic foods over and over again. This eliminates all the brain chatter about what to eat and not eat. Your meal plan is always the same. You don't even need a grocery list because you always buy the same things.

Now you can move onto the next obstacle.

If the next obstacle is your belief that you will need to workout in a certain way for a certain amount of time at a certain place that doesn't seem like it will work in your schedule, you can challenge that belief. Remember, a belief is just a series of thoughts that you've thought so many times that you believe them.

Do you like that belief? Is it true? Is exercising in this way the only way you can lose weight? Does that belief have an upside?

If this belief only confuses you and stops you from moving forward, you could decide to stop believing it. You could decide that right now, focusing on getting your eating under control is more important than exercising. And that you'll circle back around later to determine what the best exercise plan is for you, when you're ready.

And see? Just like that, another obstacle drops away, opening up the path toward your success.

I highly recommend taking 5-10 minutes to write out all of the obstacles you see when you think about no longer overeating and losing weight permanently.

Then, next to each item, work on finding a solution. It will likely be pretty simple. Even if it's not simple, a solution is still available to you.

Now, incorporate all those solutions into your life, because they are the path you need to follow to achieve your goals.