Use Your Gut to Lose Your Gut

Have you ever had a hunch about something important? Did you follow it, and were you happy with the outcome? If so, you were using your intuition.

"There is a little voice within you that guides you," says Adrian Calabrese, PhD, a clinical hypnotherapist and author of How to Get Everything You Ever Wanted. "When you follow this voice, you're bound to make the right choices and right decisions, from deciding what to eat to choosing where to live and what job to take."

Paying attention to the subtle signals of your mind and body can mean the difference between being in control of your life or letting your life control you. How can you tap into this voice? Calabrese suggests a few simple steps:

1. Breathe deeply
Close your eyes and relax by inhaling through the nose and exhaling through your mouth three times in a row.

2. Focus
Focus on the breathing to prevent your mind from wandering. If a thought arises, gently release it and resume focusing on your breathing.

3. Visualize
Picture yourself the way you want to be — healthier, slimmer, in a new job, more fulfilled. Feel the emotions you know you'd experience if you met that goal. This will motivate you to keep going for that dream, because you know how good it will feel when it actually happens. Visualizing helps turn whatever is in your consciousness into your reality, says Calabrese. "The key to change in any area of your life is to change your thought pattern."

For example, says Laura Day, author of Welcome to Your Crisis, if you want love in your life, imagine your partner's arms around you — imagine how that person smells and feels and how good it feels to be together. If you want to be thinner, focus on how great you feel shopping for smaller sizes and hearing people compliment you on your great shape.

Eating matters
Susan Kleiner, PhD, RD, author of The Powerfood Nutrition Plan, confirms that women can tap into their intuition to help them with challenges during the weight-loss process.

And Susan Lark, MD, a clinical nutrition expert who has an educational Web site for women, drlark.com, suggests a similar exercise: "Ask yourself how you feel after you eat something."

The point is to eat mindfully, staying in the present moment. Watch what your hand puts into your mouth. Savor each bite and really enjoy your food.

Once you start using your intuition, it'll become a habit, helping you find opportunities to make your dreams come true — whatever they may be.