The “Detective” (9% of the population)
Congratulations! You are lucky enough to have the number one ideal weight management brain type, with the greatest chance of keeping off excess pounds. There are few excessively overweight “Detectives.” If you are overweight, you will find it easier than other brain types to shed the pounds and keep them off.
Like Sigmund Freud, you tend to be a gatherer of facts that you then use to build your theories, beliefs and knowledge base. When reading, you like to underline important information to help you remember later, since you intuitively know that your strength is your short-term memory. Underlining what you feel are key points in this program will serve as a helpful reference when you want to refer back to things later.
Like Queen Elizabeth II, you are typically hard-working, dependable, persistent, analytical, traditional, and more cautious than spontaneous. These qualities will help you stay on track more easily than other brain types. You need to make sure you take time out for fun too though, as you can have the tendency to retreat into your work “cocoon” if you become too engrossed in what you are doing.
Like “Doubting Thomas” in the Bible, you will need proof for new concepts before you believe them. The research behind the concepts in this program should help with that. Then, your own successes will cement your commitment to this program and your own goals for achieving optimal health.
You are a hands-on person, so you find practical application much more stimulating than academics and reading. This will help you find it easier than other brain types to spend time in the kitchen. In fact, you may even find food preparation therapeutic and calming. You may also discover that preparing meals appeals to your creative needs, which can feel quite rewarding.
You are more sensitive to temperature, odor, sights, and sounds than most other brain types. This is another reason you are especially adept at culinary skills. Use this to your advantage and enjoy your kitchen time!
Your introverted, sensing function regulates your appetite well. Your keen sense of odor and taste helps you enjoy food and a wider variety of flavors. You are able to take in sensing information faster than other people, so you might not feel the need to eat slowly. Slow down and enjoy the food you have prepared, with an appreciation for your creative skills when you have made that food. The Conscious Eating technique will help you do that.
You need encouragement and appreciation from friends. Even a little goes a long way. You do better when people catch you doing what’s right, noticing your strengths, than when they chastise you for doing something wrong. You are motivated to work harder when your successes are noticed but get discouraged easily when others focus on your shortcomings. Teaming up with positive, encouraging people will help you in your journey to optimal health.
You’re typically very dedicated and not willing to settle for mediocrity. You are best at completing projects and assignments down to their very last detail, so you sometimes find it hard to start a project unless you know that you can finish it with perfection. Remind yourself that perfection is never possible and that even 80% perfect to you will seem like 100% perfect to others.
You find guidelines and specifications to be a comfort zone, so it is easy for you to stay within boundaries once they are defined. The best way to set these boundaries for your brain type is to handwrite them on a piece of paper and then keep them with you or post them somewhere so you can reference them often as a reminder of your own parameters.
You are cautious about what food and how much food goes into your body. During a meal, you are the first brain type to sense when you are full, thanks to your introverted, left-brain sensing function.
You tend to calculate the risk factor into your decisions, preferring to keep both feet on the ground. It’s easier for you to see long-term security over immediate gratification. This will help you make the right choices in the moment because you will constantly be measuring the risk to reward ratio.
You will see immediate gratification as a risk, which will make it easier for you to avoid those temptations that can push you off track. Choosing new, healthy foods will be more desirable for you because you will see that action as contributing to your long-term security.
You’re more rigid than spontaneous, and you enjoy routines more than other brain types. You enjoy eating familiar things more than most people. In fact, you can eat the same thing over and over for quite some time, without tiring of it as fast as other brain types. Once you find a favorite recipe in this program, you will find yourself making it over and over until you finally tire of it, only to switch to another favorite which you repeat in the same way. This is a great quality because a few recipes can last you a long time!
You tend to believe life is a project to be ordered and understood. This will increase your desire to understand your journey to optimal health, which will make the structure and guidelines you create for yourself appealing to you and easy to follow.
Like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, you tend to think that rules must be followed and that work must be done before enjoying leisure activities. Even free time must have a purpose for you. It’s hard for you to just “relax on the beach” without some purposeful task to keep you occupied. The Meditation technique will help you grow the part of your brain that will help balance you out.
You need encouragement and appreciation in order to maintain your motivation. These qualities prove your need for a support group of at least three or more close friends or family. Train yourself to ask them for help and support, and you will find success much easier to attain.
You are one of the most private of all the brain types. This is why you find it difficult to ask for help or support. You would rather just “work it out” on your own, but that can set you up for a fall when things get tough and there is no one to support you. It is important for you to tell a supportive friend when you are struggling, so they can help you get it out so you don’t hold it inside. You may come out of your struggles on your own eventually, but each time you do that without help from someone else, it takes a toll on your reserves, making it harder to pull yourself out each subsequent time.
You are happiest at home among family, rather than meeting new people or approaching new situations. It is more important for you to have a few close friends than many acquaintances. Be sure to continue to foster those relationships and use them for your support group. It would benefit you to let loose a little more often and to attend more social functions to expand those nerve pathways in your brain.
It’s important for you to associate with more visionary types who can teach you how to look at the big picture, so you don’t get buried too deep in the details or fail to see the progress you are making along the way. It’s easy to keep your head down and not see where you’re going with your brain type. Including at least one visionary in your support group will help you a great deal.
You are more demanding of yourself than many other brain types, so it will be important for you to set realistic goals in the beginning. If your goal is set too high and you don’t attain it, you may see that as a personal failure and judge it as a character flaw. Use your support group for goal setting feedback, but don’t let the visionary in your group set your bar too high!
When faced with unwelcome events, such as illness or injury, your brain type tends to magnify the negatives, since you are deeply in touch with your senses. Uncontrolled anxieties can spiral your emotions downward, so be sure to call someone in your support group and talk it out with them. You can also minimize worries and concerns with the Word swap, Square Breathing, and EFT techniques.
You will be able to achieve your goals and maintain them more easily if you focus on health as the main reason for your journey, instead of body weight or body image. Make sure your food and exercise choices are focused on getting you closer to optimal health and you will see faster improvement and permanent results.
Focusing on the little wins each day and enjoying satisfaction from those small successes will keep you on track for the long haul. Keeping a Success Journal each night will be helpful for you.
Summary and Recap
Goal setting: Focus on each step, with 80% perfection before moving to the next step. Imagine how achieving optimal health will increase your long-term security and stability in all areas of life.
Best Workout: Safe, intense exercise by yourself, a friend (if they can keep up with you) or with a personal trainer who you feel is highly qualified.
Motivated by: Rules and parameters to follow and stay within each day. Once you believe in a system, there is no stopping you.
Supported by: Encouraging friends who notice and appreciate your successes and strengths.
Areas to strengthen: Remember that perfection is not possible, so cut yourself some slack. Talk about your feelings with a trusted confidant of two. Form a couple new friendships with visionary-type people.
Strengths to use: You enjoy routine, so repeat your favorite recipes often.
Brain training techniques: Conscious Eating (Part 1 and Part 2), Meditation, Word Swap, EFT, Square Breathing, Success Journal.