There’s so much advice out there about things you have to do to be healthier, lose weight, and feel better (including eat less and move more). Which, by the way, I think is terrible advice. Sounds like running on an empty stomach. Not fun or motivating. If you really want successful weight loss and improved health, it’s not going to start with an action. The first step is going to start in your head.
We need to shift what our mind is telling us before we’re ever going to change what we do, what actions we take.
Not sure what I’m talking about or why it matters so much? Keep reading. It could make all the difference in the world.
Why Start With Your Mind for Successful Weight Loss?
Our mind is our control center, right? So, it makes sense that making changes in our actions has to start with our thoughts. However, we don’t always act logically and in our own best interest. We’re human and sometimes our emotions take over. They can be pretty powerful. That’s why you can’t just tell yourself that you’re going to eat better and exercise more often, and it works. We often struggle with what we know we should do and what we want to do.
If we want to achieve successful weight loss and improve our overall health we need to reduce the internal struggle to make the journey easier. But. how do we do that?
The first step to achieving better health starts with your relationship with yourself. How you feel about yourself and your body can make a huge difference in your health journey. If you are always having negative self talk and just focusing on the things you don’t like about yourself, then why would you want to treat yourself well and improve your health? Do you make an effort to do nice things for people you don’t much care for? I’m guessing, not! So, if you truly want to make a change and find success, you first need to believe that you are deserving of that effort and success.
If you don’t love yourself and believe that you are worth the effort, then he things you do to get healthier, like eating well and exercising, start to seem like a punishment for the body you don’t like. It becomes a struggle between mind and body really.
Staying Motivated
Of course it’s hard to stay motivated to do the things you should be doing to achieve your goals if it feels like punishment. We don’t want to feel punished all the time. That’s not motivating! It might work initially, but not for long term success. It definitely won’t make for the smoothest journey either.
Think about how you deal with your kids, what works better, punishment or positive re-enforcement? I’ve always found that rewarding for good behavior works a lot better than punishment for bad behavior over time.
If we start viewing ourselves and our bodies as something to love and be grateful for, then we’re much more likely to want to treat ourselves in a healthier way. We’ll want to do things that are good for us and make us feel good, not because we need punishment, but because we know we deserve to look and feel good.
We all deserve to live a healthier and happier life and not feel so frustrated on our journey to get there. We deserve to reach our goals of successful weight loss and improved health and continue to make progress. We don’t want to struggle to get there and then go backwards because we feel like it’s just too much effort to maintain.
How to Shift Our Mindset
If you are struggling with knowing that you are worth the effort, you’ll need to start with making a change to a more positive mindset. Some things that you can do to help you feel more positive about yourself might include…
- Keeping a journal of daily affirmations
- Writing down what you are grateful for each day
- Getting specific about why you are grateful for each part of you (ex., I’m grateful for my feet because they allow me to get around without assistance)
- Become more aware of negative self talk and work on increasing positive self talk
- Focus on the things you can do, not what you believe you can’t
- Get adequate sleep
- Stay hydrated
- Move your body in a way that you enjoy as often as you can
- Eat foods that make you feel good and support the life you want
It might not be an overnight change, but you didn’t get where you are now overnight either. Progress is what’s important when your trying to achieve successful weight loss and improve your overall health.
None of us are perfect, but we are all worth the life we want!
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