Dieting and weight loss mean going on a journey to feel lighter and stronger, but a negative mindset can leave you feeling weighed down and weak. Rather than turning to food or ditching the workout you had planned, why not shift your focus to one that is more positive?
The Connection Between Mindset and Weight Loss
Think about how positive and negative mindsets impact your everyday life. For instance, with a negative mindset, anything that goes wrong can make you feel like you are having a bad day — making it easy to find everything wrong. It can make you want to just give up, accomplishing nothing.
Having a rough encounter and shifting your focus to look on the bright side will allow you to realize that you had a bad moment, not a bad day. And you can keep moving forward in a positive, healthy manner.
This same concept is applied to food and dieting, too. What happens after skipping a workout or indulging in something unhealthy will be determined by your mindset. If you are being negative, you will likely:
- Say some harsh things to yourself
- Focus negatively on your image
- Overeat
- Lose motivation
Maintaining a positive mindset will help you to realize that one little slip-up should never be given the power to derail your entire weight loss effort. Instead, you will have the strength and motivation to continue moving forward.
5 Ways to Create a Positive Mindset
You may be surprised at just how impactful a positive mindset can be when it comes to dieting and weight loss. Here are 5 ways you can make the shift.
1. Know Your ‘Why’
As you start eating healthier and moving more, it is important to know why you are doing it. This helps when you come across challenges — and there will be challenges. Being able to remind yourself why you are putting in all the work to be a healthier version of yourself can keep you pushing through.
2. Believe in Yourself
When you believe in yourself, then you believe that you can actually achieve your weight loss goals. It also means you are more likely to take steps that support what it is you are trying to do for your health.
Believing in yourself means that you know you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to.
3. Use Failures as Learning Opportunities
You are likely to have a bad day. You may even have a bad few days or a bad week. On these days, a bad moment can easily be multiplied with one bad choice after another. And that’s okay. But, when you are facing hurdles and the motivation is lacking, do you just sit down? No.
You keep going and you find ways to use what just happened as a learning opportunity.
How did you run out of steam? What were you thinking/feeling/going through that caused you to make those decisions? How was your mental space at that time? How were you feeling physically?
Never label yourself as a failure. Take your poor choices and examine them. Ask yourself all the questions and then learn from them. For example, if you were too over-tired from work and decided not to food prep for the week, you may have hit up the drive-thru on your way home. Now you know that not food-prepping or ingredient-prepping can lead to choices that aren’t so healthy.
Stay positive and learn from your mistakes.
4. Work with a Health Coach
Having someone on your side to fight your battles with you makes it easier to remain positive and feel less overwhelmed with the entire process.
Losing weight is tough and may be one of the hardest things you will ever accomplish. But when you work with a health coach, you are being guided by an expert and that can help to relieve a bit of pressure.
Having a health coach is like having a light in the darkness. So, while you will still have to put in all the work, you can see where you are going. And that means you can smile a lot more along your journey.
5. Engage in Self-Care
Give yourself some TLC. If you want to stay positive and focused on getting healthy, then you need to make sure you are taken care of. After all, you are more than just your weight loss.
Take some time for yourself to do something you love. Treat yourself to a bubble bath, a new haircut or outfit, a walk outside, a movie, or a night out with an old friend. Find some enjoyment in life every single day.
The better you feel, the easier it will be to maintain a positive mindset and the greater chance you will have of finding success with your dieting and weight loss.
Beyond The Box Nutrition goes beyond dieting with certified nutrition coaches who personalize programs to help clients develop healthy lifestyles and maintain long-term weight loss.
