Most people know that the two main ways to lose weight are to eat a healthy, balanced diet and get enough exercise. But there’s a third component that is often overlooked.
It’s the power of your mind. It’s the reason why people taking placebos often find their health symptoms improve just as much, if not more, than people taking the actual medication.
Having a strong, positive mindset is just as important for losing weight as eating right and being physically active. Here are some of the techniques you can try to develop a positive weight loss mindset.
Love Yourself First
No matter where you are in your weight loss journey, it’s important to love and accept yourself and your body – love handles and all – first and foremost.
Changing your mindset to a positive one from the get-go will set you up for success. Know that you are so much more than the current number on the scale.
Your body, no matter what its size, can do amazing things. It enables you to walk, to reach for things in the cupboard, and to see and hear the world around you.
Take a moment to be grateful for what your body can do for you, instead of feeling less than enamored by its appearance. Love and appreciation are positive energies that will enable you to create a new appearance.
Change Your Negative Beliefs Around Weight Loss
All of us carry negative beliefs. It could be we think all business owners are corrupt, all men cheat, or any number of limiting beliefs.
Although we have no proof of knowing if our negative beliefs are indeed true, we allow them to cripple us just the same.
You may have negative beliefs around weight loss such as “it’s too hard”, “I need to kill myself exercising”, or “I’m just going to gain it all back anyway, so what’s the point?”
It can be really hard to let these thoughts and beliefs go, but you have to in order to have a successful mindset.
Try replacing them with positive affirmations like, “I am achieving my ideal body”, “I love my body”, and “It’s fun and easy to lose weight when I do the physical activities I love”.
Write them down and post them where you’ll see them every day. Say them out loud. Let them seep into your sub-consciousness.
Visualize Your Life in Your Ideal Body
Many athletes, celebrities, business owners and other successful people know all about visualization. It’s a tool that helps athletes in particular win championships and Olympic medals. You, too, can use it to lose weight.
Visualizing simply means imagining the desired outcome. The key, however, to doing it the right way is to see what you want to happen from your own vantage point, through your own eyes. Don’t imagine the scenario like you’re a third party watching yourself on a movie screen.
You also want to incorporate all of your senses in your visualization and really feel like it’s actually taking place. When you’re using it to become a healthy weight, there’s a lot of scenes you can visualize.
You can imagine what it feels like to shop in your favorite store and pick up clothing in the size you want to be off the racks and shelves. You can visualize the reaction of friends and loved ones when they notice how much weight you’ve lost.
You can also use this technique to help stick with healthy food choices and workout habits. For example, you can imagine reaching for a crisp, juicy apple instead of a doughnut for an afternoon snack and the sensation and sound of biting into the apple. Or visualize the sense of accomplishment after you’ve finished a challenging workout.
“If you see it in your mind, you will hold it in your hand” is a quote attributed to Bob Proctor, a life coach and one of the contributing authors of The Secret. So give daily visualization a try.
Remember to Stay Present
You binged on brownies last night, or you blew off visiting the gym after work.
None of this matters as long as you stay in the present moment, the moment where you have all of the power. This is also called mindfulness.
Any mistakes you made the day before do not matter, because you can’t change the past. You can, however, make healthier choices today. This is how you live in the present moment.
Staying present also helps you savor your meals. Keep yourself in the present moment during mealtime by putting away your smartphone and turning off the TV.
Take your time eating your food; don’t rush it. This will also help you feel satisfied instead of gobbling down your plate before your stomach is able to tell your brain, “Hey! I’m full down here.”
Meditation and just taking a few moments for yourself by sitting quietly and focusing on your breathing is another great way to stay present. So is taking a walk and appreciating nature or playing with our pets.
We can’t alter the past and we can’t predict the future. Therefore, we have to make the most of every present moment.
Create a Healthy Lifestyle Vision Board
A vision board is another popular tool for attracting the type of life you want. To make a vision board, you simply cut or print out images that represent how you want to see yourself and how you imagine your ideal life to be and tack or tape them to a board.
If your goal is to lose weight, you can place images on your board of healthy, fit people and people doing physical activities with ease, like hiking or bicycle riding. You can also feel your board with positive, inspirational quote and affirmations.
If you’d like to get married, you can include an image of a happy couple and a photo of a wedding dress or ring you really like. The sky’s the limit to what you want to place on your board to represent your goals.
A vision board helps seep these goals deep into your sub-conscious where your beliefs reside and helps reinforce a belief that your life is changing for the better.
Some people like to create a digital vision board and use it as the screensaver on their computer. Each time they see it, it’s a reminder of what they are attracting into their life.
Include the Weight Loss Mindset in Your Program
Along with meal plans and getting enough physical activity, a positive weight loss mindset should be part of your entire weight loss program on the road to success.
For more weight loss tips and healthy meal ideas, be sure to read our latest posts.
