Are your thoughts making you fat? Here’s how changing your mindset can help you lose weight.

Motivation to lose weight is often high in springtime when buds start to appear, reminding us that bathing suit season is not far behind. Although there is no escaping the need to exercise regularly and eat healthily to lose weight, experts say that having the right attitude can help you lose weight and stay slim.

 

Research shows that you really can think yourself thin. Scientists at Harvard University, USA told 42 women housework burns calories. After four weeks they had lost an average of 2 lbs and lowered their blood pressure by 10 percent, while 42 women who weren’t told the information showed no weight changes. Neither group altered their lifestyles; just their mind sets.

 

If you want to succeed at weight loss looking at the thought patterns and habits in your life that can sabotage your efforts can make all the difference. Everyone has his or her own excuses and weakness but whatever your weak spot to lose weight and keep it off your mindset needs to be right.

 

The following think thin strategies are all designed to help you get the right mindset for long term weight loss:

 

– A little patience: First of all you need to have patience. One major mental block to weight loss is wanting too much, too fast. But you’ll get the best results when you lose weight slowly.  If you lose weight too quickly, you’re just losing water and muscle, not fat and when you lose muscle, metabolism slows down, making it even harder to lose weight.

 

– Imagine yourself thin: If you want to be thin, see yourself that way. Visualise yourself slim and see how good you look and feel. Alternatively you could imagine what you would look like five years from now if you continue gaining weight; sometimes this Scrooge ghost of Christmas future exercise alone is enough of a shocker to be an incentive.  There is also a brilliant service where you can send in a photograph of yourself and they can now send it back showing you what you will look when you are slim.  The photo can then be stuck on the fridge to keep you motivated. You can also specify how much weight you want to lose.   It is on www.naturalhealthpractice.com and click on Fat around the Middle products (called Slimmer You Photograph).

 

– Set small goals: Make a list of small goals that will all help you lose weight. These small goals should all be things that improve your lifestyle and are realistically simple to achieve, such as

• Eating more fruits and vegetables every day
• Getting some kind of physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day
• Drinking alcohol only on the weekends
• Ordering a side salad instead of chips.
• Losing around 1 pound a week.

 

– Change is tough and it is even tougher if you make too many changes at once, so start small and gradually make lifestyle improvements.

 

– Get connected: Find a friend, family member or support group you can connect with on a regular basis. Studies show people who are connected with others, whether it’s in person or online, do better than dieters who try to go it alone.

 

– Plan ahead: Every night plan your healthy meals and fitness routine for the day ahead. Planning ahead is 80% of the battle. If you’re equipped with a detailed plan, results will follow. Schedule your 30 minute walk as you would a dentist’s or hairdresser’s appointment. Prepare dried fruits, veggies or nuts and seeds so you won’t be tempted to eat the wrong kinds of foods.

 

– Pat yourself on the back: Give yourself a non food reward with a trip to the movies, a massage or whatever will help you feel good about your accomplishments after you have met one of your mini goals for a week. It is important to recognise and celebrate the steps you are taking to be leaner and healthier.

 

– Keep track: Studies show that keeping track of what you are eating and how you feel about eating helps promote positive behaviours and minimise the unhealthy ones. So buy a note book and keep a food diary. Food diaries are a form of accountability. When you are accountable, you are less likely to over eat or eat unhealthily.  It is interesting that when women come to the clinic they are asked to fill out a questionnaire, which includes a food diary, they often say that they are surprised, as they did not realise what or how much they were eating of certain things until they had written them down.  A lot of what you eat can be unconscious so being aware of what you are doing can be a big first step.

 

– Change your habits: You can’t continue to do things the way you used to or think negatively about yourself if you want to succeed at weight loss. Try to identify where you are engaging in behaviours or thought patterns that lead to weight gain and turn them around with little steps that you can easily handle without feeling deprived. For example, if you always slump in front of the television when you get home hide the remote and phone a friend or go for a walk instead. If you always reach for a bar of chocolate when you feel stressed get rid of any tempting, empty-calorie foods in your kitchen and replace them with healthier options. And if you always feel guilty when you do indulge don’t make things worse by thinking you’ve blown it. Remind yourself that no one is perfect and that as long as you are eating healthily 80 per cent of the time you are doing fine. Instead of thinking of yourself as overweight think of yourself as a person who is on the road to reaching their ideal weight.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 3:10 am and is filed under Mental Health, Weight Loss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.