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.

Q: I’ve got quite a bit of weight to lose and want to know if yoga can help me?

A: Exercising frequently is the key to losing weight and maintaining your weight once the extra pounds are gone. This goes hand-in-hand with eating a healthy diet filled with fruits, veggies, proteins, and whole grains. This kind of diet not only will help contribute to losing weight, but it will give you enough energy to workout. It’s like a cycle.

 

In order to lose weight, you need to burn calories and like anything physical, doing yoga can help you achieve that goal, but it depends on what style of yoga you choose. You may want to choose vigorous Power, Vinyasa, or Ashtanga classes. These classes move quickly, and can really get your heart pumping, which can result in greater calorie burn than slower-moving gentle yoga classes. Hour and a half classes like these should be done at least 3-5 times a week to see weight loss results. This consistency will help you strengthen, lengthen, and tone your muscles.

 

It has also been suggested that hot yoga, performed in a room set to 105 degrees F (40.55 C) is excellent for weight loss. Studies do show that this type of yoga does cause temporary weight loss. As one sweats, one loses water weight. Yet this type of weight loss is not permanent, and it doesn’t necessarily burn a lot of fat.

 

Regular mat yoga, often called Hatha yoga, does cause some weight loss, over consistent practice of at least one class a day. It can also cause muscles to become more toned and flexible, a desirable benefit. A one-hour Hatha yoga class does not burn the same amount of calories as one hour of fast walking. On average, the one-hour yoga class burns about 100 calories. However, a study conducted by Alan Kristal in connection with the National Cancer Institute showed that those who practiced yoga one hour a week lost an average of 5 pounds over a four-year period. This data was compared to those who did not practice yoga and gained 14 pounds during the same time period. Thus practicing yoga, even once a week theoretically helps you shed a small amount of weight, while keeping weight gain at bay.

 

Whether or not yoga does offer huge weight loss benefits it certainly offers fitness benefits, specifically for the muscles. I highly recommend yoga if you’ve got weight to lose because not only will it help you look and feel fitter but because it also focuses on mind/body awareness. People who have greater body awareness tend to notice when they feel full and stop eating and to take greater care of their bodies and what they put into them. This suggests that it is not the exercise but the philosophy of regular yoga practice that may result in weight loss. Further, it may also encourage you to seek out cardiovascular exercise such as brisk walking, running, cycling and swimming with more proven weight loss records.

Q: First of all, thank you so much for all the help you have given me over the past year.  Last January, I read your book ‘Fat Around the Middle’ – I was skeptical at first, but the case study could have been written about me and I implemented your suggestions with fabulous results.  I feel the best I have for years, but I would still like to maintain my weight and, if possible, reduce it even further. 

However, my problem is that I have difficulty maintaining control when the first ‘strictest’ 3 months of the programme were complete.  When the guidelines are very strictly prescribed I am OK, but when the guidelines are relaxed, I tend to have more and more frequent lapses i.e. eating chocolate etc. 

Do you have any suggestions?  I would very much appreciate any advice on how to moderate these binges.

A: Thank you for your kind words and glad to hear that it has made such a difference not only to your weight but also your health. 

There are some people who actually do better if they have strict guidelines because otherwise when the limits are taken away they don’t eat so well.  There would be no problem in carrying on with the same first three month programme all the time.  It contains a good variety of food and it would not be unhealthy to do so. 

If though you would really like to expand the food out more without the lapses then the best way to do this is to have a proper ‘cheat day’ once a week.  You would then know that it is only on that day that you would have chocolate etc and you keep to that agreement with yourself.  So in a way you give yourself permission to lapse but only on that one day a week, that way it is controlled and you won’t have the frequent lapses.