If you’re feeling down on life and powerless to change yourself in the face of a huge mountain, especially if you’re overweight, just remember you aren’t alone. Everyone on earth faces obstacles and challenges in life every single day, but what leads some to victory and others to get stuck in a rut is largely down to mindset.
Repeat ‘I love myself’ ’til you believe it.
This must be the first step towards a long, enjoyable and healthy life and removing the self-hate of being ‘overweight’. Loving yourself takes the pressure off; it also disables many of the self-sabotaging thoughts, such as ‘That diet won’t work for me’ or ‘I’m no good at fitness’. These thoughts affect our habits and behaviours that many people repeat their whole lives without ever realising it.
With self-love and flexibility, it eliminates the crippling ‘DIE-ting effects’ where you punish yourself with overly restrictive eating and run your body into the ground. These are not sustainable, and ultimately, it’ll make it damn near impossible to reach your weight and health goals.
Mind over Matter
In addition to respecting and listening to your body more, there are several psychological ‘tricks’ you can use to retrain the way you approach losing weight.
1. Get rid of ‘Forbidden Fruit’
I get it, we are so bombarded by what foods are good for weight loss and what foods are ‘bad’ that it becomes overwhelming, and we start cutting out entire food groups. The reality is that if you vilify certain foods, it becomes all you can think about, making you want it that much more. The better solution is not to look at food in such a rigid way. One of the best parts of the 12WBT program is that it promotes everything in moderation, and enjoying life – and yep, carbs are on the menu, and no, they won’t stop you from losing weight.
2. ‘What the Hell’ effect
Have you ever been so good on your eating plan, and decided to have a little treat, say a choc chip biscuit? But that biscuit is so good, so you have two more. But then you feel like you’ve ruined all your good work for the day, so you may as well finish the entire packet, and go wild with your eating for the rest of the day and just restart tomorrow? It sounds harmless enough, but this sort of behaviour is doing you a lot of damage, both mentally and physically.
The real issue here is that your diet may be overly restrictive, so the slightest trigger of eating a ‘naughty’ treat sends you off the rails.
Once again, practising moderation is key. If you do feel like a biscuit, factor it into your eating plan. And if you do have more than you intended to, it’s not the end of the world. Just stop, take a breath, have a shower, and press restart then and there.
3. The ‘Last Supper’ effect
So you’ve decided enough is enough, you’re going to go on a diet and end the cycle of being overweight. But…you’ll start tomorrow, so you may as well go all out tonight, after all, you won’t be able to eat all the ‘good stuff’ when you start your overly restrictive eating plan. In a way, it feels like a prison sentence.
And that’s where you’re going wrong.
If psychologically you feel like you’re limited, you’re going to crave unhealthy foods a lot more. In addition, how many blowouts “before a diet starts” do you need to have? Healthy eating and portion control should become part of your lifestyle. Think of it as a long-term journey with balance rather than a restrictive short burst.
Teach Self-regulation
Healthy eating and portion control should become part of your lifestyle. Think of it as a long-term journey with balance rather than a restrictive short burst, and it will help you end the cycle of being overweight or yo-yoing.
Experiment with different foods, do your research, and figure out which foods.
- Make you feel fuller for longer.
- Satisfy your soul
- Fuel your brain properly
With constant experimentation and awareness, you will find foods that satisfy all three.
Also Read: Weight Loss Wonders: Meet our August End Of Round Winners
Ready to take control of your health and fitness and start feeling your best?
Join us for the next round and discover empowering mindset lessons, effective workouts, and simple, nutritious meals, you’ll start to feel the difference from the inside out.
