Motivational Keys That Keep Your Weight Loss On Track

Losing weight is just as much a mental undertaking as a physical one.  A strong mental focus on the end goal is just as important as the right diet. Even if you've struggled to lose weight in the past, you will find it much easier to succeed if you incorporate these tips to stay focused and motivated for weight loss success.

Reasons Why

The easiest way to stay motivated is to clearly identify your reasons for wanting to lose weight. Before you start a diet or exercise regimen, grab a piece of paper and spend some time thinking of the real reasons you want to shed pounds. While part of you may just want to be healthier and have more energy, you may have other reasons for losing weight as well. For example, maybe you want to appear more attractive to the opposite sex.

By uncovering these underlying reasons, you will find it much easier to stay motivated. Keep your list of reasons handy, and refer back to them often. Being clear about why you really want to lose weight will actually make your desire stronger, and make it easier to complete your goal.

Taking Photos

Another great solution for staying motivated is taking photos. Commit to taking a photo of yourself every week or so. This will give you enough time to make noticeable progress.

For these photos to be effective, you should make sure you take the photo in underwear, a bathing suit, or even naked, if that is something you are comfortable with. You should also take the photo in the same type of clothing for each session.

To make this technique really powerful, incorporate visualizations. Have your journal ready, and jot down how you feel when you take your picture. Each time you take a photo, identify and write down what's changed. At the end of each session, visualize yourself being even slimmer for the next photo. This technique is an extremely powerful tool that will help you lose weight.

Losing weight does not have to be as difficult if as you think. Even if you've struggled to lose weight in the past, by staying motivated, you can stay focused and will start to see results. Once you start to lose weight, the physical evidence of the photos will motivate you even further. Before you start your weight loss program, make sure you incorporate tools that will help you succeed.

 

Weight Loss Mental Mistakes to Avoid

Mindset is a major factor for successful weight loss. By reprogramming your mental thinking, you can stay motivated and focused on your weight loss goals.  Here are some mental pitfalls that should be addressed when you start your weight loss journey.

Self-Talk

Being overweight can often trigger thoughts of self-loathing. However, disparaging yourself does not help you lose weight. On the contrary, it is actually easier to stay focused and motivated on your weight loss goals when you appreciate yourself. It may seem like a paradox, but when you appreciate your body, healthy eating and exercise habits become easier.

You can help create a new positive mindset by monitoring your self-talk. One way to do this is with a journal and focus on your feelings about your body. By being vigilant about what you're saying to yourself, you can start seeing how negative thoughts are untrue and unhelpful, and start substituting them with beliefs that support your goals. By believing you are capable and worthy of a healthy body, losing weight will be that much easier.

Neglecting Rewards

In addition to negative self-talk, one of the other things that many people do to sabotage their weight loss efforts is neglect to reward themselves regularly. By receiving feedback and positive reinforcement, you help yourself stay excited and involved in meeting your weight loss goals.

Start by breaking larger goals into smaller chunks, and reward yourself every time you meet a milestone. Rewards do not need to be expensive, and can include things like time with friends, reading a good book, or spending time on a hobby that you enjoy.

Emotional Eating

One of the major stumbling blocks for losing weight is the problem of emotional eating. Many people use food as medication. By eating, they relieve or soothe their negative thoughts and unpleasant emotions. When you uncover your emotional eating triggers, you can recognize when you grab food in times of emotional upset. By being more aware of when and why you eat, you can stop yourself from emotional eating more often.

A great way to do this is to have some substitute activities lined up whenever you feel tempted to reach for food. Exercise, for example, is a great way to shift your mood. If you can distract yourself with exercise, you will feel better and remove much of the need for emotional eating. If exercise isn't an option, another effective technique is to distract yourself for 5 minutes, and check your mood again. Set a timer if you need to. In many cases, you will have distracted yourself enough to release the immediate need to eat.

 

You can increase your chances for weight loss success by realizing that your weight loss journey is a mental and emotional one as much as a physical one. Losing weight requires harmony with the mental, emotional, and physical aspects of you. When you remove some of the common stumbling blocks, and focus on creating a positive mindset, your weight loss success will increase dramatically.

 

 

 

“You are what you eat”

“You are what you eat” ---- this often-used phrase has come to describe the belief that a person's totality, including his health, appearance, mood, and thoughts, are shaped by the food he eats.  Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826: “Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.” meaning “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.” In an essay entitled Concerning Spiritualism and Materialism, 1863/4, Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach wrote: “Der Mensch ist, was er ißt,” which translates into English as “man is what he eats.”

          Some believe neither Brillat-Savarin nor Feuerbach meant for their quotations to be taken literally but rather, that they were merely stating that that the food that one eats has a bearing on one's state of mind and health. The actual phrase didn't emerge as part of the common English language until sometime later. In the '20s and '30s, the nutritionist Victor Lindlahr, who was a strong believer in the idea that food controls health, developed what he called as the Catabolic Diet. The said diet was accepted and gained some adherents. Lindlahr's theories became so popular that even advertising was shaped by his nutritional dogmas.  A 1923 advertisement for beef released through the Bridgeport Telegraph had the following message:  “Ninety per cent of the diseases known to man are caused by cheap foodstuffs. You are what you eat.”

          To some, the old adage, “You are what you eat” may be a bit exaggerated.  Still, many studies have shown that the food, water, and other substances we consume can have profound effects on our physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Evidence continues to mount up suggesting that the food we eat have powerful psychological effects.

          For starters, there are clear connections between mood and food that are rich in folates like green leafy vegetables. A 1997 Harvard study supports earlier findings that show a link between folate deficiency and depressive symptoms. The study revealed that low folate levels can interfere with the antidepressant activity of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). A Tufts University study of nearly 2,948 individuals found that those who met the criteria for a lifetime diagnosis of major depression had lower serum and red blood folate concentrations than those who had never been depressed. Those with dysthymia had lower red blood cell folate only. The authors of the study recommend folate supplementation during the year following a depressive episode. 

          A case study from University of Alaska best exemplifies how food intake affect the people from the North Pole region. This happens when various populations change from their traditional means of consuming and procuring food to steak and lots of junk food. Though the traditional diets of circumpolar people vary from region to region, the menu generally draws from marine mammals, fish, hoofed animals, fur-bearing animals, birds and their eggs, plants, and berries. These food are rich in nutrients, with high levels of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants, while low in carbohydrates. However, radical changes in their diet occurred after establishing contact and engaging in trade with Westerners. Obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease were virtually unknown to the frozen North. The introduction of fat and carbohydrate-rich Western diets made previously unrecorded diseases to the North Pole.

          A recent case study also found that rates of depression, seasonal affective disorder, anxiety, and other mental illnesses are on the rise in circumpolar regions, especially among non-isolated populations. Suicide rates have increased seven-fold in many northern populations over the past several decades. The authors of the case study acknowledge that the combined decline in mental health and the disappearance of traditional diets in circumpolar people make a direct connection between diet and mental health in these people a very real possibility.