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.

Negative 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.