13 Mindset Shifts You Should Have For A Better Weight Loss

Shaping up and boosting your confidence by making your body look and feel better isn’t a snap of the fingers job. But, let’s face it, you won’t get far with a head full of doubts, no matter how hard you try. That’s exactly why we’re dishing out 13 smart mindset tips for shedding those extra pounds, designed to steer you toward effective weight loss that sticks!

13 Mindset tips for a better weight loss

Set small, yet realistic goals

If you are new to the world of losing weight, working out, and changing your life to the better, you are certainly not expected to change your whole life all at once. Changing all of your past habits all at once would only prove to be overwhelming, and it will put extra stress that you would like in your life, especially not when you are trying to improve.

You have to understand that achieving your ideal weight should be a reward, not a goal. Instead, the goal should be to eat healthier, to eat more veggies, or to drink more water. Spending an hour at the gym might not be a thing that you would imagine for yourself before, so let that be the goal that is both realistic and beneficial for you to achieve (1).

Surround yourself with positivity

Place yourself in a healthy environment where you will surround yourself with nothing less than positivity and support. Get away from any toxic people, because you do not need the additional stress and negativity that these people usually cause you to feel.

Instead, surround yourself with your loving friends and family who you will inform of your new journey, and they will willingly support you and make you feel loved during the time that follows. Improving your life for the better is not going to be an easy thing to do. It requires time, motivation, and patience, but it also requires lots of support and love (2).

Choose appropriate rewards and punishments

One mistake that most people are making is choosing the wrong rewards and punishments. Just because you failed to finish yesterday’s workout completely, that does not mean that you have to punish yourself by doing a double workout today. Or just because you superseded at eating healthy for the whole week, that does not mean that you get to reward yourself by eating a whole can of ice cream for dinner.

Rethink the ways that you choose to use in order to reward and punish your body and mind. If you choose to exercise as a punishment, you will only learn to hate it, which will make it a lot harder for you to lose weight the way that you wanted to. And choosing to snack on your favorite cheat food as a reward will do the same.

Focus on your breathing

Have you tried some breathing techniques? Did you know that breathing techniques can relax your body and mind, help you restore your energy, and help you recover better and faster?

Starting your day by focusing on your breathing, as well as, taking a break to practice your breathing exercises in between your workouts can help you to focus better on what is coming after. You will be able to connect with your body on a deeper level, and even reduce the stress that has gathered up, especially after your workout or after a busy day spend at work. And high-stress levels will do nothing but harm your weight loss process (3).

Do not limit yourself with time

Why limit yourself with time? There is no need to cross the days on your calendar as they go by. You should celebrate the fact that another day went by, and you did not fail to achieve the goal of eating healthier, drinking more water, and actually going to the gym and getting that workout done.

You do not need a calendar – you need reasonable goals that are not time-consuming and that fit into your everyday routine easily. Even if there is a big event that you are getting ready for, that still does not have to be a reason why you would want to lose weight. You should not get disappointed if you have not achieved the goal weight and you should definitely not get discouraged to continue your fight after that. Weight should be about improving your health and your overall life, getting to a point where you feel good in your own skin, not a goal that you should accomplish until a certain date in your calendar.

Do not rely on the scale

Keeping track on the amount of weight that you have lost can be done in other ways other than skipping on the scale every chance you get. Change doesn’t happen overnight, and you should not expect results after the first day that you have spent dieting or working out.

Eliminate that habit of yours to hop on the scale each day. Instead, appreciate the change that is visible to you. Notice how your clothes fit you differently and notice all of the compliments that will start arriving your weight as you push through yet another day filled with important changes. You might not be able to see any changes in the numbers on the scale and yet notice a visible change when you look yourself in the mirror. All on all – you should be proud of yourself for making the decision to change your life.

Listen to yourself

Listen to your body and encourage your mind. You are your own best friend no matter what. Learn how to do these two simple things, and you will be on the track of losing weight in no time.

Listen to what your body is telling you – perhaps today is not a good day to do cardio, and your body is telling you to stick to yoga, or perhaps you are feeling a bit down, and you need some hardcore encouragement coming right from you. Notice the results that you have achieved until now and use them to encourage yourself to continue what you have been doing so far. Being surrounded by positivity is great, but it has to come from you too as well. Staying positive and optimistic is the key.

Choose a slow and steady pace

A healthy diet is built over time, and so is an effective workout routine. You are not expected to cook a new healthy recipe each day, nor are you expected to spend an hour doing cardio on the first day, even the first week. You need a food foundation on which you will be able to build your new healthy habits.

Do not stress yourself by reading magical weight loss stories, and wonder will you be able to lose 10 pounds in a week. Do not question your new habits by comparing them to other people stories. Do what feels comfortable for you right now and make an effort to change your life step by step. It is a slow and steady pace that you should be choosing instead of a rushed one that will only make you get sick of running around and trying to lose that weight without any success (4).

Focus on improving your life

You should get your priorities straight. Losing weight and working out is great, but you should acknowledge their effects on your overall life, not only on your body image, and that is what really matters. Losing weight should be about improving every aspect of your life, knowing how obesity is linked to various health issues.

If you only focus on improving your life, by using healthy eating habits, and regular workouts, you will be surprised to learn that your body has changed in a matter that you have wished it had. Once you focus on something other than losing weight, soon you will be staring in the mirror watching how much your body has changed without you noticing. Not to mention all of the positive effects on your physical and mental health.

Keep a success journal

Compliments and feeling joy are great, so why let their effect go away forgotten? You should provide yourself the satisfaction of relieving the joy that your success and compliments bring you, and what is a better idea than to write them down so that they can be forever remembered?

One of the best mindset tips that we can give you is to start writing a success journal. Instead of writing about your everyday life, you can write about your weight loss journey, write down daily menus, healthy recipes, and of course, write down the compliments that you receive so that you can remind yourself of day after day. This is one of the easiest, not at all time-consuming methods that will bring a smile on your face for sure.

Put yourself in control

One of the worst mistakes that you can make is to allow the food to control you. You should always be in control of your actions, but you should also be in control of your emotions, body, and mind.

Being in control of the weight loss process will benefit you greatly. You have to learn how to control your actions and habits, especially the ones that are influencing your weight loss process the most such as your eating, sleeping, and working out habits. Learn how to put yourself in control, and you have made the first great step toward weight loss, but also, improving your life (5).

Learn a better way to cope

We all can relate – there is far too much stress all around us. We are left to cope with sleepless nights, self-doubt, and lots of negativity as a result of all the stress that we are experiencing all day long.

And when you are changing your life from, well almost, its core, that means only extra stress, at least at the beginning. So how are you to cope with all of this stress? We know that eating junk food, drinking too much alcohol, or partying too much are not sane methods to be used. These are all methods that will harm your weight loss results — knowing that you need to go on a hunt for better methods that will allow you to relieve your stress and improve your mood. A quick jog, some breathing exercises, and a yoga class should do the trick.

Forget about excuses

Staying organized is the key method to superseding in life. Of course, there will be times when you need to act and decide spontaneously, but it is most of the times when you will need a carefully chosen plan to guide you.

When you are trying to lose weight, you will need to plan every step of the way. You will need to plan your grocery shopping, your weekly meals, your workout sessions, and of course, your recovery as well. Planning will let you get rid of the stress and make you feel like you are in control of the situation, which, as we mentioned earlier, it is highly important. Take time off your daily routine to plan all of these things to help you achieve your goals better.

Conclusion

It takes a lot of small steps to get one big goal accomplished. The same goes for losing weight. It will not happen in one day nor will it happen in one week. But with the right mindset, you will be on the track of losing weight in no time. Appreciate your success, give 100% of yourself, plan beforehand, and take small yet meaningful steps that will take you to the results that you have been looking for.

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