Various factors can influence how easily you can lose weight. For instance, our blog post on how your genes affect your overall health notes that your unique genetics affect your body’s response to food and weight reduction methods. For this reason, following a weight loss program that doesn’t suit your individual needs may not be effective in helping you lose weight, especially in the long run.
But aside from physical attributes, another factor that can affect your weight loss goals is your mindset. An article on having a healthy attitude around weight management revealed that a destructive weight loss mentality, like establishing restrictive standards and dealing with self-criticisms, only drains your motivation. If this negative perspective persists, you’re less likely to attain your long-term successful weight loss goals.
So, this article will discuss four ways to cultivate a healthy mindset to help you realize your well-rounded weight goals.
Drop the “good” food and “bad” food mentality
When you’re on a diet, you’ve probably declined a lot of foods that you believe are “bad” for your body. Think sweets, fried foods, and even packaged snacks. However, having this kind of mentality makes it harder for you to maintain your weight loss goals in the long term. Because if you label certain foods as bad, you’ll eventually feel awful about yourself every time you consume them, even if you enjoy eating them. More importantly, you’re only associating weight loss methods with total restriction of some foods, which may lead you to develop an unhealthy relationship with eating. That’s why if you want to lose weight and still enjoy the food you love, avoid labeling your food as good or bad. Instead, remember to eat everything in moderation.
Join a community of like-minded people
Following a weight loss plan is tough, but if you surround yourself with people who similarly aim to improve their health, you might find yourself more motivated. Indeed, one of the proven motivations for weight loss is having social support. Studies have even found that people who start a weight loss program with friends are more likely to complete the course than those who do them alone. This is because connecting with like-minded individuals can offer you the necessary encouragement you need whenever you feel like giving up. They can also be your accountability buddy who can help you remain committed to your diet plan. Ultimately, joining weight loss groups can provide the social and mental support you need to keep yourself in the weight loss mindset.
Reframe failures
There will be occasions when you may deviate from your diet plan. When this happens, it’s easy to call yourself, or your overall weight loss program, a failure. But according to an article on strategies to reframe failure, the best way to overcome setbacks is to look past your failure without blaming yourself. If you start blaming yourself for everything that went wrong in your weight loss plan, you’ll only develop anger and resentment towards yourself. These negative feelings and unproductive mindset will only have you downplaying your progress, which will not boost your motivation. So by reframing your perspective towards failure, you’ll be able to quickly bounce back on your feet, even if you stumble throughout your weight loss journey.
Foster a growth mindset
Lastly, the day will come when your diet plan will no longer work for you because your body has already adapted. However, this doesn’t mean you should stop your weight loss plan right there. Instead of being simply complacent, you should cultivate a growth mindset and explore new strategies that will enable you to challenge and improve yourself further. For instance, once you have reached your desired weight, your next step should be developing ways to maintain that weight. One of the ways you can do this is by learning about new healthy meal plans or trying different exercise routines. If you have a growth mindset, you’ll be able to maintain a positive state of mind that can be the foundation of continued health for a long time.
