Train your brain to lose weight (5 mindset shifts to lose weight permanently)
Can you really train your brain to lose weight? Does weight loss really start with the mind? Yes, I believe everything we do starts with the mind.
Weight loss always starts in the mind. If we only tackle the food and exercise we are not addressing the engine of our body. I believe if you train your brain to lose weight, you will be doing 80% of the work and weight loss will get easier for you. Here are some other tips on how to lose weight without dieting.
Here is how to train your brain for weight loss.
Set Goals
Set a goal of where you would like to be, rather then where you don’t want to be. Focus on the positive rather than the negative, for example, I want to weigh X amount, I want to be a size 10.
Set a date of when you want to get there and be realistic with this. 2lb a week to lose is realistic.
After you reach your goal this needs to be sustainable. Accept you are going to have good days and bad, but as long as you are going in the right direction over a period of time.
Look at your average weight loss over a week. If we compare this to how we looked at the coronavirus stats, charts showed us an overall trend by each day giving us the average of the past 7 days. If you use that principle, it gives you an overall trend where you are going and it stops you from being so consumed on a daily details of what you eat.
In other words, eat healthily most of the time and allow yourself something of what you want each week.
Reward yourself
No, not with food, by giving yourself something.
When we reward ourselves for the little things, it is very motivating and we want to keep doing it to get that reward. Think about little kids. When they have achieved something we give them stickers, buy them a toy, or just say well done. Treat yourself like that.
What small things can you treat yourself with? Even if it is a sticker chart, this can still be fun.
A friend of mine has an adult colouring book. When she reaches a little goal, she gets 20 mins colouring in time. Another friend makes art and with each accomplishment, she gives herself painting time.
Your brain gets used to the reward and likes it. This is how you can train your brain to lose weight over time.
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Think long term, not short term.
Weight loss is not a race it is a journey. Nor is it a short-term goal. Being healthy and eating in a healthy is the goal and weight loss is the outcome.
Being healthy is a way of being and in an ideal world it is being that way because you enjoy it for the energy it gives you and for how good you feel.
With weight loss, we often think short-term. I must lose the weight quickly and by now. This puts us on some severe restriction diet. We don’t want that because it is not healthy or sustainable.
If a 100m sprinter ran the marathon, they would have to stop and recoup quite soon. They would not know how to keep a pace for the longer race. Short-term is the mindset of a sprinter. When a sprinter has to stop and recouperate they are only doing what they have been trained to do.
When we have to stop and eat something, we get mad at ourselves. We are getting mad at ourselves for doing what our brain is telling us to do.
Think long-term, and make small changes over time so they become sustainable. This is how to train your brain to lose weight.
Expectations
Are you expecting to be able to go on a diet and stay on a diet forever? Is this feasible? Most likely not.
If we deny ourselves what we want, we will end up finding a way to get it. Most of us, when we are giving something up, we will have slip-ups.
We will go back to our original behaviour, though that will be temporary, because we will try our new habits again.
This is because a new habit often has other patterns, behaviours and thoughts that need to be created for this new habit to stick. For instance, I want to give up cereals in the morning and instead eat avocado on toast, or eggs on toast. The old routine of going to a cupboard and pouring out cereal is gone. The new routine takes longer, it means more washing up and might mean I have to get up earlier because it takes me longer to eat.
For the new habit to stick, I have to visualise it and do a mental rehearsal to see if it will work so I can prepare for all the little changes for it to stick.
Listen to yourself
If you are saying negative things to yourself then life is going to turn out how you are saying it.
I can’t do diets, I am not good on diets, I can’t lose weight, I hate healthy foods, my problem is I …. We create this self-fulfilling prophecy.
We think a certain way and expect to turn out a certain way and hence life turns out that way.
Start saying what we want to see. I can lose weight easily, losing weight is getting easier and easier, it’s ok if I slip up, I will get back on track soon again. I am finding ways to be healthier and healthier.
Read further for this description on changing negatives to positives.
What affirmations can you say to yourself to keep on track ?
So, comment below on what mindset change you are going to give a go.
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