Back when I was overweight, I kept making the same mistake over and over–a mistake which caused me to struggle and never make the progress I wanted on my weight loss journey. But as soon as I figured out what I was doing wrong, I was able to drop 55 pounds in 90 days!
Chances are, you're making that same mistake! So the information I'm about to share with you can make your journey much easier. So let's rewind to where I was at–and read on to find out what my number one mistake was in my quest to lose weight.
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The mistake I made was filling my head with negative thoughts. I allowed myself to get easily discouraged. My belly was much bigger than I wanted it to be, but instead of putting my focus on my diet and workouts, I kept dwelling on how unhappy I was.
I let my brain focus on these negative thoughts: "My belly is huge! I'll never get that sexy six-pack I want."
And the sad truth is, I was right. Because as long as I continued to focus on negative things, I wasn't giving my body the incentive to change those things. If I put my focus on my big belly, my mind is going to just hear the words "big belly" and accept it as fact.
Basically, without even knowing it, I was commanding myself to stay fat! You see, before we can take control of our bodies, we have to first take control of our minds. Our minds are powerful things. But we have to think of them as like little kids. We have to control what we expose them to. You wouldn't let your 3-year-old son or daughter stay up watching horror movies, would you?
No … because then those images would get stuck in their head and they'll be too scared to sleep. You have to treat your subconscious mind the same way. If you expose it to all these negative thoughts, it's going to get "spooked" and only focus on those thoughts. You need to get your mind focused on the positive instead, so it'll jump on board and help you reach your goals.
There are two ways to do that: First, stop surrounding yourself with negative people. Misery loves company. So if you're surrounding yourself with people who complain, it's going to rub off on you. Especially if they're complaining about their bodies. See, if one of your girlfriends is talking about how much she hates her "flabby chicken wing arms…" the natural thing to do would be to join her in the conversation, and start talking about your problem areas.
But this pity party does you no good. All it does is reinforce a poor self-image. So recognize the people that are always negative and distance yourself from it.
Second: Make the conscious habit to switch negative thoughts into positive thoughts. Always focus on the positive. If it's a miserable rainy day, don't complain about the weather, think of it as a chance to watch a good movie. If you're "too fat," focus on the fact that since you have more weight to lose, it's going to come off quicker. And you'll appreciate it more.
Basically, for every negative thought, there's a positive to be found. And when you make it a habit to find that positive angle to everything, you'll be training your mind to deliver you the slim and sexy body you've always wanted. Try it! You'll be amazed by the results you get.
And if you have any negative people in your life, send this to them so they can start seeing the positive in everything!
This post was originally published on February 7, 2013
Images via iStock, Ingrid Macher
