Are you sabotaging you weight loss results? I’m sure your instant response is “No of course not, why would I do that?” Well, you may not even be aware that you’re doing it. Your subconscious mind is extremely powerful and will do everything it can to get what it wants – even if it’s detrimental to you in the long term.
Your weight loss results have so much to do with the way you think. In order to get results you need to focus on exactly what you want and be specific with the details. You need to set goals but set goals with outcomes and write them in the positive. A goal is something you want to achieve in a certain time frame, e.g. “I want to drop a dress size by Christmas.” An outcome is why you want the goal, your desired state, what achieving your goal will give you, e.g. “I want to feel good about myself, confident about the way I look and not spend my day worrying about whether my skirt is too tight.” The outcome goes much deeper, it provides you with the reasons why you want to achieve your goal and reflects what motivates you.
Next, look at what you say or how you write your goals down and make sure they are in a positive format rather than negative. Your brain can’t comprehend the word don’t. If I say to you “don’t think about a glass of red wine” what you’ll immediately think of is a glass of red wine, exactly what I told you not to do. So if you try to tell yourself don’t think about chocolate or crisps you won’t be able to stop thinking about them! Make sense? What you need to do, if you want to change your eating habits and lose weight, is to start writing out your goals and write them in a positive format. Get clear and focused on what you want not on what you don’t want.
Once you know what you want to achieve and why you want it tune in to any voices in your head which may be telling you otherwise. These voices may sound like this “I want to drop a dress size by Christmas, but that’s not going to happen because I just don’t have the willpower to stick to an eating plan at this time of year.” These negative thoughts will sabotage your weight loss results, so start to recognise when you are having them and reframe them.
Try this:
- Write out your goals and write what you want to achieve. Be really specific so if you want to drop a dress size, which dress size do you want to drop to and by when? If you want to eat more healthy foods which foods will they be?
- Take a look at what you have written and do two things – check it’s written in the positive and check you’ve included the outcomes, the reasons why you want what you want.
- Reframe any doubts you have about achieving your goal and if necessary re-word the goal if it makes you feel more confident about achieving it.
- On a separate piece of paper write out your goal with the outcome but this time write it out as if you’ve already achieved it. For example, I’m so happy I’m now a size 14 and I’m wearing a beautiful new dress on Christmas Day. I feel healthy, confident and energized.
- Write out your goal five times and put it where you will see it throughout the day, on your desk, pinned to the fridge, in your bag or maybe your pocket. Any time you have a few minutes to yourself sit down and read your goal, out loud if you can.
If you follow these steps, I promise you things will start to change and you’ll begin to achieve the weight loss results you want.
I know some of you are reading this and thinking “yeah whatever but that naval gazing stuff’s just not for me” but let me ask you this: “Do you have the body shape you want? Are you wearing the clothes size you want? Do you feel good about yourself?” If you do, that’s fantastic, but if not I dare you to try something different. Do it for at least four consecutive days before you decide it’s not for you.
I know this works because I use this method of goal setting myself. Let me know how it works for you and the changes that you notice. Just send me a quick message to say this is what I wrote as my goal and this is what has happened.
If you want to speak to me about your weight loss goals and what could be standing in your way then book in for a Smart Start to a Slimmer You consultation with me.
