Make weight loss your reality with a positive diet mindset

Your battle with excess weight can be won or lost by your mindset. It can support your weight loss goals to move you forward, or it can fill you with doubt and hold you back from achieving your goals. Your thoughts and beliefs about eating, food, your body, and weight loss profoundly influence your success.

A positive diet mindset is an ally, supporting your weight loss journey, energizing your motivation, building resilience when doubt creeps in, and opening doors to endless possibilities. On the other hand, a negative diet mindset breeds self-doubt, induces fear, and accepts procrastination, limiting your progress. It can trap you in familiar eating habits, prioritizing comfort over goals. This mindset can reinforce self-protective behaviors, making it difficult to embrace new food choices, eating patterns or take the risk of potential setbacks, criticism or embarrassment.

For many of us, a negative mindset is an easy go-to, and to change this takes a conscious choice. Your mindset is entirely within your control, but transforming it from a critical voice to a supportive coach requires time and dedication. But how much easier would it be if you could stop fighting with your mind? If you could believe something could be the way it is because you say it is? So, how do you cultivate a mindset that supports your weight loss goals?

Before you even start intermittent fasting, do a diet mindset check-in. Do you believe you should be changing your lifestyle (especially if it’s fear driving you), but you’re not wanting to do the work? Or are you clear on your goals, but the method you’re following doesn’t resonate with you? Any past negative weight loss efforts will overshadow positive ones unless you’ve cleared them, especially if previous attempts resulted in not getting to your goals. Finally, if you’re focused solely on the end goal without enjoying the process, the time it takes to get there can derail your motivation.

Be your own biggest cheerleader. Every day, tell yourself you can do this, you can make your weight loss dreams a reality. Even if you have never done it before (like me prior to intermittent fasting), that doesn’t mean you never can. Remind yourself of the incredible benefits that don’t rely on the numbers on the scale or clothing sizes. It could be increased energy, better sleep, or even just a little less jiggle when you jump (get your non-scale victory checklist to track all your amazing changes).

My initial weeks of intermittent fasting were a blur of rumbling stomachs, cravings, and feeling drained. It’s so easy to get discouraged when trying to lose weight, especially when it seems like nothing is changing. Just like losing weight, improving your mindset around the process of losing weight takes practice and the right attitude.

My weight loss journey began with a quick seven-pound drop. Then my progress slowed to a crawl (at one point, my weight even started to go back up!) It would have been easy to quit, but I kept working on my diet mindset and tracking my small wins to keep me motivated. I reminded myself why I started: to stop gaining weight and so any loss was a bonus. Every stomach rumble was a reminder of positive changes happening within. It was frustrating to feel like a turtle, especially during weeks when the scale didn’t change. But over time I realized my skin was tightening, like it was shrinking to fit a new, smaller me. Now, not only am I at my lowest weight as an adult, I have very little loose skin from all those years of extra weight.

When the negative mindset feels like it’s taking over, remind yourself that every step forward is a win, no matter how small. You can do this. If you believe in it and remove any barriers to your beliefs, you can choose your journey. You can take action. And it gets better because it just does.