Here’s an important mindset shift for anybody who has a hard time losing weight. Whether it comes off more slowly for you than your friends, or if you’re really feeling stuck and you can’t seem to lose weight no matter how hard you try.
If you’ve ever been in this boat, starting off super excited only to work your butt off for two weeks and not even lose a pound, you know how discouraging this can feel. You think, “This isn’t working!” and then go back to your regular program of eating less healthy and not exercising.
A few weeks later, you’re feeling physically awful again and start the cycle over, re-dedicating yourself to your health.
If this is you, if losing weight doesn’t come as easily for you as it seems to for others, you’ve got to stop worrying about the weight and focus on the immediate rewards of exercising and eating right. For example…
Immediate Rewards of Working Out:
- When you start the day with exercise, you create more energy for yourself and are more productive throughout the day. You’ll get more of your to-do list done and feel really great about it!
- The more consistently you exercise, the better you are able to cope with daily stresses. Your circumstances won’t change by working out but you become a bigger vessel, able to handle them much more gracefully.
- Not moving your body causes your hormones and your hormone receptors to stop working.
- You’ll be able to fall asleep more easily and get better quality sleep.
Immediate Rewards of Eating Right:
- The more live foods you can eat then the more you feel alive.
- More energy and mental clarity.
- Better digestion.
- Make your food decisions based on “Is food going to make me feel more alive or is it going to make me feel more zombie-like when I am done eating it?” Making your decisions based on how you’ll feel immediately afterward makes it so much easier to stay on the wagon and enjoy it.
Focus on the immediate reward and only exercise on the days you want to be happy; only eat right on the days you want to be happy, have more energy, and deal with stress better.
Hold fast to your short term rewards and stop thinking about the long term. If it’s difficult for you to lose weight or if you have a medical condition which makes it very difficult to lose weight, then focusing on that is going to be your poison. You’ll never experience what you want if you keep focusing on the thing that you don’t want, which is extra weight.
So focus on happiness, on participating in life, on the idea that you will not just be alive, going through the motions of life. Focus on feeling alive. Over time, feeling better will spill over into other areas of your life: your relationships will get better, your business will get better, you’ll have more energy, you’ll be a better mom, you’ll be a better wife, you’ll be a better husband/dad, you’ll be a better employee, you’ll be better in every role in your life when you focus on the immediate reward. Because focusing on the immediate reward is what is going to keep you on the proverbial wagon of healthy living.
If the weight loss never comes, you’ll still feel SO much better physically, mentally and emotionally. But I’m willing to bet a whole lot that eventually, it will come. Even if, for you, it takes much longer than the average person.
What short term reasons do you have for staying on the wagon? Share it by commenting below!