Losing Weight is Easier than You THINK

Over the past couple of years, I have made some dramatic changes to my diet.  For anyone who knows me now, they will say I am too strict with my eating habits.  Let me tell you, once you start eating healthier on a more consistent basis, it eventually comes natural and your body adapts to the influx of healthy food.  Besides the list of health benefits you reap from eating healthy, you get those 100 bonus points because your personal well-being increases dramatically, including your mental health, awareness, decision making, and attitude.  

So now is the time you ask yourself, "how in the heck does this help me with losing weight?"

Lets step back to the beginning so I can break this down for you.  When you set a goal or set out to complete a task, any task, most of the time people are not motivated or enthusiastic about whatever they are doing.  They always seem to be unfriendly and appear to be unwelcoming.  It’s mostly because of all the negative thoughts running through their sub-conscience.

From here its simple, and this applies to anything you do, if you stay positive in your mind and using affirmations throughout your day and telling yourself over and over things like "This will be a good workout.", "I will make this sale.", "I love exercising and it makes me feel great.", or "I can do anything I set my mind to.", it starts to go into your sub-conscience.  Then all of a sudden, all the little stresses in your daily routine seem to disappear.  Seriously, they really do!

I found the below excerpt on Stress and Relaxation which is quite helpful: http://www.stress-and-relaxation.com/positive-affirmations-reduce-stress.html (click link for full article).

"In those weak moments of life when you are likely to give in to your temptations-- when you want to eat things that are just not right for you, when you tend to compromise with your sleep, or when you want to skip your exercise for the day-- positive affirmations are just what you need to help you make the healthy choices. Affirmations are positive statements that replace the negative thought processes in your mind. If you think they don't work, rest assured they do, try for yourself!

When you start to talk yourself out of exercising, a negative dialogue is being repeated in your mind, the essence of which is, "I can't do it!" You need to replace this with a positive affirmation. It requires effort in the beginning, yes, but with practice it becomes natural.

When you're about to choose the junk foods instead of the good stuff, repeating an affirmation in your mind will remind you of your desire to be healthier and help you take healthy resolutions.

For example, you can say, "I allow my body to receive enough rest and exercise," or "The more I take care of myself, the better I feel." Using statements like these will give you that gentle push you need when you feel inclined to be pessimistic and lethargic, and enable you to reduce stress from your life.

Strive to repeat healthy-living positive affirmations to yourself several times each day, and whenever you need encouragement. It will take a bit of time, but, soon enough, you'll find yourself making healthy decisions more and more often." (Sharma)

So now you see why I say losing weight is easier than you think, all you have to do is start thinking positive, then all the other things seem to be less difficult a little bit at a time.

If losing weight is your primary goal, I strongly recommend that you start food journaling.  You can go get a little pocket notebook at the grocery store and just start writing everything down that you eat.  It helps you see what you are eating and it helps develop personal accountability.

Stay tuned next week on the importance of food journaling and tips on making healthy food choices.