Use Your Mindset to Lose Weight, Get Fit and Be Healthy

Why do some people seem to lose weight easily while others fail year after year?

• Is it genetics? Money? Willpower?

While it’s true these may play a small part, there’s something else that has a much larger role.

• It’s mindset.

And yours may be holding you back.

In this article, we’ll explore the science behind your mindset and underlying philosophy, and show you some proven ways to take action to improve it–so you can finally use your mindset to lose weight, get fit and be healthy.

What Is “Mindset”?

• Mindsets are beliefs about yourself and your most basic qualities.

Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, who wrote a book called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, says there are two different types of mindsets: fixed and growth-oriented.

People with a fixed mindset think talent alone creates success. When faced with a challenge, they tend to take the easy way out to avoid failure and embarrassment. This is a psychological principle known as self-handicapping.

People with a growth mindset believe they can improve their abilities and create successes by working hard, practicing, and learning. They take on challenges even at the risk of failing. They embrace failure because they know they’ll learn valuable lessons from it.

How Mindset Affects Your Health

Research shows your mindset can profoundly impact your life—especially your health. Here are several studies that prove it.

In a study published in the journal Psychological Science, hotel cleaning crews were told that the work they do (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General’s recommendations for an active lifestyle. Subjects in the control group were not given this information. Four weeks later, the first group perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before. As a result, compared with the control group, they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index. Mindset alone caused physiological changes in their body.

In another study published in the journal Health Psychology, participants were divided into two groups. Each group received a 380-calorie milkshake but one group was told they were drinking a 620-calorie “indulgent” shake and the other was told they were drinking a 140-calorie “sensible” shake.

The researchers then measured participants’ levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates your brain to increase appetite.

Those who thought they drank the 620-calorie shake experienced a dramatically steeper decline in ghrelin after consuming the shake. The study authors concluded that “Participants’ satiety was consistent with what they believed they were consuming rather than the actual nutritional value of what they consumed.”

In other words, your mindset about a particular food can affect your hunger and levels of fullness. If your mind tells your body you’re drinking a “skinny” shake, you won’t feel as full. You CAN use your mindset to lose weight, get fit and be healthy.

Finally, in a study published in the journal Clinical Psychology Review that looked at the science of optimism, researchers found that an optimistic mindset can lead to better health outcomes too—optimistic people tend to be healthier on average.

How to Change Your Philosophy and Mindset

So the science clearly tells us that your mindset can have a dramatic impact on your health. The question is, how do you change a mindset that may be holding you back?

This is what Dweck suggests in her book:

Step 1. Recognize fixed mindset thinking.

Even if you have a growth mindset, that pesky little fixed mindset voice will sneak its way in once in a while. You know … the one that produces these types of thoughts:

• “I have bad genes, there’s no way I can lose that much weight.”
• “What if I fail?”
• “I don’t want to embarrass myself.”
• “I don’t have the willpower to stick with a healthy diet.”
• “I’m just not as smart/lucky/talented.”

When this happens, simply recognize and accept it. Then do this …

Step 2. Reframe negative, fixed mindset thinking with a growth mindset voice.

Once you recognize a fixed mindset thought, you have a choice: believe those negative thoughts … or reframe them. For example:

• “No excuses this time … I’m getting started.”
• “If I fail, it’s okay. Great accomplishments don’t happen without risk.”
• “Forget diets. I’ll take it slow and making eating healthy a lifestyle.”
• “If I don’t know how to do something, I’ll learn.”

Step 3. Take action.

Once you reframe a fixed mindset thought, the next step is to take action.

Here are some strategies that will help you:

1. Write it down. One of the most effective ways to improve your philosophy and mindset is to keep a journal or planner. Use it to capture your thoughts, plan your day, and track your goals. For example, here’s what I do:

• At the start of every day I write a positive quote at the top of my daily planner (today’s quote is “Life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it”).
• Next, I write down everything I plan to do over the course of the day to accomplish my goals (for example, “Write new blog post, network with 3 people, lift weights for 45 minutes, find recipe for healthy dinner”).
• Then, I evaluate what I accomplished at the end of each day.

Writing things down feels good, and it’s proven to help you cultivate positive mental and physical changes in your body. In one study, participants wrote for 20 minutes each day for three consecutive days about either a positive life experience or a control topic.

Three months later, the students who wrote about positive experiences had improved physical health and higher levels of focus—just from writing about it. That’s powerful stuff. If you want to change your mindset, write.

2. Embrace learning. We all consume massive amounts of information every day. You have a choice whether that information helps you or holds you back. Checking your Facebook page 10 times a day may be mindless fun, but what if you spent that time reading books that helped you cultivate a growth mindset?

I recommend Mind Is The Master by James Allen, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, and Make Today Count by John Maxwell. Even if you don’t like to read, buy audio books and listen to them while you drive. Imagine the impact those books and others you’re interested in can have on your mindset over time.

3. Take calculated risks. Whether you want to start your own business or get in the best shape of your life, ask yourself this question: will you be better off by never starting or by taking a chance and risking failing?

It’s an easy answer. Embrace failure. Because it will give you the most valuable feedback in the world. The foundation of the growth mindset is the ability to learn from your failures and become a person who continuously improves.

On Carol Dweck’s website, she says, “Although people may differ in every which way—in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments – everyone can change and grow through application and experience.”

In other words, your mindset is like a muscle: the more you use it to both learn and focus on positive thoughts, the stronger it becomes.

Dream big but start small. Focus on your mindset first and you will open doors to anything and everything you want to accomplish in life….perhaps starting with losing weight, getting fit and being healthy.

Source

4 Ways to Train Your Brain for Weight Loss

Is your brain ready for your body to lose weight? The brain is often one of the single biggest obstacles to shedding fat. Train that brain for losing weight with these 4 tips designed to put you in a positive, weight-dropping state of mind:

#1 Change your mindset.

The word diet often creates a negative mindset. You might pine for all those “yummy” foods you feel you’re being deprived or groan over the effort that goes into a calorie-burning workout. The negativity makes it harder to stick to the plan and achieve long-lasting success.  Tell yourself, before your feet hit the floor each morning, “I so excited to start my day with exercise and some clean eating foods”, and mean it! 

Changing your life is about making a positive lifestyle change. It’s not about what you can’t have—it’s about feeling rested when you wake up, feeling strong and confident, being healthier than you’ve ever been. Start seeing positive results with this 4 Step Weight Loss Challenge.

#2 Create a vision board.

Sometimes the brain needs a little nudge—give yours a poke in the form of a vision board. A vision board is a place where you put images of the life you want. If you want a more active life, post pics of the activities you would like to do, whether it’s ski the black diamond course or learn to surf.  Do you dream of hitting the beach with a swim suit that reveals beautiful summer abs and toned & defined arms? Both can be yours. Pick up a fitness magazine  and cut out pics of how you want your body to look. Pin the pics to your vision board and the seed is planted.  Here are three workouts to kickstart your vision, Summer Arms, Summer Abs, and Summer Butt.

Have you ever envisioned yourself running in marathon but the thought of getting started was way too overwhelming?  Perhaps our program Running for Absolute Beginners will get you motivated.  Be sure to add a pic to your vision board and then hit the street running.

Put images where you can see them often, so they remind your brain of those goals. Post pictures on the fridge with magnets or create a vision board using Pinterest. Find inspiration on the Skinny Ms. Pinterest boards.

#3 Take baby steps.

The idea of losing a chunk of weight is intimidating. It can make the brain whine “How much do you want me lose?! Inconceivable!” Take the intimidation factor out of weight loss by taking small, can-do steps. Perhaps the first step is to eat healthy snacks instead of junky ones for the next two weeks. Or maybe you commit to doing these 3 Workouts for Getting Awesome Abs every week for the next month.

Small goals are easier to achieve—and each time you reach one, you’ll gain more confidence. That confidence will allow you to make another healthy lifestyle change, and then another, and before you know it you’ll look and feel better than you have in years.

#4 Be kind to yourself.

You’re going to backtrack sometimes. Everyone does. For example, you might find you tossed healthy eating overboard during a cruise, or an extended hours at work forced you to cut back on workout time.

But what’s important—really, really important—is that you get back on track. Throwing your hands in the air and saying “I’m giving up!” won’t make you feel any better. So forgive yourself for slip-ups, and then resume your good-living habits. If you’ve really gotten off track and need quick results, try the 6 Week Emergency Makeover Program, which comes with the diet and fitness tools you need to feel fab fast.

You deserve a body that’s healthy. You deserve a body that’s fit. Train your brain to help you get there.

Source
http://skinnyms.com/4-ways-to-train-your-brain-for-weight-loss/

6 WAYS YOUR BRAIN CAN HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT

Your mind can be your most powerful asset when it comes to making positive lifestyle changes.

If you are determined to lose weight and make permanent changes to your lifestyle – when it comes to both food and exercise – your brain has to make a commitment to assist in being positive and enjoy the benefits of these changes.

Here are some tips for getting your head in the game.

1. If you think you can, you will. The most important step in losing weight is believing in yourself. You can conquer a weight problem. Give yourself time, and realise that your new attitudes and behaviours will take practice and continued attention. As they say, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ – there will be slips along the way, but your resolve has to be strong to overcome these and move forwards.

2. Never eat just to eat. You must feel hungry in your stomach. Analyse your hunger cues so that you are in tune with your body. Once you begin paying attention to how you are feeling before and after you eat, you can make changes in what and how much you eat according to your hunger.

3. Be conscious of what you are eating. Mindful eating means being aware of what and how much you are eating. Give yourself permission to sit down, focus on your food (or drink), eat slowly, chew your food, enjoy each mouthful and register when you are satisfied and stop eating.

4. Focus on the positive outcomes rather than just what the scales are telling you. You may be feeling happier with your food choices, your reduced alcohol intake, reduced portions, feeling better in your clothes, starting to exercise – all these things deserve recognition as they create continued motivation. Making permanent sustainable change is essential. Getting healthy is not an end goal. Life is not like that. It is about your mind helping you navigate the good times and the bad times. The goal is to be more knowledgeable about food, make healthy choices and enjoy food in the correct amount. A ‘bad’ day is just part of the journey – nothing more.

5. Identify your triggers. Everyone who is trying to lose weight has obstacles in their lives that can make achieving success difficult. Once you identify these personal challenges, you can develop a plan to overcome them. For instance, confrontation and family issues are common triggers. Using your anger or frustration as an excuse to eat is just a form of self-punishment – and what did you do to deserve that? Think of another outlet – exercising, bathing or telling people how you feel are better strategies.

6. Wake up every day and feel great – naturally! Exercise allows your brain to think more clearly, and the brain underpins your success. The more exercise you do, the faster you will see results, and the better you will feel both emotionally and physically.

Source
http://www.medibank.com.au/bemagazine/post/wellbeing/6-ways-your-brain-can-help-you-lose-weight/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=brain%20weight%20loss