How to Change Your Mindset to Lose Weight

Wanting to lose weight and finding the motivation to lose weight are two completely separate ideas. Although you may want to achieve a healthier weight, you might find it hard to change your mindset. In order to get yourself moving and start a weight-loss program, you need to find personal motivation and discover why you truly want to slim down.

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Step 1

Weigh yourself first thing in the morning to find out your current weight. Compare this to what a healthy weight for your height should be. You may discover that you are at a healthy weight, overweight or more overweight than you suspected.

Step 2

List the reasons you want to lose weight. Think about how you feel when you go swimming, being able to be active with your children or feeling more confident about yourself. Dig deep and look for the personal reasons you want to have a healthy weight.

Step 3

Consider how being overweight can jeopardize your health. People who are overweight are at a higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. These are life-threatening diseases that can be prevented with weight loss.

Step 4

Get support from your family and friends. Share your goals with people you trust to build you up and help you along the way. Ask if anyone wants to join you during workouts for added support.

Step 5

Develop a plan based on your goals. Write down the time, place, duration and activity you want to perform each day for exercise. Seeing a plan can help you to believe it is achievable and manageable.

Step 6

Think of ways to reward yourself for losing weight. Make small goals for every 2 to 5 lbs. you lose and one large reward for when you reach the finish line. You could treat yourself to a new article of clothing, a day at the spa or your favorite treat or go to a movie.

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Comment below if you found this helpful ,and let me know if you want any more help or information on mindset to help increase weight loss.


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How to lose weight & the importance of mindset

It's so easy to get stuck thinking about your weight; how to lose it, how to keep it off, and even for some; how to gain it.  Whether you're a man, woman or teenager, we've all compared ourselves to billboards and fit-stagrammers. Our image-focused society focuses on appearance so much, it can seem inescapable. 

What actually works to help you lose weight?

Comparing yourself to others and shaming yourself every time you stray from your diet or workout regime is a bad habit, and leads to overeating, bad self-esteem, binging, trying crazy unrealistic diets and ensures a lifetime of fluctuating weight. But for some reason, we all do it.

Instead of focusing purely on weight loss though, it's been found that focusing on a positive outcome like better health is way more effective for long-term weightloss. Now's the time to stop making yourself feel bad about your weight, and start focusing on the end goal: Living a happier, healthier life. 

Focus on healthy habits for long term weight loss

When you focus too much on any outcome, you get exhausted along the way. If you focus on day-to-day goals though, you'll find you reach the same outcome without all the worry. Let's be honest though, it's easy to say you want to lose weight, but harder to stick to your strategies. So instead of putting excessive pressure on yourself like banning yourself from eating cheese and saying you'll run 15 kms every day, make your day-to-day goals more achievable. 

Instead of these negative goals:

- I'll fit into my skinny jeans in 4 weeks

- I won't eat carbs for 2 months

Try these positive, achievable, measurable goals

- I'll try to eat 5 veggies everyday

- I'll get moving for 30 minutes 5 days a week, even if it's just a walk down the street and back.

- I'll find new healthy recipes and plan 3 meals each week (leaving less time to eat fast food)

- I'll eat vegetarian meals 5 out of 7 days

- I'll have 5 alcohol-free nights a week

The goals above are weight-loss strategies disguised as wellness strategies! By aiming to enhance your health, you approach weight loss in a positive way rather than from a negative, self-punishing angle.

Goal setting & Technology

One of the best things about technology is it's ability to change our behaviour with cool apps and programs and this works for weight loss and wellness too. My favourite for goals setting is WOOP: Where you set a wish, outcome, obstacle and a plan. 

Eg. Wish: To be lighter and healthier

Outcome: I'll feel more confident in my own skin & with my partner

Obstacle: I don't have enough time to shop and cook healthy food

Plan: (when I encounter my obstacle, I'll....)

eg. When I don't have enough time to cook and shop for healthy food I'll...

-Order a weeks' worth of veggies and groceries online, and prepare 3 quick, healthy meals to freeze for the week.

The Woop app is an evidence-based way to stick to your goals, and find actionable ways to make them happen. There are plenty of other fitness and goal-setting apps, but I think Woop seems more authentic. It works with you and your mindset rather than using financial motivation, like apps such as Pact. It's amazing how goals pop into your head when you're using the app - things you didn't even know were important to you. 

Goal setting doesn't have to be a mission

The term goal setting sounds like boring terminology used in stuffy conference rooms and tedious hour-long meetings; but it doesn't have to be. Change the word 'goal' to 'ways for me to be healthier,' and the focus and accountability comes back to you. 

Weight loss for health not looks

Another important weight loss mindset change: Remember being in a healthy weight range is better for your body, it's not about looking a certain way. Carrying extra weight around your tummy is directly linked to heart problems, while generally carrying extra weight is hard on your joints and can accelerate osteoarthritis and joint degeneration.

What do you think are important aspects of weight loss?

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The #1 Thing You MUST DO To Lose Weight and Keep it off

In the 4 + years since I started my weight loss journey I learned quite a bit about what it takes to lose weight and keep it off. Some lessons I recognized quickly while others took me a little bit longer to see. And, even though, I have a lot of knowledge in my weight loss arsenal I am positive there is still much more I can learn.

So far, these are my top weight loss lessons.

• Tracking food. This has been the cornerstone to my weight loss. I use My Fitness Pal to keep track of my daily calories, nutrition, exercise, and weight loss goals. Read here if you are curious why I don’t use Weight Watchers.

• Meal Planning. Taking the time to meal plan provides me with the road map and structure I need to stay on track with my food. However, meal planning is not always easy. So, instead of struggling I use Plan to Eat to streamline the process. Now meal planning is not an issue. The lesson learned here is don’t try to do things alone all the time. There are plenty of affordable services that can help.

• Make ahead meals. Preparing my foods ahead of time makes it easier to eat healthy during the week. Simple yet powerful concept. I am more likely to eat the foods I plan when I take the time to food prep.

• Clean(er) eating. Eating clean(er) foods makes me feel good, especially green smoothies. My body feels nourished and I feel focused.

• Strength training makes all the difference. A flat tummy and defined arms are not going to be the result of running 3-4 miles a day. However, I love to run – it keeps me focused and sane – so I keep it a part of my exercise routine.

• Keeping an exercise schedule that works. Exercising in the morning is the way to go for me. If I don’t exercise in the morning it won’t happen.

Each strategy plays a huge role in my weight loss journey. There are many more but there is one thing that trumps them all. Something that only occurred to me recently. Want to know what it is?

Consistency. Yep, I need to stay consistent. Consistency is the #1 thing you ABSOLUTELY MUST do to lose weight and keep it off.

Simple? Yes. Common sense? Probably. Is it the reason I did not get results years ago? I am going to go with YES. I now know that all of those weight loss strategies work but only when I am consistently using them.

To lose weight and keep it off I can’t meal plan sometimes, track food when I feel like it, eat clean food on occasion, or work out when time allows. No I need to consistently make all those strategies a part of my everyday lifestyle. That is the only way to change habits, lose weight, and keep it off.

Looking back, I can’t tell you the number of times I would start and stop an exercising routine. It seems like I was on a bi-monthly rotation. Some months it was like I was training for an iron man marathon while other months I was training more for a Keeping Up With the Kardashians marathon on E. Ha! Don’t judge we all have our guilty pleasures. It was the same with food. I would throw myself into salads and grilled chicken for a week or so only to binge on pizza and pasta the next. Basically, my lack of consistency is the #1 reason I never experienced weight loss.

I remember having thoughts like “If I only kept exercising I would feel comfortable in my summer clothes” or “If I kept up with running and eating healthy I would be able to wear that dress” or “If I stopped eating so much junk all the time I would feel better going on vacation” and I am sure many other thoughts like this entered my mind.

Now I can say “you know what Tammy, you were right”. If you stayed consistent with healthy eating habits and exercise yes you would be comfortable in summer clothes, be able to wear that dress, and feel better going on vacation. And I can say that now because I have lost the weight and know exactly what it feels like to be confident and happy in my own skin. I lost the weight by staying consistent with my weight loss efforts. I kept going!

Consistency is key!

Staying consistent is important because it provides you with the time you need to build new habits and see the results of your hard work. It takes about 3-4 weeks to implement a new habit. Sometimes this can take even longer when you are trying to replace bad ones. You are not going to change habits or see results overnight. One day of drinking smoothies, tracking food, running, squats, and sit-ups will not get you bikini ready. Not even one week of doing those things every single day will do the trick. Unfortunately, that is not how it works. In most cases, it takes a few weeks to see any physical results. That’s just the way it is and the reason it is so important to stay consistent with your efforts. Don’t get me wrong you will feel better and see some changes but if you are looking to drop 50 pounds and 4 dresses sizes in a week that won’t happen.

Inconsistency can be very frustrating when trying to lose weight. It can feel like you are “giving up” causing you to feel defeated with the entire weight loss process. I often here people say “that didn’t work for me”. Well, first of all that can’t make you lose weight. Only YOU can make you lose weight.

Second, you have to give yourself enough time and stay consistent. Weight loss is a process filled with many hills, valleys, curves, and even ditches. If you keep going despite all of these challenges you will build and sustain new healthier habits and see the results of your hard work.

What does consistency look like?

Consistency means stability, regularity, and dependability. It means you know what to do and expect day after day.

Here are some tasks you can do every week to stay consistent with creating a healthier lifestyle and losing weight.

• Plan your meals. I recommend setting time aside during the week to create a meal plan and grocery list so when you have time to shop you are ready to go. Make sure to plan for all meals and snacks. If you eat 5 times a days you need to know what those meals will be. You can view all my meal plans here.

• Weekend food prep. I have said this a million times but I will say it again. It is so much easier to eat healthy when healthy food is available. You don’t need to spend an entire weekend prepping food but it will be in your best interest to set some time aside. Even a little food prep will make a difference. Here is a beginners guide to food prep I wrote if you are looking for more information.

• Exercise 3 to 4 times a week. You don’t need to exercise every day nor do your routines need to be trainings for the Tough Mudder or marathons. However, to lose weight you will need to incorporate exercise in some fashion. I think it is important to get in the habit of exercising 3-4 times a week. Don’t feel like you need to join a gym. You can easily exercise in the comfort of your own living room. The key is to create a schedule that works for you. There are tons of home exercise routine posted here. If you need some tips on starting a morning exercise routine then check here.

• Track your food every day. Don’t be discouraged or overwhelmed by tracking food. I know it can seem tedious – and sometimes it is – but it will work to hold you accountable. To make it 100 times easier use a website and/or app like My Fitness Pal. I am telling ya that website was a game changer for me. Here is a post to help you get the most out of my fitness pal.

• Get and stay organized. I truly believe that an organized life is a happier life – at least it is for me. Trust me, I am not OCD organized in any way shape or form. However, I will say when I take the time to write a to do list, keep my calendar updated, and my house from looking like a bomb went off I feel better, happier, and much more focused. Staying organized keeps you out of the “hot zones” and frees up time and mental energy to keep you moving forward on all your goals, including weight loss goals. Here is one of my favorite posts I put together on this topic called 7 Things You Can Do to Lose Weight that Don’t Include Food or Exercise.

The best way to stay consistent week after week is to be intentional and plan, plan, and plan. Don’t expect to create and stick with new habits if you are flying by the seat of your pants every day. Take time every day to think about what you want to accomplish. Then write it down and keep it visible. Take time to review it every morning and night. This helps to reflect, make adjustments, and see progress. Personally, one of the most important things I do daily is write out a to do list. Without that list I am lost soul trying to figure out what to do next.

The biggest challenge to staying consistent is life happens. There is always something getting in the way of eating healthy, working out, cleaning, or doing anything we need to do. For this reason, it is important to focus consistently on habits and lifestyle instead of quick fixes and unrealistic diets. When you do this it is easier to get back on track (instead of starting over) with your goals when life gets in the way.

Again, weight loss is a journey and a process. It never ends – even when you reach your goal weight. It is about creating healthier habits, routines, and staying consistent with them. Consistency makes all the difference between results and regret. So keep going!

Source
http://www.organizeyourselfskinny.com/2015/04/16/the-1-thing-you-must-do-to-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off/

8 Training Tips for Your First Marathon or Half-Marathon

1. Tell People

This makes you accountable. Tell everyone who will listen, says Joe Donovan, a Milwaukee runner who wrote the Essential Guide to Training for Your First Marathon.

"Only when you tell other people is it real," he says. It became a topic of conversation and support among his fiancée (now his wife) and co-workers, which helped him stick to his training.

The first person to tell is your doctor -- you want to make sure you’re OK to run long distances.

2. Set a Specific Goal

It's not as simple as saying your goal is to finish 13.1 miles (a half-marathon) or 26.2 (a full marathon), says Cathy Fieseler, MD, a veteran marathoner and ultra-distance runner.

Ask yourself why you’re running the race, she says. "Do you have a time goal? Are you trying to qualify for [the Boston marathon]? Are you doing it in memory of someone? Because you’re turning 40?"

Figuring that out, she says, will guide your training plan. For instance, if you're running in memory of someone, you may not care about how long it takes you. But if you want to finish within 4 hours, you might need a different program.

3. Make a Plan

You need a nuts-and-bolts training plan. You can get that online, or from a running coach, running club, or running publications.

If you're easily running 3 or 4 miles at a time now, plan to train for about 3 months before a half-marathon and about 5 months before a full marathon, says Todd Galati, an American Council on Exercise spokesman.

Your plan should be realistic. "I don't think you need to run every single day," Fieseler says. "Figure out what works for your life."

4. Don't Overdo It

Don't add miles too quickly, Galati says. The established rule is not to boost your miles by more than 10% per week.

Doing speed work can improve your times. For instance, run faster than usual for an interval of time, then drop back to your slower pace, and repeat. But don't increase mileage, do speed work, and tackle hills all at once, he says. That's too much.

Speed work can make you faster, ''but it also ups the risk of injury," Fieseler says, especially as you age. Be aware of the trade-off, she says.

5. Go With the Flow

Late nights at work, sick kids -- it’s inevitable that you’ll have some off days. No one sticks to the training plan perfectly, Galati says.

"Accept bad runs during training," he says. "As the average-to-good runs become more frequent, the bad runs become easier to tolerate."

Injuries can happen, too. But if you have a reasonable plan for running, nutrition, and rest, you're more likely to stay injury-free.

6. Monitor Your Heart Rate

Enthusiasm is good, but there's a downside: overtraining.

"Check your resting heart rate every morning," Galati says. "If you see a big jump, you’re probably overtraining."

If your morning heart rate is normally 60, for instance, and goes up to 61 or 62, no big deal, he says. But if it goes from 60 to 72, back off and recover, he says.

7. Mimic Race Day

During training, "replicate the race experience," Donovan says. That is, get used to the conditions you'll face on race day.

Check out the racecourse ahead of time. Is it hilly? Will the race team be serving a sports drink or water?

Never wear new shoes, socks, or shorts on race day. Wear something you know is comfortable because you've trained in it.

8. Run With Attitude

Positive thinking from the start is crucial, Fieseler says. Tune out any negative talk you're likely to hear on the course -- and you may hear grumbling, moaning, maybe even swearing.

Replace all of that with positive visualization. Suppose you’ve checked out the course ahead of time, and you know that mile 5 begins to get hilly. When you begin the race, visualize yourself building energy from the start and not struggling at all once the hill arrives.

Then, as you run, Fieseler says to think positive thoughts, such as, "I'm defeating this hill; it isn't defeating me."

Source
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/marathon-training-tips-for-beginners

WebMD Feature

Article Sources

SOURCES:

Joe Donovan, author, Essential Guide to Training for Your First Marathon, 
JulianJohn Publishing, 2009.

Cathy Fieseler, MD, marathoner, Tyler, TX.

Ryan Lamppa, spokesman, Running USA.

Megan Alexander, runner, San Diego.

Todd Galati, spokesman, American Council on Exercise, San Diego.

Julie Lang, runner, Long Branch, NJ.

© 2010 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.

5 Simple Steps to Setting Goals and Achieving Them

Goal setting. It’s something that everyone tries to do, but only a few people can actually make it work. The challenge most people face is committing themselves to the desired outcome they like to have. As soon the journey begins, obstacles and hurdles come up, and this is where most people end up quitting. Goal setting doesn’t have to be that way. With a few simple tips and tricks, you can make goal setting work for you.

Brian Tracy wrote a great overview on goal setting in his book Flight Plan. He uses an analogy of a flight to explain the process of goal setting for personal success. Most flights will be off-course but they all reach their destination. Along the way the pilot has to deal with turbulence, crosswinds, storms, and lightning, which force him to make adjustments throughout the journey. That’s exactly how in real life goal setting works. You know your destination and you work towards it, but inevitably you have to make adjustments along the way.

This is where time management comes in. Your time management skills will determine how well you adjust and thus how fast you will reach your goals. Remember, productivity is the time you spend working towards your goals. When you make adjustments, are they aligned with your goals? For most people, knowing the destination is not the problem. What holds most people back is charting the destination, making the right adjustments, and sticking to it.

Here are some simple tips and tricks to make sure you reach your goals. In fact, you can break it down in five simple steps.

1. Determine what you want to achieve.
2. Break down how you will get there.
3. Write it down.
4. Make it stick.
5. Do one thing every day that brings you closer to your goals.

1. Determine what you want to achieve

This is the easiest part of goal setting. Just ask yourself, “What is it that I would like to achieve within one year?” One year is enough time to make a big goal a reality. To make it easy for yourself, stick to one big goal. If you have no clue where to start, pick one goal in one of the following areas of life:

• Health
• Wealth
• Relationships
• Happiness

2. Break down how you will get there

After you have determined what you would like to achieve, it gets more challenging. This is also the step where most people fall off the bandwagon. How are you planning to make your goal a reality? You need concrete steps to get to your destination. To fly from point A to B, you need to know the route. The same idea applies to goal setting.

A lot of people have the goal of becoming “a millionaire”, but then have no clue how to become one. Or someone wants to have a body like Zeus, but is clueless on what to do. That’s why new years resolutions do not work, because it is just wishful thinking. You need clarity (one of the essential productivity mindsets) by having the steps outlined.

Figure out your game plan. Start with the end in mind and break down backwards the steps it takes to reach your goal.

3. Write it down

To go from wishful thinking to actually achieving your goals, you need to write down your commitments. You have to tell your brain that you are serious about this endeavor by making it think there is an investment level. As humans, once we have invested into something, we hate losing our investment and we will do anything to keep it. By writing down your goals and steps, you have clarity but also you’re telling your brain “Hey, see, this is important to me and I’m investing in it so let’s not drop the ball on this.”

From my experience, writing it down on paper or on a whiteboard gives a stronger effect than typing it. So write down your goals and steps.

4. Make it stick

The destination is known, the map is clear, and the route is defined. All you have to do now is stick to the game plan. Unfortunately, this is another hurdle for most people that end up quitting on achieving their goals. The big key here is to keep reminding yourself of the goals you want to achieve. That statement is worth repeating.

Keep reminding yourself of the goals you want to achieve.

This is the process you want to keep up because it gives you momentum to keep going. Motivation is a limited resource but it can be fabricated to help you stay on your path. Reminding yourself every day helps with this process. In fact, make it inevitable so you get reminded every day of your goal and you can do that by setting up your environment. Here are five tips to help you making it stick.

• Setup motivation pages. Look at these every day. If you want to be a real Efficient Asian, you make it part of your morning ritual.
• Surround yourself with the right people that align with your goals. The closest people to you have a major impact on your productivity. Make sure they are conducive to you.
• Create your ecosystem that is aligned with your goals. Your environment, besides the people, also help making it stick. See #8 of our 10 essential productivity mindsets.
• Create a desktop background on your laptop or computer with the desired outcomes.
• On your whiteboard (if you don’t have one, you should get one), write down your big goals.

Setup your environment so that it is inevitable that you will never lose your eye on the prize. This does not take a lot of effort but will dramatically increase your chances of succeeding.

5. Do one thing every day that brings you closer to your goals

How do you make sure that you will reach your goals? Work on your them every single day. Yes, every single day. No matter if it is only ten minutes or two hours. Work on your goals every single day so it is inevitable you will get what you want. Use the compound effect in your favor; the earlier you start, the bigger the changes become as time goes by. And the more time you spend working towards your goals, the faster you will achieve them. If you want to be an Efficient Asian, you make them your most important tasks.

That is really it to goal setting. Implement these 5 simple steps and you will get what you desire. Let me ask you this, what are some of your goals you want to achieve? Leave a comment behind and we will help you achieve them.

Source
http://www.asianefficiency.com/goals/5-steps-setting-goals/