When it comes to weight loss, most of us focus on meal plans, workouts, and calorie counts. But the biggest barriers to success aren't on our plates or in the gym. Often, it’s our mindset that holds us back.
Real Talk: you can have all the food and fitness knowledge in the world, but if your mindset is the hot mess express, sooner or later you'll struggle.
Our thoughts, beliefs, and patterns of thinking can create invisible roadblocks that make lasting progress feel impossible. These mindset traps can sabotage our efforts before we even begin or lead us to give up just when we’re on the verge of a breakthrough.
The good news? Once you identify these traps, you can break free from them and finally achieve the results you’re working so hard for!
Let's explore five common mindset traps that block weight loss and the simple strategies to overcome them. If you’ve ever felt stuck, frustrated, or like you’re fighting an uphill battle, read on. We're about to shift the focus and unlock the mental tools needed for your true transformation.
Where to START?
You may have heard weight loss starts in the kitchen or the gym, but in reality weight loss starts in the mind. Think about it, what got you in that kitchen or gym: your MIND. It stared with a choice to eat healthier or to get yourself to the gym. Your mind dictates your action (or lack thereof), which is why you cannot and will not achieve lasting weight loss until you get your mindset on board. When we talk about “willpower” and “motivation,” we’re really talking about your mental game. And the truth is in order to live healthier, you've to get your mindset healthier too.
What kind of mindset blocks keep you from losing weight, and keeping it off?
1. Poor Body Image. A poor body image has been proven to keep people from fully committing to weight loss. Basically, if you don’t feel good about yourself, you're much more likely to give up before you reach your goal. To improve your body image, try focusing on your best quality - are you a great mom, partner, sister, friend. Practice grooming and quality self-care. You don't have to be at your goal weight to drink more water, eat nourishing foods and put on clothes that make you feel good from the inside out. Be as kind to yourself as you are to others.
2. Emotional Eating. This is a BIG one. If you're looking to food to soothe and comfort you in times of stress, disappointment and overwhelm, you're eating your feelings. And it typically leads to one place: weight gain. Done repeatedly, it quickly becomes a habit, and before you know it you're reaching for the food and halfway through a bag of chips or tub of ice cream before you realize what's even happening. To reduce emotional eating, you’ve got to first raise awareness when it's happening, then second redirect that energy into healthier places. Start to notice when emotional eating is most often occurring, then identify a few healthier alternatives such as journaling, going for a walk, or listening to an audiobook or podcast, to help you retrain your brain to create healthier habits.
3. Comparing Yourself to Others. Simply put, when you compare yourself to others, you'll almost always lose. Occasionally, comparisons can boost your ego or motivate you to work a little harder, but more often than not, the comparison game results in a disastrous attack on your own self-confidence and self-worth. Instead, focus on your journey and stay in your lane. It's easy to judge others based on what we see on the surface, but the truth is you really never know how well or easy someone else's journey is, what they do or don't struggle with or all the steps they're taking to get there. Which is why comparing your journey, or worse outcomes, to others is just a big waste time. Your journey is YOUR journey.
4. Making Yourself Low Priority. Even the flight attendant will tell you before you help others, you must put on your own oxygen mask first. For years you might have been focused on caring for everyone but yourself, and eventually that "lack" of self-care catches up with you. The sooner you learn to make YOU a priority, the sooner you'll find you're able to show up better in all areas of your life. Self-care is not selfish, it's necessary. When you take conscious actions to prioritize and support your physical, mental, and emotional health, you, and those around you, will be better off for it.
5. Lack of Belief. If you don’t believe you can live healthier and lose the weight, you probably won’t. When you don't believe in yourself, your abilities, or your worth, you'll quickly find a million excuses to avoid and skip out on healthy habits. You'll consistently find "reasons" you can't take action and show up for yourself. And the moments when you do step up and take action, you'll quickly talk yourself out of any progress you might have made. Basically, your self-talk and follow through will suck. You'll be your own worst critic, constantly looking for what's going wrong and "evidence" that you'll never reach your goals. Think about it, if you're constantly thinking things like, "I don't have time," "I'm too old," or "I can't stop eating ____," the truth is you'll find all sorts of opportunities to sabotage your goals, not support them. The saying really rings true: if you believe it, you can achieve it.
Yes, it all comes back to your MIND.
To push through those mindset blocks and create a new and empowering narrative, you’ve got to learn how to love and appreciate yourself now. And that means getting to know yourself, to start seeing yourself as you really are (not the worst version of you), and be willing to treat yourself the way you would a cherished friend or a loved one - with compassion and kindness. It means identifying your strengths and leaning into them, recognizing you're worth, and connecting to the core of who you are and who you really want to be. Because trust me when I tell you, you can have the worst day of your life and it will not magically be made better because you're in a smaller pant size.
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