Weight Loss Goals: Take the focus away from diet and food|MindFoodNess

Weight loss goals are a very common New Year’s resolutions followed by exercising more and eating healthy to feel and look good. It is number 1 resolution every year. If we were successful at this, why do we set the same goal every year over and over again? There are thousands of books introducing new diets, shakes, pills, nutrition plans, food replacements and strategies out there. We are not short on information and yet, 95% of dieters re-gain their weight back and more.

In fact, something seems to be not working. In fact, nothing seems to be working.

Could it be that the essential puzzle of weight loss is missing? Could it be that diets and the idea of it is fully flawed? Or, is the focus on weight loss the actual problem?

Focusing on weight loss creates pain

When I ask people what they associate with the idea of dieting, they say: hunger, deprivation, no social events, anger, frustration, binge eating, control, obsessive behaviour etc…

To me, any if these sound fun, pleasant or exciting. From psychological point of view, as humans we seek pleasure and avoid pain. So, if dieting is creating pain, isn’t it not a surprise that diets fail?

That’s why I have a different approach which personally allowed me to stop yo-yo dieting, binge eating, and restricting food. At the same time, I am now lighter than I was when I was always dieting. I also see similar results with clients. I believe that we need to focus on what inspires us and set goals that excites us. Imagine your goals like a magnet that pull you towards them. You don’t want to be pushing yourself to achieve your goals as this is never sustainable and will require your will-power.

Creating goals that excite you will give you motivation, rather than requiring will- power. Motivation does not come from willpower. Willpower breaks and falters in the warm trance of the present moment: “maybe I’ll just eat that entire cake.” Motivation comes from progress, self-belief and from the feeling of excitement. Here are some ways to create weight loss goals that excite you and spark change.

Ask yourself WHY you want to lose weight

If you don’t have a strong reason as to why you want to lose weight, it will be difficult to achieve. Your reason for losing weight may be that you’ll feel more attractive, you’ll have more energy or you’ll be more confident. Identify the why, instead of focusing on the weight loss itself. Focus on what you want to achieve. Do you want to be more happy or healthy or feel more sexy? Again, change the focus from weight loss to what you want.

Write it all down

Start off by completing this sentence: “When I lose weight, I will…” and then write it down. Your answers might be: When I lose weight, I will be confident, healthy, active, more intimate with my partner, etc. You see, what you want are those things and weight loss might be a vehicle to get there. To be honest with you, weight loss alone won’t give you any of that. It is only ONE of many more possible vehicles to achieve all of that.

Take the focus away from dieting and restricting

Take your journal out and write down the word: Confidence on top of it. Then make a list of all the things you can do to grow your confidence. Here are my examples: wear my favourite clothes, put make up on, do my hair, get better at (insert your hobby), listen to podcasts, connect with like minded people who like and love you exact the way you are, etc.

Exercise because it feels good and gives you energy – not just to lose weight. If your end goal is to have more energy, write down the things you’re going to do to get there. For example: getting 8 hours sleep, eating more vegetables, moving your body, de stressing and drinking water.

Do you see the difference? When we create an exciting life and work directly on what we truly desire, we start eating less for comfort or because we are bored or lonely. When we feel good, we stop using food for an emotional crutch. We heal and change from inside out.

When we stop judging other people – we stop judging ourselves

Try to stop constantly talking about food, how we look and how other people look. If you find yourself surrounded by people who constantly comment on these topics, whether they be positive or negative, kindly ask them not to speak about it or just change the subject. Why not start focusing on new exciting projects you are currently working on or new experiences you are planning to gain this year? There are so much more topics to talk about other than food, diet and body.

Counter condition ourselves

We get conditioned a lot by the media, so we need to counter condition ourselves. If you are confronted by an image on TV, in a magazine or on social media that triggers you and doesn’t making you feel good about yourself – unfollow the account or stop watching it. Follow people and accounts that make you feel good. There are plenty of social media accounts who promote all kinds of body shapes and present un-edited images.

Are we connected on Instagram? Let’s meet there

If you are done with the constant dieting, restricting and then only end up binge eating and overeating, I would like to invite you to my Food Freedom Formula program. It is a 6 weeks online program to free yourself from binge eating and emotional eating and release excessive weight in the process.