Resetting your mindset to positive

With 15.6m Instagram posts dedicated to positivity, it seems the whole world is jumping on the ‘PMA’ bandwagon and for good reason. Science supports the belief that our thoughts and actions may play a bigger role in our health and wellbeing. Research has shown that positive thinkers can*:

  • Cope better with stress
  • Have improved immunity
  • Have an increased lifespan
  • Make you more resilient

But what is the role of positive thinking in your weight loss journey? Negative thoughts about our weight leads us to succumb to cravings and to skip our daily exercise in addition to punishing ourselves if we suffer a setback. On the other hand, positive thoughts can increase our motivation, enabling us to implement the healthy lifestyle changes to keep us on track to achieving our goals.

However, changing our mindset isn’t a quick overnight fix, it requires daily dedication to rewire a negative mindset. Here are our top tips for resetting it to positive:

Practise positive affirmations

Affirmations are proven methods of self-improvement because of their ability to rewire our brains though breaking negative thought patterns, and pushing our brain to form new clusters of positive thoughts.

There are plenty of weight loss affirmations, but a few of our favourites are:

  • My journey is about feeling strong, confident and healthy
  • My body is getting stronger and healthier each day
  • Believe in yourself
  • You’re one day closer to your goal.

Take a few deep breaths to relax, and simply say your affirmations slowly and clearly. Repeat these 3-5 times, really focusing on the meaning of each word. Alternatively, write these on cards and put them in your kitchen or by your bedside so you can keep referring to them.

 Keep a Gratitude diary

At the end of each day, write down three good things that happened to you. It could be having a lovely conversation with a stranger, enjoying a walk or someone paying you a compliment. We tend to naturally focus on what goes wrong in our daily lives, so by writing a gratitude diary, it retrains your brain to focus on all the positives. 

Celebrate your wins

As you progress through your weight loss journey, always remember to celebrate each victory. Next time you achieve your goals, why not treat yourself to a self-care treatment e.g. a massage, go to the cinema or even donate your old clothes. Through celebrating each achievement, it reinforces how well you’re doing, giving you the positive motivation to keep going.

Visualise your best possible self

Visualisation is an incredibly powerful tool in helping you stick to your new lifestyle plan.

Each night before you go to sleep, visualise how you want to be; healthier, stronger, happier and more confident. This mental trick helps you imagine how good it’ll feel when you reach your goals, and you’ll be surprised to see that you’ll naturally start adopting the healthier habits to reach your visualised ‘self’.

Make positive changes in your life

There are lots of way to add positivity to our daily lives. These include spending time outside e.g. doing an outdoor exercise class or going for a steady run, volunteering and spending time with someone less fortunate, practising deep breathing/meditation to reduce stress and spending time with friends and family.

Counter negative self-talk

Finally, an important tool to counter negative self-talk is to not block out these thoughts completely as that will create unnecessary pressure to always think positively, but instead to evaluate it rationally and reframe it with a positive one. Here are some examples:

Negative thoughts                   Positive thoughts

I’ve never done it before          It’s an opportunity to try something new

I’ll never lose the weight          I’ll implement a healthier lifestyle and will gradually lose it

I’ll fail                                        I’ll follow the plan I’ve been given and take it a day at a time

I’m scared of exercise               I’ll find an exercise that suits me and will get better over time

We’d love to hear from you on how you’ve added a dose of positivity to your lives.