When I say “healthy mindset” or “healthy weight loss” or “healthy weight management”, what does that mean to you? What images come to mind? What tasks or activities does it entail?
When you consider the fact that most people in the western world are overweight or are actively trying to lose weight, these notions become really important.
One of my biggest concerns lies in all the myths around weight loss. There are real reasons people attempt to lose weight only to end up gaining more back. Once you understand what these myths are, it actually makes sense why so many people stay in the weight loss struggle and can’t seem to find their way out of this never-ending loop. This is so frustrating!
In an effort to be healthy, people are actually hurting their metabolism and changing their hormones to the point that it becomes impossible to stay at a healthy weight. Let’s change that.
Let’s actually walk through the steps that have to come into play in order for you to finally achieve a healthy weight, without following yet another diet, and without ruining your metabolism. Let’s look at why it’s so hard to stay healthy and what we can do about it. Let’s start with the 3 Steps needed to shift your perspective on health.
Step 1. Mindset
The absolute most important step in any attempt to lose weight or be healthier is to adopt the right mindset. This is the difference between the person who can navigate their healthy habits for the long-term versus the one who keeps sliding back into old behaviors.
What is the right mindset? Simply put, it’s believing you are worth it. It’s recognizing your importance and your perfection just the way you are.
In all my years of experience I have yet to meet the person who attains happiness by reaching a certain weight. When you find happiness inside your own self-worth, then you will lose the weight. When you find joy and peace with wherever you are in your journey, then you will reach your goals. It’s truly amazing how with the right mindset, your health and weight goals are no longer out of reach.
Before I work with any client we always start with a discussion about their mindset. About what brings them joy, what makes them happy? About why they want to lose weight or why they want to make changes?
When you align your goals with your values, the motivation is endless. You find patience and gentleness and peace in your journey. You tap into an unending supply of resilience and inspiration, which allows you to keep putting one foot in front of the other and actually make real lasting change in your life.
Step 2. The Whole
I hate to be the one to break it to you but there will never be a magic bullet. There will never be that one missing food, exercise, supplement, or gizmo that if only you were to add it in you would achieve your dream weight, a pain-free life, (fill in the blank). It will always require the whole. You have to look at everything!
Your food choices will always be the most important indicator of your health and will have the greatest impact on your weight. But it’s not everything. Your lifestyle also plays a large role in your health destiny; your activity level, your stress level, your work, your emotional health, your sleep patterns, your spiritual health.
There are also other layers to the puzzle that go beyond the obvious; like sluggish detoxification pathways, hormonal imbalance, or chronic inflammation. Until you’re willing to look at the whole and start making changes in all aspects of your life, will you be able to achieve the vitality you’ve been craving.
Step 3. The Long Game
Restoring your health to a place of vibrancy and achieving your optimal weight is not a short term goal. This is the long game. When you’re only vested in the short-term, you will never achieve lasting change. You want to make changes that are sustainable, realistic, and make a difference. This is why diving deeper and getting to the root of the problem is key; and this step does not happen overnight. It’s an evolving process that requires patience and perseverance. The goal is to find balance between healthy habits and a happy life.
Take Home Message
The first most important step you can take on your health journey is by shifting your mindset. Make YOU the priority because guess what?! Without you vibrantly being you, nothing else really matters. When you recognize and accept how incredibly important YOU are, you will find the strength, motivation, resilience, willingness, and the time to do what it takes to put your health first.
Once you’ve established that you’re actually worth it, then you need to take a critical look at your time and how you’re going to fit in your new habits. Creative time mapping can be an incredible tool to actually finding the time to improve your health.
Finally, you’ve got to break through the dieting myths. The old ways around weight loss and health are simply not working.
It’s time to take a new approach. A long-game, lifestyle-based, addressing the root imbalance(s) approach. It’s not simply knowing what to do but how to do it. How to make these habits stick and how to work through old patterns and stumbling blocks that keep coming up.
