How many times have you said THIS IS IT?
You swear this is the time where you actually lose the weight.
You get started, and you really believe that it is. Things are going great – the scale is moving, clothes fit better, and you feel great.
Until they’re not going great…
Oh, it just wasn’t the right time.
Maybe it wasn’t.
Maybe you had some major life change that forced you to put dieting on the back burner.
Or maybe you just weren’t mentally prepared for dieting…
Life happens, but here’s the thing – life ALWAYS happens.
It’s darn near impossible to diet without a professional, personal, relational, or health change. But the reason it “wasn’t the right time” for your diet is because you didn’t prepare yourself to balance the changes of life with your diet.
If you’re serious about making this the time, then you need to mentally prepare for it and get yourself in the right frame of mind. Take a look at these 11 changes or tweaks to your mindset you can make to guarantee this time is THE TIME.
#1 Be Patient.
Cliché as it may be, fat loss is a marathon not a sprint.
Big changes take time, and as a coach, it is SO FRUSTRATING to see people give up after two weeks or one month because they’re not at their goal.
You didn’t get to this point in one month, nor did you build these habits in two weeks.
Depending on what your goal is it might take years to achieve!
Use the calendar as a tool! Quit looking at how far you have left to go and don’t treat deadlines as life or death.
Focus on the current day.
Lock in on the workout, meal, or task in front of you.
Put your head down and get to work! Before you’ll know it, you’ll look up and be amazed by how far you’ve come.
#2 Be Honest.
For whatever reason we as humans hold this distorted image of ourselves.
We pick apart our own faults and build an incredible amount of self-loathing, but if someone else points it out or we don’t get what we want, we love to point to external causes first.
For years, I had myself convinced that I could eat whatever I wanted because I was an athlete who put in her time in the gym and on the field. I’d go home and binge hard because I was just making up for the calories I thought I had burned during practice.
Well, it’s been a few years since my time as a collegiate athlete and oh, how I have learned I was wrong.
Ask me back then and I could give you a list of things that led to a binge, but I never wanted to admit the truth – I just didn’t give a shit.
I’d get so frustrated with my results or lack thereof and lay blame on everyone else. I was the victim who could do no wrong.
I wasn’t making an ounce of effort to put in consistent work toward my diet, so I had NO business complaining about my lack of results.
If you’re going to lose fat you have to be honest with yourself. It’s important you’re able to look internally and identify causes for missteps or lack of consistency.
If you’re starting and not sure you can do that on your own, get an accountability partner. Bring on a family member, friend, or coach to help identify your mistakes and keep the focus internal!
#3 Commit to the Lifestyle.
Yes, you want to work out and eat right to get to your goal weight but you can’t think of these things as a means to an end.
Let’s face it, you don’t want to lose the weight and gain it back do you?
The idea of beating yourself up in the gym and restricting yourself from certain foods for
until you reach a goal is an unsustainable lifestyle.
An unsustainable lifestyle will never work.
You have to commit to working out and eating right as a lifestyle so that you can make it fit long-term.
The commitment to the lifestyle keeps the weight off, maintains the muscle definition, and prevents you from regressing or returning to where you started.
There is no finish line or end destination.
This is a life-long journey filled with systems and habits to build and maintain the healthiest version of yourself.
#4 Don’t Think About What You Can’t HAVE or DO
Part of committing to the lifestyle means you quit thinking in terms of things you CAN’T HAVE or DO.
That mentality is unsustainable.
You can have or do WHATEVER you want, but there are things that are better for your progress than others.
For my clients, I recommend a mindset of addition. It’s helpful to think about the foods or activities you are adding into your life. It fosters the mindset that you are willingly choosing to do the things that move you closer to your goals.
Personally, I choose to think about what foods or behaviors do for my body.
Sure, I can have all the ice cream, cookies, and treats I like but afterwards I feel pretty lousy. I’m low on energy, feeling bloated, and struggling with feelings of self-loathing.
On the other hand, when I’m feeling embattled over my dinner of chicken and broccoli or a bucket of trail mix, I remind myself how great I will sleep, the energy in my body, and the progress I make in this decision.
#5 Be Realistic.
I’d be lying to you if I said this journey was easy.
Weight loss is tough.
Habit formation is tough.
That’s two tough tasks stacked together and we haven’t even taken other aspects of your life into consideration.
One of the hardest parts of being of coach is pulling the reigns on clients early on in the journey.
You come in so high on motivation and eagerness to change, which is GREAT but it can also cloud your understanding of reality.
I recommend all of my clients sit down and write out what a typical week looks like RIGHT NOW before adding anything else in. Then together, we go through and help to create a realistic lifestyle plan.
The goal is to gradually add and make changes to your current lifestyle to encourage sustainability and avoid taking on too much at one time.
Remember, it’s okay to not be able to make every single lifestyle change in the beginning. You’re much more likely to stay the course with an honest and realistic view of what you are able to handle.
#6 Quit the Comparison Game.
In today’s world we’re all pretty up to date on people since there seems to be nothing off-limits on social media.
But the WORST thing about our lives being plastered all over social media is that it leads to the comparison game and that can seriously limit your progress.
Too often you get wrapped up in comparing workouts, food, and worst of all, results.
Sure, comparison can be a motivator, but there’s a very fine line between motivation and harm.
Comparing yourself to others takes away your time, energy, and attention and since all of that is dedicated to comparison, you miss opportunities to take action on yourself.
Everyone moves at a different pace. There is no single person like you so there’s no sense in comparing yourself to someone on a completely different journey.
Maintain the focus on you.
Remind yourself that what works for another doesn’t guarantee to work for you.
Keep your focus, energy, and attention centered on your journey, and only compare
yourself to who you were yesterday.
#7 Have a Sense of Urgency.
Everyone loves to rush into their journey, but once you’re in it, the sense of urgency to continue forward holds no comparison to the initial sense of urgency.
You may not call it a sense of urgency, but how about procrastination?
The idea that you still have time to reach your deadline so why does this meal or workout matter?
IF you’re committed to reaching your goal and making sustainable change, you must believe every choice matters.
Consistency is key for any health goal. The little efforts repeated day in and day out are what lead to big change over time.
The time is now, so make EVERY choice and action count!
#8 Don’t Let the Scale Dominate Your Efforts.
If your goal is weight loss, then the scale needs to be a part of your journey.
It’s a measurement tool and a means for progress assessment.
But that doesn’t guarantee it’s helpful.
As a coach, I have seen too many people get wrapped up in that number, so much so that it ruins ALL progress.
Weight loss is NEVER a linear journey.
There’s no way to completely avoid the scale, but it doesn’t (and shouldn’t) control your life.
IF you feel the scale is beginning to negatively influence your thoughts and actions, take a scale break. Let your coach know that it’s not beneficial for you at the moment and keep scale check ins a bit more infrequent.
Keep your efforts consistent day to day (again consistency is key!), and use the scale for exactly what it is, a tool.
#9 Be Mindful.
Do you ever catch yourself on auto pilot?
Or are you on auto pilot so often you don’t even realize it?
I’m definitely guilty of the second.
Life moves at such a rapid pace today that acts so sacred prior to this technology surge like exercising and family dinner are now just another opportunity for auto pilot.
Eating right and working out fuels and nourishes every cell in our body. If we can’t slow down enough to tune in during training or eating we’re unable to live as deeply and achieve our goal to be the healthiest version of ourselves.
Food is not the answer.
Getting more work done on your phone during a training session is not the answer.
Take a moment before you do any of these to breathe and check in with yourself to be grateful for what your body is capable of.
#10 Enjoy the Process.
There are hundreds of ways to diet and lose weight, but that doesn’t mean you just pick one because you heard it works.
Pick one you can enjoy so you can enjoy the journey.
It’s not to say you won’t dread a workout or meal here or there but use a strategy that you enjoy.
It’s like Kobe said:
“Those times when you get up early and you work hard, those times when you stay up late and you work hard, those times when you don’t feel like working, you’re too tired, you don’t want to push yourself, but you do it anyway. That is actually the dream.”
That moment you reach your goal is a short-lived burst of excitement and elation. The workouts, meals, and preparation are what make up each and every day. Those are the things that bring you to that exciting finish line. Those are the things you must enjoy.
#11 Drop the All-Or-Nothing Mindset.
Consistency is STILL the key.
Consistency is not perfection.
If you’ve done this before, you know the All-Or-Nothing Mindset is not the way to successful fat loss.
Tell yourself now that you’re not going to diet hard all week only to go all out on eating out over the weekend.
You’re going to have great days and awful days, but there’s no reason one needs to turn into another and another.
It’s normal to slip up.
All that matters is that you just keep going. Move on to the next meal or task for the day
and don’t stress about the past!
Forgive yourself.
Love yourself.
Embrace the opportunity to mesh your past life with your new habits.
About The Author
Jordan Davies is the Co-Owner of Complete Performance. Jordan has her B.S. in Exercise Science and Psychology, and her M.A. in Holistic Health Studies. She is a CSCS certified strength and conditioning coach, and a PN-1 and NCI-1 certified nutrition coach. She loves to study how the human body needs to be moved and nourished and making that fit to your unique lifestyle. Click Here Now to Apply for Coaching with Jordan.
