We all know the scenario: you’re starting a new diet, you change your lifestyle dreaming to lose those extra pounds, you actually make it and as soon as you stop… you get back to square one again. This must be one of the most frustrating things that can happen to anyone fighting to look better than before.
But why does this happen all the time?
It all starts in your brain
As nutrition specialist Jay Nixon explains, only 20% of a successful weight loss process depends on eating and exercise! Luckily (or not) for us, the other 80% is strictly up to your mindset.
In other words, the way you think about losing weight actually determines how much weight you’ll lose – and how you’re going to maintain it on the long term that way.
It might seem pretty evasive at first, but we’ll get into details immediately. Apparently, it all comes down to the kind of words you use to describe your own weight loss process.
Language determines your weight loss
“Those words wrap around everything having to do with people’s physical condition, to the point that they don’t even realize they’re saying [them] anymore,” Nixon says. “They don’t have awareness around how often they use these words.”
Here are a few examples of how you should not think about diets and exercise:
‘I don’t like vegetables’
‘I can’t do this workout’
‘I won’t wake up early for breakfast’
Negative sentences are our worst enemy – not just when it comes to workouts, but in general as well. Whenever you’re saying ‘no’ to something, even indirectly, you practically force your brain into stopping you from doing that thing – even if you could do it.
So next time, instead of thinking yourself into the idea that you’re not capable of something, think ‘I will try to…’ This is a great start towards a healthy mind and a healthy body!
