Commitment: The Key to Successful Weight Loss

While losing weight and keeping it off is almost like a living mat equation, with the calories you eat and activity you expend equaling either your weight loss or gain, according to the Mayo Clinic, the key to successful weight loss starts in your mind.

Weight Loss image courtesy of MorgueFile

While weight loss success or failure is linked to how well you implement dietary and exercise changes, it starts with your commitment to lose weight. 

If you've struggled to lose weight in the past, only to end up with unsatisfying results, first, give yourself a break, then get your mindset ready to move ahead. Obesity, stress, and depression are so tightly linked that pushing ahead with weight loss without finding a way to cope with the other emotions is practically setting yourself up to fail. But, it doesn't have to be like that...

The Energy Imbalance Equation Behind Weight Gain

The NIH sums up the cause of the human body storing excess fat with an equation, and it's pretty simple as far as math goes.

Energy In ≠ Energy Out

What that simple equation means is, if you take in more calories (consumed or energy in) than your body burns (energy out) then your body still has to DO something with that excess energy, so it turns it to fat to burn later. But, as you've probably noticed if you're here, reading this, once it turns to fat, it's hard to get rid of, and that's where your mindset becomes the key to your weight loss success.

6 Tips for Creating a Weight Loss Mindset That Works

The excess weight you carry is going to hang around on your body until you are ready, in your mind, to let it go. This can take a lot of self-analysis, and it can take years to get it right if you're going it alone - but every step is one step closer - and even steps that feel like setbacks can be successes if you let yourself learn from the experience.

1. Think of losing weight as a long term goal, but set smaller goals that let you measure success in increments.
2. Expect it to take a while to lose excess weight, after all, you didn't gain it all in one day or even a week, so it isn't going to go away in a single day or a week either. 
3. Expect to have 'bad' days, when you just absolutely NEED that hot fudge sundae, chips or whatever your comfort food is - and know that indulging isn't failure - plan for it ahead of time and make it a reward so it feels like part of your success
4. Experiment with new recipes. Have fun with it and let it be a good experience. You'll find that some of your favorite comfort foods are perfect for you just as they are - and that's okay but you may need to reduce the quantity of those to meet your weight loss goals. And, you'll find there are some foods you can make more diet-friendly without wrecking the flavor with the addition of things like high-fiber chia seed or flax. 
5. Keep a food journal that details what you eat, what you're doing when you eat, and how you're feeling both before and after eating.
6. If you're surrounded by invasive, nosy, critical, or toxic people, you'll want to find a way to do these things while keeping those people out of your weight loss efforts. Using the food journal as an example, you may want to create a password-protected document in your computer or a password-protected blog that only you can access.  

Create a real commitment to yourself and your health, so when the occasional setback occurs, which it invariably will, you will be able to keep forging ahead and succeed with your fitness and weight loss goals.


Other reading material:

• American Psychological Association
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
• Mayo Clinic
• WebMD