Positive thinking is empowering. It can play a significant role in many areas of your life, including your weight loss efforts. Thinking negatively can cause you to doubt yourself, go off your diet, overeat or start skipping your exercise routine. It can also worsen your relationship with food.
On the other hand, being positive can increase your motivation and help you stay on the right path. If you are confused and don’t know where to start, it is perfectly fine to seek professional help. Reaching out to an expert is not a sign of weakness but strength, as you are taking action to reach your goals and lose weight.
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Another thing that can help you persevere on your weight loss journey is improving your relationship with food. Having a healthy, well-balanced approach to eating can help you create a positive body image.
Here are some tips that can help you improve your relationship with food.
Stop Feeling Guilty or Punishing Yourself
Constant dieting and struggling with weight loss can produce negative feelings toward food. If you have labeled some food as bad and you deprive yourself of eating that particular food, the only effect this behavior is going to produce is craving. As time goes by this, this craving is only going to increase. Your stress level can skyrocket and you may even start obsessing about food. Being on a strict dietary regime can become a torture, as food might be on your mind all the time – especially food you cannot eat.
What you need to understand is that torturing yourself is not the solution, nothing good can come out from being cruel to yourself. If you behave like this, it is a sure sign that you are doing things the wrong way.
If something is hard and requests a lot of effort and dedication, it doesn’t mean you have to suffer. Yes, you need to make an effort to change, you will probably face some difficulties along the way, but don’t ponder how hard it is. Think how happy and proud you will be after overcoming each obstacle. By developing a healthy relationship with food, you’ll learn to gain control over your cravings.
Mindful Eating is the Key
Mindful eating means being fully present during the act of eating. Pay attention to everything you eat. Look at the food, taste it. Notice the smell and texture of the food. While chewing, pay close attention to each flavor. Every time you are eating, think about how good and beneficial the meal is for your body and health. Show gratitude. This simple technique can help you change the way you think and feel about food.
It’s also important to note that, in order to fully experience pleasure and satisfaction from food, you need to focus on eating and avoid distractions. This means no more eating in the car or in front of the TV. When distracted, you are not really tasting the food you’re eating.
Enjoy Your Food
Practicing mindful eating is a technique that can enable you to truly enjoy food. You can eat basically any food – in reasonable amounts – and you won’t feel guilty. For example, you can eat a piece of cake and really enjoy it, every single bite. Savor it. Once you have changed your relationship toward food, you can really start to enjoy and appreciate it. More importantly, it can help you lose weight.
Listen to Your Body
If you pay close attention to the signals your body is sending, you can significantly improve your health and shed those extra pounds. You can eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full. This sounds so simple, but how come there are so many people who are overweight or obese? The answer is just as simple – they don’t listen to their bodies. Ask yourself: how many times have you continued eating even after you have stopped feeling hungry? Your stomach may be full but your eyes are still hungry. Another problem is that many people are used to filling emotional voids in their lives with food. Food is there to provide energy and nutrition, not to solve your emotional problems. You can also discover what food is beneficial for you and what you should avoid just by paying attention to how you feel. So, listen to your body, it is your biggest ally.
Be Positive, Practice Positive Affirmation
Negative feelings about food, weight loss, and healthy eating habits can make you start observing healthy eating habits as a sacrifice, something to endure for a period of time until you get the desired results after which you can go back to your old eating habits. This is completely wrong. This way of thinking will get you nowhere. It will just lock you inside the vicious circle of repetition. You have to change the way you feel about food.
It is important not to burden yourself with negative thoughts. Yes, it is going to take some time to lose weight, but remember that you didn’t gain all those extra pounds overnight, so you can’t expect to lose them overnight. But, there is one thing that can cheer you up. You have probably gained those extra pounds over a long period of time. Perhaps several years. But losing them will take much less. Isn’t that something to look forward to? Furthermore, eating healthy is not the same as dieting. It is not a quick fix. It is a long-term solution, a way to improve your health and lifestyle. This can significantly change the way you feel about yourself as well. If you feel that you are struggling, practicing positive affirmation can help. It is a very powerful tool for reversing all negative thoughts and beliefs. Thinking positively will make you feel good and feeling good will make you think positive thoughts.
A negative relationship with food may easily be the root of your struggle with weight loss, a reason for abandoning your resolutions. These simple techniques can help you create healthy and positive associations with food. When you leave behind all misconceptions and reverse your negative feelings, you can enjoy a happy and healthy life filled with satisfaction and confidence.