3 Steps For A Weight Loss Mindset {Video}

It doesn’t matter if you know what you should be eating if you’re not in the right mindset. I always tell my clients that weight loss is a mindset. These 3 steps will help you get into the weight loss mindset and improve your nutrition.

Transcription:

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Hey guys, I'm Rachel with Rachel Alvarado Nutrition and I am a nutritionist and health coach that focuses on weight loss and plant-based weight loss in particular. Now, today I am really excited to talk to you about this because today we're not even gonna talk about nutrition, we're gonna talk about mindset. Now, I'm a nutritionist, so obviously I know the importance of eating well and what a healthy diet can do for weight loss and just feeling good in your body. But without the right mindset, without this weight loss mindset, you're not gonna succeed. You really have to have a good mindset in order to have long-term success. So how do you get in the right mindset for long-term success? I have steps that I'm gonna talk to you about that can really help get you in that right mindset so that you can have that success and long-term success because that's what we want.

(00:55)
We don't want you to do any sort of crash dieting. We don't want you to lose 20 pounds only to regain 30. That's not what we want. We really want you to have long-term success. So here are the five steps.

Step number one, I want you to become really clear on what you want to achieve and why you wanna achieve it. So you might say, well, Rachel, I wanna lose 30 pounds. Okay, awesome, you wanna lose 30 pounds, but why go deeper? What is it that you're really seeking? So it's not just that you get on the scale and the scale says that you're 30 pounds lighter or 50 pounds or a hundred pounds, or however many pounds you wanna lose, it’s that you wake up in the morning and you feel a different way. Now, what is it that you want to feel? What is the that 30 pound weight loss represent to you?

(01:46)
Maybe it's more energy. A lot of times too, I get people who are like, ah, I wanna have more energy and feel better in my body so that I can play with my kids or my grandkids, or that I can just live a more fulfilling life. So, because I am tired of feeling tired and just having headaches and just not feeling confident in my body. So what does that weight loss represent to you? Now, get as specific as possible with this, and imagine being at your goal weight and what is your life like at that point. What does it feel like waking up in your body that is now 30 pounds, 50 pounds, a hundred pounds lighter? How do you feel? Do you have a lot of energy? When do you wake up in the morning? What type of activities do you do in the morning?

(02:32)
Do you go on a run or a walk? Do you have a cup of tea? And watch the sunrise? What is your life like now that you are at your goal weight? Maybe you have more energy. How about your joints? I get a lot of people who wanna lose weight because they want their joints to feel better. How does it feel moving around in your body? 30 pounds lighter. Do you feel unencumbered? Do you feel freer? Lighter? What is it like getting dressed? Do you have fun? Picking out your outfit and feeling more confident in your body? Get as specific as possible and think about your morning. Start with your morning. What does an ideal morning look like for you? Not rushing around, being hectic, trying to get out the door, get the kids to school, but really what would an ideal morning look like and feel like?

(03:19)
And get as specific as possible. And then after you get a really clear idea on your ideal morning, then move to your ideal evening. And then slowly, you know, piece together the parts in between so that you develop this whole ideal day of moving in your body and um, living the way you want to live. Because that's what it's all about. Weight loss isn't just to lose weight. It's so that we can live in our bodies the way we want to. So get as specific as possible on what you are wanting to achieve, and what you want that to feel like. And then when you have a clear image of what that's like at your goal, I want you then to close your eyes and imagine yourself living that life. And I want you to do this every morning, every evening. If you can do it in the afternoon too, the more you can do it, the better.

(04:10)
But I want you to practice seeing yourself living this way, because then once we're able to see ourselves in that way, it makes that reality so much easier to achieve. But if it's constantly this, ugh, I wanna lose 30 pounds, but I can't see myself doing that, I can't see myself ever having that success, you're not gonna get there. So even if it feels forced or difficult at first, practice it and it will become easier. And the more you see yourself living this way, the easier it's going to become to step into that person and into that life that you wanna live. And honestly, if you, you just start with step one, do that, do that every day for a few weeks and start noticing the changes, um, is really an incredibly effective tool, just doing that alone. Step two is to get the words I can't have out of your vocabulary.

(05:04)
You can have it. I mean, chances are you are an adult, you're watching this. And so if you want chips or if you want ice cream or if you want chocolate, you are fully capable of having that. So if you can have it, then what's stopping you? It's because you don't want it deep down. You really don't want it. Sure. Chips, uh, pizza, ice cream, that all can be very addicting. Um, and you get this really great dopamine hit from it, but it's short-lived. And so do you really want it? Think back to step one, your ideal, you, and your ideal day. Does that person, does that future you? Do they eat chocolate when they're stressed out at work? Probably not. Do you feel fulfilled after you have a piece of chocolate when you are stressed out at work? Probably not. A lot of times people feel guilty and, um, if they end up having a lot of sugar during the middle of the day, then they have that crash later.

(05:58)
So then they feel physically tired. Sometimes they have a cloudy mindset and then they feel emotionally exhausted because they feel out of control. None of that is pleasant. So you really end up not really wanting it, even though sometimes it feels like you don't have that power. So we wanna regain that power, but setting yourself up in this deprivation mindset is not going to help you get that power back. It's going to make you more vulnerable to completely go over and maybe do a binge later. You know, go over the top overindulge and maybe binge later down the road. Because if you tell yourself, I can't have any cookies, I can't have any cookies, I can't have any cookies. And then you're at a party and you give in and you have one cookie, then you're gonna be like, oh my gosh, I had one cookie.

(06:46)
But when you had set the boundary for having no cookies, one cookie or 10 cookies are all the same. Now, nutritionally speaking, we know one cookie and 10 cookies are very different, but in your mindset, you are gonna have none. So one or 10, it's all a failure, so might as well have 10. So a lot of times when you are telling yourself, I can't have, I can't have, I can't have, and then you're human and you have a cookie, then you go overboard. So we don't wanna tell our ourself we can't have it because it makes us feel deprived. And you can have it. You just don't really want it because it doesn't align with your values and your goals, and it doesn't serve your body. Get in the habit of saying, I don't want that. So someone offers you a donut at work, you can have it, but do you want it?

(07:39)
No, I don't want it. Then you can tell yourself, I'm not really the person who eats donuts at work. Yes, I like to indulge on occasion, but it's on my terms. Get in the practice of analyzing if you want something or not, and getting the words I can't out of your vocabulary. Step three is going to be related to step two. How do I balance having indulgences? Because if I have one cookie, then I might have 10 cookies. How do you balance this? Okay, so I think the best way to do this and to really set your mindset up, um, for long-term success is setting what I call boundaries. Um, food boundaries and these food boundaries are going to allow you to have indulgences, but in a safe and controlled way where you are in control, not the food. So one boundary that I recommend that everyone sets up, and you might come along with your own boundaries that work for you in your unique situation, but this one boundary I find works really well for almost everyone.

(08:45)
And it is to keep your home and work safe-havens. So no unhealthy foods at your home or work environment. So no desserts, no snacky foods, you know, whatever weaknesses you have when it comes to food, get 'em out of the house, get 'em out of your work environment. Do not allow yourself to have those temptations there because if you are home and the kids are fighting or they won't go to bed and you are so stressed out and you know that there's chocolate there, you're gonna go over and you're gonna have a piece of chocolate and you're gonna get that dopamine hit and you're gonna be like, oh, I for this fleeting second feel better. But then that emotional, you know, turmoil comes back, you don't feel well physically, you don't feel well emotionally because of whatever food you just overindulged in maybe. And then you weren't using food for food, you were using food for just an escape.

(09:36)
And we don't want that. And we also don't wanna create these habits. So a lot of times we develop these habits, you know, at work or home. And so we have certain foods there, and then we're constantly being triggered. We have these subconscious cues that are constantly triggering us to want to eat certain unhealthy foods. And if they're available, we're gonna do it. You know, maybe we get a stressful email from work and then it's like, oh, I'm gonna go have that piece of chocolate or some chips or whatever, and then it's a way to escape. Well, that's an unhealthy way to escape and that's not what we want to do, and that's not what we want to use food for. So make your home and work environment completely safe havens then if you want to indulge by all means, but you have to do it out of the house or the work environment, and it has to be purchased and consumed outside of the house.

(10:30)
So let's say you're really wanting dessert, okay, you can do that, but you have to get your shoes, get your car keys, grab your coat, go, go to the ice cream shop, and buy your ice cream. Eat your ice cream, have it there. So you can do that as much as you want, but it has to be outside of the home and work environment. And then all of a sudden you're telling yourself like, oh, I really want ice cream and you can't have ice cream. So it goes back to that step two. You're not telling yourself I can't have it, but you're working out the logistics. Like, oh, well I can't leave right now to go get it, or it's really cold, or is it really worth it? So making it harder to get to gives you the time and space to process it and determine, is this a knee-jerk reaction?

(11:20)
Do I really want this? Maybe, maybe not. You know? Or maybe it's going to be you and your family are gonna be out and about on Saturday and then afterward you guys are all gonna stop. Go grab some ice cream and have a nice fun family event and you can enjoy it. And you don't have to feel guilty about it because it's within those parameters that you set up. So setting up those boundaries can be extremely effective. They are there to guide you in that success, but then they still allow for some indulgences, but then you don't have to feel guilty when you're Indulging. So those boundaries can be extremely helpful for long-term success. All right, I hope these help also, I'm curious, do you have any food boundaries that you set up that help you? I find sharing different boundaries that help us, um, or tools or things that we do to get in the right mindset. When we share what helps us, it helps other people. It gives us all more ideas on achieving the success that we want. So in the comments below, write what helps you. I'm curious, uh, to know what gets you in the right mindset. Alright, thanks so much. I'll talk to you next time. Bye guys.