“How Changing My Mindset Helped Me Lose Weight | Weight Loss Mindset” – Monica May

 

I feel like all of us have been on a weight loss journey at some point in our lives.

And while it’s pretty amazing to care about your body, health, and wellbeing overall, I feel like most of us are starting off for the wrong reasons.

Now, when it comes to motivation, there’s no really wrong or right, you should keep doing it for the reasons that motivate you enough.

However, if you are in the game for some serious, long term results, you have to consider changing your weight loss mindset.

That’s why I decided to share my story of how changing my mindset helped me lose weight.

This is a short preview of a time in my journey when I made some crucial changes to finally get to my fitness and weight loss goals.

I was falling off the wagon for so many years after I finally made the right decisions.

I bet you’re doing the same mistakes that I did, so take a second to go through all of them and learn from my mistakes.

Here’s how to set a healthy mindset.

Weight Loss Mindset 101:

I Stopped Using The Word Diet

To be precise, I stopped referring to my healthy eating with the word diet.

I know this doesn’t seem like much, but trust me, the influence that this word has on you is in fact huge.

Especially when it comes to the fact that people can be so judgy when you use this word.

For example, whenever I said I was on a diet to a friend or close relative, most of them would burst right away:

“Why?! You look good! You don’t have to be on a diet.”

Now, people will always give their unwanted opinion, no matter what you do, however, it’s a fact that diet became a bad word.

This is mainly due to the enormous amount of bad diets all over the internet.

When you say diet, you usually think of something that is super hard, you think of feeling hungry all the time, even stress, and discomfort.

A healthy eating plan, on the other hand, feels softer and really sounds like something you are doing for your health, not for the number on the scale.

And in reality, diets should be all about that.

Once I stopped being on a diet and stopped using the word diet overall, I started feeling better and much more confident that I’m doing the best for myself.

It’s a small change but it works for me to set that healthy weight loss mindset.

Check out my meal plan.

I Stopped Counting Calories

Counting calories was always a deal-breaker for me.

I know that weight loss is all about calories in vs calories out, however, first of all it’s not, and second, turning the meals I eat into numbers was something I was never comfortable with.

It was never a sustainable, long term option for me.
I wasn’t seeing myself still counting calories at 50. It was too much for me.

Then, I started reading about calories and found a bunch of fresh data and guides backed up by science that all calories are not the same.

I talk about this all the time on my blog, all calories are not the same, and the main difference is in the way they are processed in our bodies.

Healthy food doesn’t always mean low-calorie food and it’s always better, for both your body and health, to have a handful of almonds with over 300 calories, instead of a coke zero.

Turns out, with calories as with diamonds, it’s the quality that matters most and enhances their value.

This means that it’s not how many calories are involved that matters, but if they come from a healthy source or not.

You can count calories all day long, but as long as they come from junk foods, you’ll end up with no long term results.

Plus, obsessing yourself with numbers without paying attention to the quality of the foods you eat, can lead to eating disorders.

Psst… Check out my new all in one plan RADIATE!

I Started Eating As Much As I Want

Hunger was the main thing why I hated being on a diet in the first place.

That’s actually the first reason why most diets don’t work – you eat the smallest portions and you end thinking about food most of the time.

 Oh, that feeling of being hungry all the time is the worst.

Now, a healthy diet shouldn’t be about eating less – it should be about eating right.

And eating less than your body needs will do more harm than you think.

For starters, it will slow down your metabolism, which is not a good thing.

You may lose weight short term, but once you’re done with your diet you’ll gain more weight than you used to have, aka as the yo-yo effect.

This only happens when diet slows down your metabolism, because of eating less nutrients than your body needs for fuel.

Plus, when you’re hungry all the time, you are more likely to reach for unhealthy foods and binge eat at the end of the day.

In the end, if your goal is to get healthy and lose weight long term, you shouldn’t feel hungry and restricted all the time.

It’s not about eating less, it’s about eating right.

Find out more about it here: Can You Lose Weight By Eating Less? The Truth About Eating Less To Lose Weight

I Stopped Going At The Gym

After a few months of going to the gym, it started getting a real chore for me.

I think this was mainly because I had to get up, dress, and travel to the gym for 30 minutes.

If I had a full training session, it usually took me 1:30 to finish it, on crowded days almost 2 hours.

All in all, I was spending around 3 hours each day to go to the gym and exercise.

And that was a time I was just not able to give.

Plus on top of that, I was paying for transport and gym membership each month.

After paying a few full months and ending up not going at the gym as frequently, I decided it was time for a change.

I invested in minimal home equipment and started working from home.

To this day, I workout 5 times a week, without missing out on a single day.

I had no excuses now since I can quickly finish my work out in the comfort of my own home.

Plus, I completely changed my training style, which brings me to the next one…

I Stopped Spending Hours Working Out

And I started spending 20-30 minutes a day with HIIY workouts.

After a month of this style of training, I gained the best results that I’ve had since I started my fitness journey.

I couldn’t believe it either: How can I spend less time working out and have better results?!

Well, it’s not about the time you spend working out, but about how you spend it.

I used to spend hours at the gym, going through each and every one of the machines, then doing a 40 minutes session on a cardio machine to finish it all with a sweat.

However, slow and steady cardio takes at least 30 minutes to even tap into the fat-burning zone, and even when you do, it’s not so effective if you’re doing it for a short period of time.

Not to mention the fact that it sends your body into conversation mode, making you hold on to those fat cells as your life depended on it.

High-intensity interval workouts, on the other hand, will take only 20-30 minutes of your day, providing you with amazing results in a shorter amount of time.

Plus, the intervals work amazingly in spiking your heart rate up in seconds and keeping you in the fat-burning zone even hours after finishing the workout.

One of the things I love about HIIT is that it’s not boring at all, the exercises and intervals are keeping it exciting and new all the time.

The training sessions last 20-30 minutes, and there’s no room for excuses in terms of finding the time to complete it.

Since I’ve learned and gained so much just from changing my workout style, I decided to do my own workout program and help all of you do the same thing.

You can check out my HIIT based workout program RADIATE  for more.

I Stopped Comparing Myself To Other Girls On The Internet

Oh, I know we are all doing it.

But we should all stop. Effective immediately.

It’s an unhealthy habit, it makes us feel bad, and disappointed in ourselves.

And we really shouldn’t be.

First off all things are not always what they look like on the internet.

And from what I’ve seen, I can safely say that nobody’s perfect, some are just better at hiding it than others.

You can learn everything about it in my video:

 

You see, people are always posting their best photos on Instagram and that’s usually not how they look like all the time.

In fact, even the fittest girls have cellulite, stretch marks, bloated belly, and saggy skin, and that’s a totally normal and human thing to have.

Check out my article: 6 Things Female Fitness Models On Social Media Are Hiding From You

Lastly, we are all made differently and we are not meant to be perfect.

And thank god for that, because that’s what makes us unique and different in the first place.

Learn to love yourself, and better yourself every day, instead of working towards being like someone else.

You are not somebody else, and thank god for that one! You are you, and that is your superpower!

I Stopped Being Hard On Myself For Making Mistakes

Before, when I had a ‘cheat meal’ I would be so hard on myself.

From feeling guilty, to training twice that day, and regretting it the week after.

Now, I don’t make a big deal out of it.

I know that one single ‘cheat meal’ won’t make a dent in my overall healthy diet.

One unhealthy meal won’t make you unhealthy, the same as one healthy meal won’t make you healthy.

As soon as I got that into my mind I was feeling free.

Some days eating nourishing, high-quality whole foods is what I might need, while other days pizza and dessert might be exactly what your soul is craving.

The key here is choosing what’s right for you.

I Stopped Focusing On Numbers & Started Focusing On Health

The moment when ‘I can’t have that’ changed to ‘I don’t want that’ was the real game-changer for me.

That’s the moment I truly changed my weight loss mindset.

The numbers on the scale, my bloated belly, my stretchmarks – all of that didn’t bother me anymore.

I was feeling happy and healthy, and that was more than enough.

Setting up a meal plan that works for you and burning out tons of calories in the gym is really important, but it’s all ‘pointless’ if your mind doesn’t change.

Or, should I say if your reasons are coming from the same place.

I know we are all probably starting off on this journey for the looks, but somewhere along the way it should become much deeper than that.

The moment you stop doing it for the summer body and start doing it because it’s the thing you want to do – you are hooked!

The thing about weight loss is once you lose weight, you’re going to have to watch what you eat for the rest of your life if you want to maintain it.

And once you decide you’re doing this for yourself, you’ll never lack motivation, inspiration, and self-love again.

Now, when people ask me “Why? Why are you doing this? You look great.” I say “Because it makes me happy”.

If working out and eating healthy make you at least 1% happier, it’s all worth it!

Now Let’s Get That Weight Loss Mindset On Point

You totally got this, babe!

I hope you like my healthy weight loss mindset tips and tricks, and I really hope they help you on your journey to losing weight and getting fit.

Each day you are one step closer to your dream body, so take a moment and celebrate for how hard you are trying!

YAY!!!

Stay strong, stay fierce, and remember, you can do anything you want if you want it hard enough!

Till next time, babe!
xoxo

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