Orville and Wilbur Wright. J.K. Rowling. Bill Gates. Oprah. If any of these notable people had given up after their first, third, or tenth setback, none of us would know their names today. Of course, they didn’t give up. They kept going, learning from their failures, and eventually succeeding. The rest, as they say, is history.
Obstacles crop up in every journey, especially with weight loss, and it can be hard to stay positive in the face of them. But the most successful “losers” are the ones who simply refuse to give up. What’s more, people who succeed best at keeping lost weight off have adapted their thinking and coping skills to help them stay in touch with the tactics that helped them lose. Best of all, some of them are members just like you!
It's true that the way you think can affect your outcomes, whether you tend to downplay the good things you’re doing or assume that one slip means disaster. Hey, we’re all prone to negative thinking. The problem is that it can be self-fulfilling. A more effective approach, according to research into what leads to weight-loss success, is changing your thinking style to embrace the reality while recasting it in a more productive, fruitful way.
Here’s how that might play out: You step on the scale at some point and see a gain, a smaller loss than you expected, or no movement at all. What happens next? Do you beat yourself up and throw in the towel? Or do you look at the big picture and think about how far you’ve come? Do you look back at the week and see where you might make a change? And, no matter what, do you get right back on track as soon as possible? Those are ways to apply positive thinking to situations that could trip you up otherwise.
Putting a better spin on things, while accepting the lessons that setbacks can teach, can help you get to where you want to be.
Mind over matter
For a little extra help, check out these stay-focused strategies:
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