Think. Feel. Do.
What you think determines how you feel and how you feel determines what you do
We all have thousands of automatic thoughts a day. Many of them are helpful… but some are not. That’s especially true with weight loss, where it’s easy to develop an unhelpful thinking style that can cause us to undermine our progress.
The good news? Identifying your unhelpful thoughts and shifting them to helpful ones can improve your mood* and help you act in ways that will help you reach your goals.**
• What happened? You worked hard all week but the scales didn’t shift.
• What did you think? “All of this hard work is pointless; nothing is changing.”
• Reality check! “This isn’t pointless. Just because I didn’t lose weight this week doesn’t mean things aren’t changing.”
• Think again. “I am disappointed, but the scale is just one measure of success. I feel better in my clothes, I’m happy, and I’m sleeping better. I know what I’m doing is worth it.”
*Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive therapies and emotional disorders. New York: New American Library.
** Foster GD. Changing the way you think: a challenge for long-term weight control. Weight Control Digest.