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Could Your Overall Negative Outlook Be Undermining Your Weight Loss Attempts?

By Dr. Michael J. Norwood

Having trouble with weight loss? Do you struggle with trying to lose additional body fat? Is your fitness level lower than it really should be? Is your energy low all the time?

Okay here's your challenge for the next seven days: avoid any form of complaining, blaming, justifying, projecting or negative self-talk. Sounds simple, right? Are you up for the challenge? Do you think you can do it? You might be wondering, 'What does this have to do with my weight loss attempts anyway'?

The answer is both subtle and simple: Your thoughts lead to how you feel and how you feel ultimately leads to how you respond and act throughout your day (e.g., to exercise or not to exercise?). Finally, your actions (i.e., patterns or habits) determine your RESULTS for better or worse.

In essence, how you think about you and your world invariably determines every outcome in your life: quality of relationships, financial matters, career decisions, personal development, spiritual growth, and, yes, your weight loss attempts.

What recent research has suggested is that happier, more hopeful people, over time, tend to be healthier than those who are chronically unhappy and less hopeful. That is, mood states may, overtime, positively or negatively impact immune function, cardiovascular function, and endocrine function, as well as the brain itself which have profound implications for overall health, including weight loss.

Here are a few self-defeating outlooks and ways to redirect this negative energy so that you can stay on the right path to proper weight loss and being as healthy as you can be for you and your family for the rest of your life:

Complaining: When you are afflicted with this form of non-productive stinkin! thinkin!, STOP immediately, ask yourself, 'where am I going with this and how does this help the situation'?

First relax and then redirect your thoughts to solution-oriented ideas that create win-wins for everyone involved. Oh yeah, and if your friends or family members are chronic complainers either deal with their complaining right from the start or disengage completely. That is, don't entertain or tolerate their debilitating attitude. Instead, confront or run as fast as you can in the opposite direction!

Justifying: This non-supportive outlook enables one to shift focus away from the real source of the issue and shift it onto some external source. For example, one might state, 'I can't lose weight because I have 3 small children, a full-time job and no real time to do anything for myself like exercise. It's just too much work to lose weight. Besides I still look okay.' How disempowering is this statement?

While life certainly presents numerous challenges, the real issue might be time management or prioritization. If this form of pessimism challenges you and prevents your from losing weight, examine your life, (namely time and values) more closely and prioritize your life around things that really matter like your health and well-being.

Blaming: I once read that when you blame others, you give up your power to change, to truly improve. Blame and projection are similar to justifying in that the real source of the issue is often neglected and therefore problems are rarely resolved. When you blame, you deny responsibility. Nobody wins and nobody grows, namely you.

The solution: if you've offended someone in some way own up to it through sincere apology and by all means forgive yourself for being a knucklehead. Also, if someone has offended you, forgive the person and move on. When you truly are sorry for some transgression and when you truly forgive, you free yourself up to be you and not some façade walking through life with a chip on your shoulder blaming others for your shortcomings. Now that's true power!

In summary, how you look at your world determines all of your results, including your approach to weight loss and overall health. If you struggle with non-supportive thoughts, practice the elusive art of maintaining proper perspective so that your thoughts are channeled to benefit you. Do the best you can where you are with what you have, and get into the habit of regarding yourself in a way that empowers you instead of in a way that diminishes your capacity to achieve and lead the life you deserve.

It's been said that when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at begin to change. Begin treating yourself with unconditional positive regard and watch your world change in ways previously unimaginable.

About the Author:

Dr. Michael J. Norwood, NSCA-CPT is the Founder and President of Dynamic Edge - The Peak Fitness Professionals, and is a highly sought after fitness and peak performance consultant specializing in teaching busy professionals and their families how to effectively incorporate fitness into their busy lifestyles.

He also helps athletes of all levels compete consistently in their ideal performance state by combining and applying his vast knowledge of sport-specific training and performance psychology to each training session. Visit: www.lasvegaspersonaltraining.com