Four Mental Shifts That Helped Me Lose 25lbs (& counting)

Weight loss is just as much mental as it is physical. Check out the four mindset shifts that helped me lose 25lbs (& counting).

*This post contains affiliate links.

I’ll be the first to admit that weight loss has NEVER come easy for me. Since college, I’ve been yo-yo dieting and working out on and off, but never made any significant progress.

During both of my pregnancies, I gained way more weight than I intended, and after having my second son, my weight was higher than it had ever been before!

At this point, I had tried almost every popular diet/lifestyle out there. Keto, Paleo, Vegan, you name it! No matter what diet I tried, I could never stick with it long enough to shed any pounds.

If I was lucky enough to actually drop a couple of pounds, I’d fall off the wagon and I would gain it all back even quicker than I lost it!

That’s when I KNEW that it was time to make a change!

This time though, I was determined for things to be different. I knew that to really succeed and see progress, I would have to completely change my mindset and overall outlook about weight loss.

It’s taken me a little less than two months to lose 25lbs, and while I still have a long way to go, I’ve been able to keep the weight off and continue to drop pounds while still eating some of my favorite foods (in moderation of course).

So for all of my fellow mamas struggling to lose the baby weight, or if you’ve struggled with weight loss at any point in your life, this post is for you!

Today I’ll be sharing the four mindset shifts that helped me completely change my outlook on weight loss and lose 25lbs in the process!

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Be Honest About Where You Are

Of all of the tips that I’ll share here, this was probably the most difficult one for me.

Before I embarked on my weight loss journey, I got really honest about just how bad things had gotten – and I don’t just mean how high the number on the scale was. While my weight was indeed out of control, and the highest that it had ever been, my overall health was slowly, but surely deteriorating.

I was exhausted all the time.

I started getting terrible acne.

I noticed that I got sick a lot more frequently and that it would take FOREVER to recover.

And the list goes on.

Not to mention, there was a point where I was wearing my husband’s clothes most of the time because I had outgrown my own.

My self-esteem was at an all-time low and as a result, I avoided any and all photos if I could.

Truth be told, it was hard to see, and more importantly, to accept just how far gone I was.

So I finally decided that enough was enough. I took a long look in the mirror and accepted the harsh reality that all of my health and self-esteem issues were my own fault.

As hard as it was to admit that to myself, by being honest and taking responsibility for where I was, I realized that I also had the power to change my reality and that was when everything started to click for me.

RELATED : Baby Wearing Exercises For Busy Moms

Identify & Disrupt Habitual Patterns

Once I made peace with where I was, I got serious about learning to identify and disrupt the habitual patterns that had been having a negative impact on my health. And I learned very quickly that it wasn’t going to be easy.

I knew that I would first have to become aware of my bad habits in order to replace them with new ones, but while it sounds simple in theory, I was surprised at just how difficult it was to break some of my unhealthy habits.

One of the things that helped me the most was a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. I listened to the audible version (since I don’t have time to actually sit and read a book in this season of my life) and got SO MUCH clarity about my habits and the triggers that cause them.

I highly, highly recommend this book for anyone feeling stuck and looking to break their bad habits once and for all!

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& Nope, this isn’t sponsored, I just really enjoy audible and Atomic Habits changed my life!

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Once I started to put the tips from the book into practice, I was amazed to learn what actually triggered most of my unhealthy habits. Initially, I just assumed that changing what I ate and working out more would give me the results that I was seeking.

However, after only a few days into my journey, I realized that my issues were a LOT deeper than that. So much so, that most of my unhealthy habits were on autopilot which made it that much harder to identify them!

So I started to pay close attention to my environment, my emotional state, and my overall daily routine, in an effort to identify my triggers.

Once I knew what my triggers were, I started to experiment with different things to replace them with – a new trigger, so to speak.

I repeated this process for each trigger I discovered and sure enough, I started to adopt new habits. Habits that slowly, but surely began to change my life.

Consistency Requires Discipline

As I developed new habits, I quickly learned that if I wanted to make these habits a permanent part of my life, I would have to be consistent. And in order to be consistent, I had to re-learn the art of discipline.

This isn’t to say that I have no self-control what-so-ever, but it was obvious that I was extremely inconsistent when it came to taking care of my body and making healthy choices.

Initially, I was somewhat robotic with my choices. Simply doing the same thing day after day hoping that eventually, it would come naturally and my new habits would just stick.

While this did help me to be consistent in the beginning, I noticed that I would almost, always struggle to maintain this consistency if my routine or schedule for the day deviated from what I was used to.

It’s almost as if my body went into panic mode and instead of continuing to practice my new, healthy habits, it opted for what was comfortable and for what I was accustomed to doing in similar situations the past.

AKA eating all the things at all times of the day with little to no restrictions.

Thanks to my continued efforts to identify and disrupt my unhealthy habits, I realized that my issue wasn’t that I needed to add yet another trigger to my regimen, but my problem was that I simply lacked discipline.

For example, going out to dinner was always a struggle for me. I’m not sure if it was FOMO or what, but I always seemed to lack impulse control and I would order whatever I had a taste for.

You know what they say: TREAT YO’ SELF!

That is, until I got home and started feeling guilty, and even sometimes regretful, about what (& how much) I ate. After this happened a few times, I decided to go back to the basics and practice delayed gratification.

The psych grad in me was excited to intentionally implement a concept that I had learned so much about into my own life in this way. And y’all, it changed EVERYTHING!

Each time I was in a situation where I felt like I just had to have something, or when I wanted seconds (read thirds), I forced myself to wait at least 10 minutes before acting on that impulse.

I won’t lie, this was a struggle in the beginning and after the 10 minutes were up, I still acted on my original impulse.

But as time went on, I got to a point where I would completely forget about what it was that I wanted, and once the 10 minutes were over, I was able to make an intentional decision.

Before I knew it, 10 minutes turned into 5, and now I’m able to weigh my options (and their potential effects on my progress) in real-time, and make sound decisions that are in alignment with my goals.

This isn’t to say that I don’t struggle to give in to my impulses from time to time, but practicing delayed gratification has definitely helped me develop a level of discipline that I never thought was possible.

RELATED: To The Mom That Hasn’t Lost The Baby Weight

Patience Is Necessary For Progress

After about a month of implementing the tips above, I noticed that my weight loss started to stall.

I would have an amazing week as far as getting in the gym and sticking to my meal plan goes, but the number on the scale wouldn’t move. I even started taking my measurements to see if I was still losing inches – nothing.

At this point, I started to feel discouraged and was tempted to believe that I simply wasn’t capable of meeting my health and weight loss goals.

That this was the best that I could do.

Thankfully, I continued to be consistent and after a few days of fighting the urge to eat ALL THE THINGS, I finally saw the number on the scale drop again.

To say I was excited is an understatement. I was actually relieved that all of my hard work wasn’t in vain and that my body wasn’t, dare I say… broken.

While I’m sure that may sound dramatic, you have to remember, I had been trying to lose weight for almost 10 years at this point.

Since I gained weight gradually over the years, I just couldn’t understand why it was taking forever for the weight to fall off. Especially since I felt that my lifestyle (diet & exercise) had changed SO dramatically.

After a few more weight loss stalls, I started to realize that in addition to staying consistent, I had to be patient. There was simply no way around this.

Upon accepting this truth, I was reminded of one of my favorite verses in the bible:

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And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

– Galatians 6:9

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So as hard as it is some days, I will continue to persevere and strive towards my goals. Besides, it’s not like this mama couldn’t use a little more patience!

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If you actually made it to the end of this post

Congratulations!

You’ve just read one of my most personal, transparent posts to date! Although I personally feel as though these tips could apply to any major goal, implementing them specifically for my weight-loss journey has been a complete game-changer for me!

While I know everyone’s weight loss journey will look different, I hope that these tips can be helpful to you, no matter where you are in your journey.

For those of you wanting to know the specifics of what I ate, what workouts I did & how often, don’t worry, I’ll be sharing all the details here soon!

Until then, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Have you ever struggled to lose (or successfully lost) a significant amount of weight?

If so, what’s one tip that you’d give to a newbie such as myself?

I’m always looking for new tips and tricks to add to my regimen!

Until next time…