Welcome back! It’s February and we’re starting a new series. This month, we’re talking about the reasons you can’t lose weight…

 

I’ve been talking to some of my graduated clients recently about how about coaching helped them in their weight loss. It was amazing to hear some of the same themes come up again and again during these conversations! There were a few common things I noticed that shifted for them while they worked with me. So I decided that we should talk about them this month so YOU can help yourself make the same shift they did to successfully lose your weight too!

 

 

Now, I’m not doing that clickbaity thing “Top 4 Reasons You Can’t Lose Weight” or something like that. The reasons you haven’t lost the weight are so much more complicated than that. The blocks to weight loss are a web of thoughts and behaviors that are complex and often subconscious. So I won’t insult your intelligence with quick weight loss tips and tricks. But often the areas we give our focus to in our weight loss efforts are mostly related to the behaviors without getting to the root of the behavior. The root of our behaviors is our thoughts and when we work on the thoughts blocking weight loss, the behaviors for successful weight loss follow. This month we are digging out the most common thoughts that block weight loss.

What’s the first thought that blocks weight loss?

 

You don’t think you can lose weight.

 

When we’ve spent years battling our weight with diets and programs and trainers without lasting success, we being to doubt that weight loss is actually possible for us. The more times we’ve failed a diet and gained back the weight we lost, the more times we question whether we can really lose weight. Feelings of defeat and frustration creep in. Then we try again with another program and when that diet doesn’t work, it reinforces the idea that weight loss isn’t really possible for you. The more times you think you can’t lose weight, the more you believe it.

But it’s NOT true. You CAN lose weight.

It’s hard to believe you can when you think you have lots of evidence to the contrary. When I tell you that you CAN lose weight, immediately your brain wants to argue with me. You want to tell me about all the diets you’ve “failed” and how many times you’ve tried to lose weight and it hasn’t worked. You want to tell me that you can’t lose weight because your life is too busy now with marriage and kids, or your job is super demanding and you don’t have time, or you don’t have enough willpower, or you’re in menopause. You think any of those reasons is proof that you can’t lose weight.

None of those reasons is proof of anything. I’ve had clients in every one of these situations who’ve lost weight successfully.

 

 

This is what IS true. You won’t lose weight if you don’t believe that you can.

I know because I didn’t believe I could lose weight for many years. But I remember exactly when I started to believe that weight loss WAS possible for me.

When I had my first daughter and was struggling with juggling my medical career and breastfeeding and caring for a young baby, I also was incredibly frustrated with my body. This wasn’t new, but I’d wanted to be one of those cute, young, fit-looking moms with my baby in the stroller and I just wasn’t that. I was heavy and tired and I looked much older than I was, mostly because of the weight. I was trying as hard as I could, but the weight wasn’t changing. I thought breastfeeding would help magically melt off the pounds. It didn’t. I got to the place where I was so fed up that I was willing to do something drastic to lose weight.

It drove me to my knees.

And while I was crying and praying, it occurred to me: My weight problem was not bigger than God.

I’d been through so many challenging situations and God has seen me through them all. It just could NOT be that my weight was the one situation that God couldn’t help me through.

It was that thought that sent me looking for help. I knew my weight was a solvable problem, so I found a program that gave me some guidance and accountability. But most of the work of my success came from going back again and again to my belief that God would help me through this challenge.

 

 

You may have a different belief system than me and that’s fine. But if you’re a woman of faith, I want to remind you that God is bigger than your weight problem too. You will have to work hard and focus and get help, but conquering your weight problem has to begin with believing that you can.

Now, I’m not asking you to instantly become a cheerleader, jumping around shouting, “Yes, I can lose weight!”. That’s too much of a leap if you have a lot of doubt. What I am asking you to do this week is to start practicing the belief that it’s possible that you can lose weight, and that it’s possible that permanent weight loss can happen for you. You might need this intermediate thought to bridge yourself into full belief, but the belief that “it’s possible” is a perfect start.

Spend this week practicing your belief that weight loss IS possible for you. Watch my YouTube video below to get more help believing in your weight loss success. I’ll see you next week to work on another thought blocker to successful weight loss.

And if you already know you’re ready to invest in yourself and your permanent weight loss success, schedule a consultation with me. We’ll meet for an hour to map out a plan and get you closer to your goal!

 

Here’s your video help for the week!