Most of you know that 5 weeks ago, I started this new health journey. It hasn’t been easy at all, but it has been rewarding. In 5 weeks I’ve lost 20lbs and 2oz. If I was comfortable enough with telling you my starting weight, then you’d understand why this is an enormous accomplishment for me! However, there have been some major struggles that I’ve been dealing with. The biggest one has been the cravings. I’ve never wanted pizza as bad as I do right now. The struggle to not just eat anything I can find, but to actually discipline myself and make myself control these cravings.

One thing that I’ve been learning through this new healthy journey is the importance of a healthy mindset.

What is mindset?

 A habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations

onelook.com

Mindset is our mental attitude, which will determine how we respond to something. Basically, if we go into a situation thinking how awful it’s going to be, then we’re going to make it a struggle for ourselves. I tell my oldest, if you go to school thinking that you’re going to have a bad day, then guess what! You’re going to have a bad day! Our mindsets control our attitude more than what we may want to admit.

So, why is a healthy mindset so important in my weight loss journey?

I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve woken up with the mindset that I’m grumpy and hungry. I’ve allowed that mindset to control my day and my attitude! Because of that, I’ve cried to my husband about how hungry I am, smelling the foods that I can’t eat, sneaking small little tastes of things and then feeling guilty over it, and so much more. If I had the mindset of being in control of these cravings and desires, I sometimes wonder how much easier it would be!

How to gain control of your mindset

Gaining control of our mindsets is the first step. There have been many times where I’ve liked to blame my mindset on other things. Whether it be the environment I’m in, my mental health (depression, anxiety, etc.), the food itself, any hormonal moments, really anything as long as I’m not blaming myself. But that right there is the problem! I’m not taking as much responsibility as I could.

When we place blame on others, we give away our power and surrender control, and we place the cause and reason outside of ourselves. When we decide we are the dominant force in our lives, we are taking back our power and responsibility, and the cause now lies inside ourselves.

Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen

I know I can’t be the only one who read that and thought, oh wow! I never took time to really think about how blaming others takes my power over my control away from me. It’s always easier to blame someone else for the mistakes, pain, lack of control, whatever it is, it’s easier to blame them than ourselves. But what happens to our mindset when we decide we will not take responsibility?

This leads to a state of internal unrest, anxiety, and a highly stressed state, all of which are unhealthy for your body, mind, and overall wellbeing. It also leads to bad habits, like emotional eating, increased alcohol intake, drug dependency, internet and smartphone addiction, gambling, stress, and depression.

Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen

Who would’ve thought that our mindset could truly control these different things? Before I began this health journey, I never really realized how important a healthy mindset was to my success. I figured as long as I followed the “rules” I would be fine. While that is technically true, imagine how much easier it would be if I had the right, healthy mindset to go along with it! Gaining control of your mindset starts with not putting blame on others. We need to take responsibility for our mindset and not expect others to fix it.

My friends, it will not be easy. It’s not something that you’re going to wake up and fix that day. This is something that’s going to take years to gain control of. But one of the most important steps is that we see that we’re struggling in this area, and we begin to fix it! I promise you, you will have many days that you will cry, blame others again, feel so defeated, and probably give in to your cravings. But if we continually work on it, and we really try to change the way we think of situations, then we’re going to see how incredible we can be when we are in control!

You need to be your own chief advocate on your journey and have the ability to minimize anything or anybody throwing you off track.

Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen

There is so much more to learn when it comes to a healthy mindset. I believe it’s something that every day we’ll learn something new, and every day we’ll be surprised with how much we can overcome when we take control and responsibility of our mindsets! I do not claim to be an expert, because I’m only 5 weeks into learning about this myself! However, I can tell you how easier your day is when you have a healthy control of your mindset!

Until next time, friends!