Mind over menu: Why sustainable weight loss starts with your mindset

As we reflect on summer, stop and think for a moment.

Did you get ‘body beach’ ready?

Or, as the festive period nears, you might now be looking to squeeze into those jeans.

Research shows that 1 in 3 teenagers feel ashamed of their body shape. Children are often bullied by their classmates for being overweight.

But body shaming doesn’t stop as we become adults.

Society tells us that we should be smaller and take up less space. As a result, we often believe that we'll be happier, more successful and more likeable, once we lose weight.  

Losing weight is a valid goal, as long as you have the right reasons.

Are you doing it to feel worthy by society's standards?

Or are you doing it for your health, your life and yourself?

The diet industry preys on our insecurities to profit. It offers endless solutions promised to help you lose weight. But if these solutions work, then why does the industry continue to keep growing?

The reason is because these solutions offer a quick fix. They don't consider what it means to restrict certain foods and nutrients. Certain foods as labeled as ‘good’ and ‘bad’. We're also told to limit the temptations that come with social interactions. The quick fix solutions aren’t sustainable long-term, and eventually we ‘fall off the wagon.’

As a nutritional therapist, I’ve worked with many clients who have fallen into the trap of yo-yo dieting. After listening to their stories, I noticed one key ingredient that was missing:

You need to work on your mindset first.

From here, you can build the foundations needed to make physical changes.

If you are looking to make changes to your diet and health, here are my top 5 tips:

1. You have to go slow to go fast

In my nutrition practice, I had a client who wanted to lose weight. She knew exactly what she needed to do but, like a lot of us, couldn’t make herself do it. As we began talking about what was going on in her life, it was clear that she was using food and alcohol to relieve the stress in her marriage. No amount of telling her to eat more protein was going to solve this. We needed to work on her emotional problems first, before we could achieve her physical goals. For sustainable change, avoid chasing quick fixes and first address the underlying issues.

2. Be kind to yourself

We often think that to achieve something, we have to be hard on ourselves. This might motivate us in the short term, but long term it works against us. We need to exercise self-compassion and to be kind to our bodies irrespective of size. Self-compassion and acceptance doesn’t mean giving in to temptations surrounding you. It means that you choose to make the decision for you. It means you give yourself exactly what you need in each moment, rather than what you want.

3. Throw out the rulebook

There are a lot of ‘shoulds’ in the world of wellness. We should be sleeping 8 hours a day. We should be drinking 8 glasses of water. We should eat 5 pieces of fruit and vegetables daily. I’m not denying that these things can be beneficial in balance. But if we aren’t meeting these ideals, they can become another reason to berate ourselves. We get frustrated with ourselves and give up altogether. The truth is, there is no rulebook. Wellness is an iterative and fluid journey. The only guidelines to follow are the ones that make you feel good inside. To maintain a new habit, you need to find your own reason. You don’t need to hold yourself to standards that are unrealistic, or ones that someone else places on you.

4. Weight loss doesn’t bring happiness

How many of us have thought that we’ll be happier once we lose weight? But when we reach our goal of weight loss, we still feel the same. It doesn’t feel how we expected it to, and the happiness is only temporary. That’s because happiness doesn't come from a destination, or achieving something. It comes from feeling happy within. Happiness comes from the process of achieving, not by reaching the end destination. Focus on becoming more mindful and grateful for the everyday things, to feel happy right now.

5. Find your why

Before you set yourself a target or goal, explore your reasons. Make sure you have a strong reason to achieve it. Why do you want to improve your health and wellbeing? What will it mean if you don’t make changes to your diet? Make your reasons compelling for you. Once clear on your reasons to achieve, you are more likely to stick to the habits that will get you where you want to be.