Understanding and Planning for Emotional Pounds

Whenever you begin your journey to lose weight, everyone seems to have an opinion about the nutritional program you should try, such as the Keto, Paleo or Mediterranean diets. Yes, you hear mounds of advice on what to eat and how to exercise. And listen, there is absolutely no doubt to lose weight an effective nutritional program is a must, but before you dive into a new nutritional and exercise program, it is critical that you start to conquer the 12 mental strategies listed above to help you with your success.

Of course, in the end what you eat and your physical activity will determine your physical health and wellness but your feelings, thoughts and attitude can influence your lifestyle decisions which will ultimately determine the success you achieve on your weight loss journey.

Yes, you must focus on strengthening your mindset to lose weight and get fit. Why? If you have a lot of self-doubt and extreme frustration because when you look in the mirror you hate what your see and your weight loss goal seems impossible, the negative emotions could impact your nutritional choices and motivation to exercise. If you are very discouraged or feel defeated because of how many times you have tried to lose weight and have convinced yourself there is no hope, these negative emotions could impact your nutritional choices and motivation to exercise.

Most of you probably know the importance and difference between good and bad nutrition. Sure, you may not know the specifics of carbohydrates, protein, and fat, and how they are processed in your bodies, but you know that eating a chicken breast and broccoli is healthier than eating a cheeseburger and fries. However, it does not really matter if you have made the mental commitment to get fit or whether you know the importance of good nutrition if you do not first understand and deal with mental reasons or the Emotional Pounds that continue to influence your bad food choices.

I define Emotional Pounds as the heavy weight you carry in your mind due to strong, negative feelings such as guilt, stress, frustration, anger, or depression that can dominate your thoughts and negatively influence your decisions and behavior.

Emotional pounds can be caused by past experiences, current adversity or people or situations that have a dramatic effect on you. And they can prevent you from moving forward because they will kill your energy, passion and will. It is important to deal with your emotional pounds because their mental weight can lead you to make very bad decisions, even when you know they are bad decisions.

Think about how powerful emotions can be in your life. For instance, uncontrolled emotions can cause you to smoke when know it is unhealthy. They cause you to overeat food that you know makes you fat. They can cause you to stay in an abusive relationship. Without controlling the emotions that make us do what we do, it can be very difficult to move forward successfully. I am not sure why it took me so long to realize the impact of Emotional Pounds on my many weight loss journeys but it was very real for me and I am guessing it is for you as well.

So, when you are ready to lose weight and get fit, one of your first steps must be to understand your emotional pounds. More specifically, look inside yourself and start to identify what or who is holding you back and why you are letting this happen. What adversity are you dealing with? What emotions are keeping you down? What situations cause your emotions to rise up and derail your plan again and again? What are your emotional pounds?

There is no doubt that this identification is not easy and quite frankly, it can be quite painful, but it is very necessary. Because it does not matter how good your plan is or if your motivation is sky high or how educated on nutrition and exercise you are, if every time you look in the mirror, you feel like a big disappointment or a failure and eventually you lose the will to fight and quit your journey.

Okay, so I am going to get you started on the path to dealing with your emotional pounds. The eleven other mental strategies you must conquer to lose weight and get fit listed above all are going to help you deal with your emotional pounds. But first here are two tips to get you started:

• Sometimes, probably most of the time, you have absolutely no control over the emotions that hit you, when they hit you or the punch that they pack but no matter how hard it is sometimes, you do have control over how you respond to them. So have strategies in place when they strike or when you think they may strike such as when you look in the mirror. You will learn about the High Five Habit created by American lawyer, television host, author, and motivational speaker Mel Robbins in mental strategy number two, It Does Not Matter What Your Body Looks Like Now.
• Acceptance is important. More specifically, understand and accept there will always be some emotional weight you are dealing with because there will always be adversity, stress, and challenges in your life. But as you get mentally stronger, you will learn not to let life’s obstacles become emotional pounds that you cannot control; when you gain them, you will know how to lose them.

Understanding and planning to deal with your emotional pounds is in no way an easy task. It can be one of the most difficult things you ever have to do in your life, but you can absolutely do it. Take your time, don’t be too hard on yourself, dust yourself off when you fall, get help when you need it and keep moving forward!