Essential qualities for weight loss that lasts!

These are some of the qualities, emotions and mindsets that you need for weight loss that lasts, to create a slim healthy body and keep it!

Inspiration.

Inspiration is the ember of the fire for your goals and dreams. When you are inspired you see new options for your life that you may not have perceived before. Inspire yourself to success by reading stories of people who have overcome challenges and achieved greatness in some way.

Love.

Love is the reason and the why. Loving your body is critical to making healthy choices to nourish it, and love for your life, your mission, your family or your service to the world is the bigger why to give you the reason and impetus to change, to rise to the challenge and be your best self.

Focus.

Focus allows you to hone in on your goal and avoid distractions and shiny things. In today’s crazy world with constant, emails, tweets, facebook feeds, pings, pins, and rings following us around everywhere we go demanding our attention, focus is a critical element in achieving any goal.

Faith.

Sometimes you don’t know that you can achieve your goal, especially if you’ve never done it before, faith is essential to keep you going when you can’t see the whole stairway. Have faith that your daily actions will lead to your results, and have faith in your ability to notice what is working and what isn’t. Always keep moving forward.

Determination.

You must be determined to reach your goal no matter what. Obstacles and challenges will appear long the way, and if you’re not determined, you might let them overwhelm you, however when you decide to reach your goal no matter what; a new seemingly magical force appears that helps you along the way. The Universe listens to your resolve. When you have seemingly insurmountable challenges, a teacher or idea will appear to show you a way around, over, under or through it.

Self-worth.

It is essential to believe in your own worth and value as a human being. This one quality can be the defining factor between success and failure. If you don’t believe yourself to be worthy or deserving of your dreams and goal, you will sabotage yourself as soon as you start to get close to it…

Self-Compassion.

Self-compassion is very important for lasting weight loss. It is critical to have compassion for yourself about the choices you made in the past that lead you to be overweight, and to have compassion for yourself if you slip up along the way. This does not mean you are letting yourself off the hook, but rather stopping the self-flagellation and guilt so you can dust yourself off and get back on track quicker.

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Patience.

Successful slimming can take time, depending on your goal, your starting point and your lifestyle it may take anywhere from 1 month to a few years to reach your goal. Patience keeps you on track if you don’t see big results immediately and helps you keep to a sustainable lifestyle shift, rather than a quick-fix fad diet.

Courage.

Courage is important for you to be able to say “no” even when it is not easy or comfortable. It takes courage to say “I want this, and I’m going to do what it takes to get it.” It takes courage to stick to your program even though your old friends and family challenge you or try and tempt you back to old unhealthy habits.

Dedication.

Dedication is the quality that keeps you consistent over many months and years, it is dedication to build your new lifestyle habit by habit which will ensure that you win in the end.

Judgement.

Notice I did not say, self-judgement. Self-judgement, where you judge, put-down or compare your body to others is a recipe for failure. Avoid this at all costs.

Judgement however, is a critical quality, that helps you to be able to make a decision. To say “yes” or “no” to certain things. You need to be able to judge which foods and which exercises work best for your body, to be able to judge which programs, teachers and trainers are teaching with integrity or just after a quick buck. Turn the eye of your judgement outside yourself and use this force for good to help you achieve your goals.

Sensory Acuity & Body Awareness.

Sensory acuity is the ability to use your senses to gather information; to be sensitive to the information that comes in to help you make a decision. Sensory acuity is what would alert you if some food was not good for your body; if you feel a dip in energy after eating it, your sensory acuity is what would allow you to notice and adapt your behaviour. Sensory acuity is what allows you to notice whether your knees are aligned as you perform a lunge. It is the act of using all of your senses to notice the fine differences and adapt and adjust so you can reach your goal.

Intuition.

Intuition is honouring your inner voice. As you become slim, you will notice an increasing body awareness, acuity and intuition, so that you begin to just “know” what is right for you and your body. Cultivate this intuition now, by listening to your inner voice, or taking a few minutes each day in quiet stillness.

Kindness and Empathy.

Kindness and empathy are the antidote to comparisons and judging yourself against others. If you can think kindly of others, that jealous voice has no place in your mind. You can celebrate others successes without diminishing or demeaning your own. Empathy allows you to be kind to others who are making different choices to you, as you put yourself in their shoes, it allows you to see their priorities and value them for who they are.

Joy & Happiness.

Joy is the carrot that makes your lifestyle change possible. Cultivate feeling joy in the simple daily habits that will allow you to become slim; whether that’s a walk out in the fresh air, an intense weights session, drinking a delicious green smoothie, reading a new healthy recipe, or simply talking with your training buddies. Joy is what will keep you coming back to these habits day after day and year after year. Joy is what will make them last, so begin with activities that you can smile, relax or laugh while you are doing them. If you feel like you need to be slim before you can feel joy, you’re putting the cart before the horse. Begin to create joy in your day to day life as you celebrate the small daily healthy choices and you will be slim before you know it!!

Gratitude.

Gratitude allows you to celebrate your wins along the way, to enjoy your gifts and talents, to appreciate those who assist you. Gratitude calls on the abundance of the universe to bestow it’s gifts upon you! What you appreciate, appreciates.

The good news…

The good news is that you already have ALL of these qualities, somewhere in your life. Maybe you are not currently patient with yourself for your weight loss, but you are patient with your kids. Maybe you  find it hard to be grateful for your spin class but you are grateful for your savings. You already have these qualities and know how to do and be all these things, it is just a matter of using your mind to think about your weight loss journey and your body with these feelings and qualities.

Notice that I did not say motivation, because I believe motivation comes from having all of these other qualities in place.  Practice them, and make an effort to bring them into your health journey.

Join the conversation…

What other qualities do you think are essential to lasting weight loss success?