A Workout for Your Attitude: Make It Positive

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Thinking and vocalizing negative thoughts is self-defeating and will sabotage any weight-loss effort. Change your way of thinking and start loving yourself as a smart, healthy, strong human being.

The way we think about ourselves plays a huge role in our success. How many times have you found yourself saying things like, "I've tried everything, I can't lose weight"? Or, "I want to work out, but I just don't have the time." Or, "I'll never fit back into my pre-baby clothes." It's time for a different approach!

Think It—Become It

Your mind is like a computer, and you are the programmer. The mind doesn't care whether what you are thinking is real or imagined. It accepts everything as the truth. Negative thoughts such as "I'm too busy to exercise today" lead to self-sabotaging actions like scheduling errands during your workout time. If you're at dinner with friends and you tell them, "I'm trying to eat properly, but I just can't help myself when I see that cheesecake on the menu!" you're unquestionably going to order it. But what do you think will happen if you say, "Ladies, I'm working hard to get in shape, so please don't let me order cheesecake, OK?" Chances are you'll gain the support of your friends and live up to your own words … while inspiring a friend or two to do the same!

It may sound silly, but to be successful you must stop the negative thoughts in their tracks and rewrite them with positive thoughts. Think of it as wiping a virus from your computer's hard drive and reprogramming it with new information. A proven way to do this is by using positive thoughts and words known as affirmations.

Affirmations are positive self-scripts that will help you change the way you feel about yourself and set you up for daily success. Many top athletes and successful business people use the power of affirmations to stay above the competition. Some professional sports teams actually hire psychologists to help their players learn to see themselves as winners and tell themselves how strong and powerful they are. You can do the same thing.

You probably do this (or will) to help your children think positively; do it for yourself, too!