North Star Mental Fitness Blog

Mental Strategies for Losing Weight

Do you believe that mental strategies are necessary for losing weight?

Paige Waehner from Exercise Blog talked about The Truth about Weight Loss-Mental Strategies for Losing Weight.

Paige had a intriguing insight into the mind's role in creating obstacles for losing weight.  Paige wrote

"This week, I'm talking about the mental side of losing weight and discussing some of the obstacles the mind creates, such as failure, self-doubt and dishonesty. Learning how the mind can derail you may be enough to overcome those obstacles the next time around."

Yes.  We do need mental strategies to overcome the mind's creating obstacles for losing and maintaining weight. 

What are your mental strategies for losing and maintaining weight loss? 

One of Paige's readers wrote "You are right. Weight loss and fitness is about 10% understanding the importance of exercise and eating fewer calories than you burn, and 90% mental. I’ve lost 120 pounds in the past 26 months."

Another reader wrote "I agree totally with TM. Most work to do with weight loss starts in the brain. It is a constant struggle, every second, minute, hour, day, week. I have lost almost 50 pounds in the last 10 months and it is very hard. Everything I take a bite out of makes me think!!!!"

Have you ever considered adding a mental fitness program to your weight loss program?  If you really want to be successful in losing and maintaining weight loss, I recommend the North Star Mental Fitness Program.  This program can be added to any weight loss program in order to not only manage the mind's attempt to derail you from becoming successful, but also for providing new strategies for losing weight and maintaining your weight loss.

With the right mental fitness strategies, weight loss does not have to be a constant struggle!

With the right mental fitness strategies, weight loss can be maintained! 

Remember, You Live within the Body Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Do You Believe Exercise Won't Make You Thin?

Time.com ran an article entitled "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin".  John Cloud presented statistics that show that obesity is increasing at the same time more people are committed to exercise.  Some researchers reported that some obese people exercise more than the average person.

 In contrast, I believe Steve Siebold from the Mental Toughness Blog would agree with me.  "The belief that exercise won't make you thin" is delusional. 

Rationally, the more we exercise, the more calories we will burn.  Exercise works.  What people do in addition to exercise determines whether people become thin or obese.

"In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless," says Eric Ravussin, chair in diabetes and metabolism at Louisiana State University and a prominent exercise researcher. 

John Cloud explained: "The basic problem is that while it's true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight, exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate the weight-loss benefits we just accrued. Exercise, in other words, isn't necessarily helping us lose weight. It may even be making it harder."

Again let me clarify this issue for you.  Don't blame exercise for failing to make people thin.  Attribute the failure to become thin following exercising, to people's failure to manage their increased appetite following exercise.

Exercise will make you thinner.  People's choices regarding eating and managing their lives will make them thin or obese.

Remember, We Live within the Environment Created by Our Choices!

Or in regard to this post, We Live in the Bodies Created by Our Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

Which Is More Harmful for Your Health?

Do you think excess body fat or self-defeating thoughts are most harmful for your physical health?

I read an interesting post, from Physical Fitness 3.  The author made the startling statement:

"Have you ever thought of how much extra, unnecessary thoughts, which are more harmful to you than bodily fat, keeps accumulating in your mind continuously, leading you towards all kinds of maladies and diseases? Yes, your unhealthy mind is a major factor behind even your most common cold, fever, stomach infections, etc.

Most of our energy is utilised in accumulating and processing unnecessary thoughts from the past and anxiety about the future. Diseases are nothing but our constant mental struggle between thoughts of our past and anxieties about our future. Dropping both our past and future and living in the only reality - the present is the only way to remain healthy."

We know there is a mind-body connection.  There is no doubt that our mental health and thinking affects our health.  There are probably many different ways that self-defeating thoughts from the past create or intensify physical symptoms and illnesses. 

Learning to live in the present is important.  Meditation is one way of reducing the adverse effect of negative and self-defeating thinking on our health.

Learning how neutralize and turn self-defeating thoughts into constructive thoughts for good health is also a powerful way to improve physical health and decrease physical symptoms.

Our thinking can help heal or make us sick!

It is important for you to answer this question for yourself.

Is excess weight or self-defeating thinking more harmful for my well-being?