Photo by Artem Maltsev on Unsplash
I don’t know about you but I’m finding the constant changes of restrictions and our loss of liberty harder to deal with as time goes on. So many people are saying the same – even the most positive of people who are used to winning the day are finding it a struggle getting out of bed some days. It’s literally Groundhog Day every day.
I spoke to a lady last week who was doing so well with her wonderful new lifestyle habits on my Slimpod programme, had lost weight, dropped two sizes and was feeling SO motivated.
Her new way of eating and exercise had become wonderful feelgood habits; she was loving it – until the UK’s January lockdown happened and then she felt something stopped.
It was like a light in her brain had been turned off. She became so apathetic and the motivation to continue losing weight was sucked out of her soul.
Then fear of failure reared its ugly head and she panicked.
She was paralysed with worry that she’d lost the magic and all her fabulous new habits were going to be undone. She felt she was going backwards.
She’s absolutely not alone. I know so many people are in the same boat and just need to get moving forward so they can be happy again.
First of all, if this is happening to you, I want to assure you that you’re really not going mad and that this can totally be solved!
Let’s stop fear in its tracks! Weight loss shouldn’t be a fearful experience, but the fear has been created because of years and years of battling with food and diets.
Slimming club weigh-ins cause a lot of anxiety because you get worried about whether you’ve “lost” weight and whether you’ll feel humiliated.
Throughout the years layers and layers of anxieties and worries build up and become so big that it eventually means the very mention of losing weight brings on anxiety.
And then there’s fear of self-sabotage or falling off the wagon – you begin worrying about whether you’ll fall off the wagon before it actually happens and then it becomes inevitable because you can’t get it off your mind.
Other people worry why they’re not losing weight as quickly as they’d hoped, but then give up and stop losing weight altogether because it’s easier that way! Fear of failure can be a deep-rooted fear.
But fear is a mind game and we’ve never taught ourselves to deal with it. The motive behind fear is avoidance.
Fear doesn’t help you commit to something – it stops you succeeding. Fear stops you challenging yourself.
So the trick is to master your fear because that’s the greatest leap towards freedom and lasting weight loss.
Just think about what fear has cost you in your life because if you worry about not losing weight, I’m betting you’ll also worry and have fears about other things too.
If you had more courage and less fear, what would you do? Just imagine what that would do to your motivation! If fear is winning in your life, it’s because you keep choosing it over courage, bravery and strength. When you’re trying to lose weight and something causes you to be fearful, you have a choice.
You can cave into the fear or you can be strong and get past it.
The greatest battles in life are between fear and freedom. Either fear wins or freedom wins.
How many times have you run away from something uncomfortable rather than looking past it for the possibilities, potential and freedom?
What if the next time you were confronted with the fear you stayed strong – what’s the worst that can happen? Make a decision now to stop letting your fears win and to regain control over your weight loss and your healthier lifestyle habits.
You don’t have to be a slave to your history. You can be free.
The great efforts to move life forward comes down to one moment in time when we interrupt the fear and activate our freedom by choosing to think and feel differently.
Yes, it’s about choice! We all have a choice. We don’t have to be held hostage by our own minds.
Make decisions and choices that will take you forward into believing and trusting new things. All you need to do is know it’s possible. Don’t let your fears define who you are.
I want you to set yourself a task: think about whether fear of failure has sabotaged your weight loss in the past – and now confront it.
Don’t let it win this time.
In the current pandemic we’re all stressed and that isn’t helping either.
But you need to take care of YOU in all this.
If you’re not sure how to approach regaining control, take the following four simple steps:
ONE Be realistic about what you want to achieve in the short term. Don’t set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic goals.
TWO Take one day at a time.
THREE Set small tasks you can achieve within the day – baby things
FOUR Get the important things done before 1pm – then you’ll feel great at the end of the day!
Success at the moment is all about winning the day!