If I were to ask you what the biggest weight loss obstacle and why women fail on weight loss attempts, what would you think it is? Not being able to stick with a diet? Not being disciplined enough to exercise regularly?
While these both sound like the most logical reasons, the biggest reason has nothing to do with diet or exercise at all.
Would you believe me if I told you it has nothing to do with your body but with your mind? It's true.
The number one reason women fail on weight loss attempts is due to one word, "fear". This could be the fear of losing friends due to jealousy, the fear of the unknown. It could be fear from losing a sense of comfort and security you've gotten with being overweight.
In all my years of training clients, it has been my experience that people will ultimately succeed or fail to reach their weight loss goals depending on their beliefs.
Many times these fears and self-defeating beliefs are hidden in your subconscious thoughts. Your beliefs may be secretly sabotaging your results and creating a weight loss obstacle without you even knowing it. This is exactly why you may start to lose a few pounds, tell yourself you feel great about it, but then find yourself falling off your routines for some unexplained reason.
You can tell yourself again and again that "this will be the time" you have the discipline and willpower to stick with it, but if you have fear hidden somewhere in your subconscious thoughts you'll more than likely end up frustrated.
So how do you prevent from hitting this weight loss obstacle?
I'm not going to waste your time by simply telling you to practice some "positive thinking." You see this all over the place on TV and in books. I'll be honest with you.what you see taught is pretty elementary and ineffective at producing change.
We've all heard about the power of positive thinking before but how many times does it actually work? You can essentially give yourself pep talks all day long but if there is still fear in your subconscious thoughts it won't matter.
I believe the best way to overcome this weight loss obstacle is to be proactive and take massive action on changing your subconscious thoughts. Don't try to psycho-analyze everything in attempts to find out what could be the hidden fear or obstacle.
This practice will only immobilize you, and leave you feeling like the situation is out of your control. Instead, make a commitment to filling your mind only with thoughts that help to reinforce the positive results you expect and demand.
In order to change your faulty belief patterns you must replace them with beliefs that lead to your desired outcome. This will simply require repetition of certain actions combined with strong emotions.
I highly recommend using daily workbook courses like Tony Robbin's Personal Power Series to help with the daily reinforcement and repetition of subconscious thoughts. Trust me, if you've never tried these techniques before you'll be amazed.
On a final note, I would also strongly encourage you to take a very good look at the people you're surrounding yourself with. Are they positive and encouraging? Do they complain a lot, or make excuses frequently?
You absolutely must look at protecting your mind at all costs. If you're around negative, self-defeating talk for any length of time you will be affected. You couldn't hang around toxic waste every day without expecting to pick some up yourself. The same thing goes for negative thoughts and self-defeating beliefs.
Explore the various techniques for eliminating fear and self-defeating thoughts with neuro-linguistic programming and then make the decision to only surround yourself with people that will reinforce your goals. This is your sure fire way to steer clear of the biggest weight loss obstacle of them all.
Shane Doll is a certified Charleston personal trainer, fat loss expert, speaker, author and founder of Shaping Concepts Fitness Training Studios. Learn how you can receive a FREE no obligations trial of his Charleston personal training programs. You can also check out the video library for hundreds of functional and strength training exercises.
