When I weighed 286 pounds life happened to me…  

I didn’t feel like I had a choice in anything and my world was full of “Have to’s…”  Everything from “I have to get up today”, to “I have to make dinner for my family”, and “I have to go to work”. 

All of these “have to’s” led to me feeling completely powerless, and like I didn’t have a choice in anything.  

This powerless feeling included, my inability to lose the weight that caused me to hurt both physically and mentally.  Let’s talk about 3 changes to mindset that allow for A Healthy Lifestyle Change…

A Healthy Lifestyle Change 1: I Changed My Perspective

One day I came out of the fog just a little and realized just how miserable I had become.  Not only internally, but I just wasn’t living a joyful life.  

There is a long story, but for 8 years they told us we couldn’t have anymore children, and we proved them wrong… with 2 more 16.5 months apart. 

I was blessed, but boy let me tell you everything I did for my family felt like a dredge on my life.

Let me assure you, I loved and love my family with all my heart.  But I sure wasn’t acting like it.  And I wasn’t enjoying their young years like I had wanted to when I dreamed of more kids.

This misery was all because I was so big, and I hurt sooo bad. Every task felt big and overwhelming and I had very little energy.  My negativity was helping to suck the energy out of me.

To change this, I changed my perspective.  Every time I felt those nasty thoughts creep in, I took myself back mentally where I had so desperately wanted more babies.

I found gratitude for all the little wants and needs of my children and my dear hubby.  All they wanted from me was help and love.

This mental switch although small helped me as I began my weight loss journey too, because I knew how badly I wanted those babe’s for 8 years… and I knew I really wanted to enjoy raising them and participate in their lives.

So what switch in perspective do you need to make?  This switch does help with the weight loss journey.  😉

A Healthy Lifestyle Change 2: Swap “I have to” with “I get to…”

So as I began feeling grateful again for the amazing family I had, I needed a little more mental word fuel to keep me moving forward toward a healthy lifestyle.

You would be amazed at the difference 1 little word can have on your mindset and world view in general.

There were many years where I was stuck in the “I have to” mindset.  This made everything feel like a great big old chore.

To ditch the feeling everything was a chore, I began making a conscious effort to say to myself and out loud… I get to do “this” today.

This worked with everything from I get to go grocery shopping, to I get to make the bed.  This really does make a huge difference on how you feel about the activity.  

“I have to…” is forced and required.  “I get to…“, is a choice and implies fun and it empowers you.

So try switching out “I have to…” with “I get to…” for a few days and see how YOU feel!

A Healthy Lifestyle Change 3: Empower yourself with-“I choose…”

The mindset trick I used to empower A Healthy Lifestyle change was to implement the totally empowering two little words….   I CHOOSE…

This is one of my favorites… I still use all of these daily fyi…   

So when I start to feel like I want that bag of chips, (darn those corn chips in my cabinet this week), or a candy bar from the box of fundraiser candy bars traveling my house… I CHOOSE HEALTHY is my mantra…

I was put on my first diet at the age of 9…   Someone (either myself or others) have been controlling my food for so many years… and I am a rebel at heart.  

Big secret here… I HATE being controlled!  I would often just have what I wanted to say screw it.  In some odd sense it empowered me because I was doing the opposite of being controlled…  Soooo….. I now empower myself with Choice!

Knowing I have the power of choice on my side, gives me a sense of inner peace.   

So when faced with a food CHOICE how do you choose?  Try adding choice to your day and see how it works for you….

Let’s Close This Out…

These are my 3 favorite mindset tricks that helped me lose 120 pounds and achieve a healthy lifestyle for the first time in my life. 

They are all stories in my head that I changed to give myself the power to see the possibility of losing weight.

I didn’t lose my 120 pounds in a short period of time. Primarily because I have done that before… I lost the weight to gain it all back again in a very short period of time twice before this.

Changing my mindset, I believe is the reason I have maintained my weight loss for 5 years.

How can you do some word play with yourself?

So let’s do a little review:

To create a healthy lifestyle change:

• Changed Your Perspective
• Swap “I have to” with “I get to…”
• Empower yourself with-“I choose…”

Each of these mindset “tricks” will allow you to take your power back and lose the weight on your terms… not fast, just steady and keep it off…

Are you ready to start making small changes over time?  If you are, I would love to have you in my private facebook group.  I help smart, successful women over 40 lose 100 or more pounds with consistency and confidence so you can stop observing life, get out of pain & start living a life you love, in a body that gives you joy.