Emotional Barriers Keep Us Stuck from Weight Loss
Picture this. You’ve been out all day running errands and you’re about to drive home. You’re in a rush, just wanting to get home to throw on your sweats, relax and end the day. You buckle up, turn on the car’s ignition, and you’re so focused on your drive, racing to get home, you start to head out of the parking lot. And as the car is cranking and you’re revving the engine, you realize you aren’t going anywhere. In your rush to leave quickly and drive off, you never noticed that your parking break is still on. You are literally stuck. You’re stuck in your car, nowhere closer to your goal of getting home.
This parking brake represents our mental and emotional barriers when it comes to real change and meeting our weight loss goals. These mental barriers can be our deep fears of failure, our feelings of shame, or the uncertainty in where to begin or how to start.
As a Nutritionist, I see this all of the time as the number one reason why we stay stuck and don’t lose weight. The emotional barriers keep us from being mindful or intentional about our choices and ultimately sabotages our ultimate goals of achieving the optimal health and weight we desire… and deserve!
In our rush to get home, we hit the gas, expecting to go somewhere. This rushing ties into excuses we create of “not having enough time” to get healthy or “I will start my diet tomorrow.” We’ve all been there. Checked out. On autopilot.
Rushing isn’t getting us to our goals.
But the thing is, we need to check IN - we need to be more mindful and present and check in with ourselves.
Living with the parking break on causes us to self sabotage, which sometimes we don’t even realize we do. And in that self sabotage, we are taking ourselves away from our goals.
There are three ways we self sabotage our weight loss goals and three ways to grow past it.
1. Lack of belief - When we don’t believe in ourselves. We attempt to try a new weight loss diet, but we fail at it. Then we try another diet, and again fail. These attempts lead to self doubt, into thinking “I will always be this way,” which cycles into our uncertainty and insecurities.
2. Uncertainty and insecurities - This is where our self talk comes in, and since we’ve said “I’ll always be this way,” we aren’t able to move forward no matter what we try. It’s a cycle that keeps repeating. “Will this work if I try something new ?” Or “will anything work,” we ask ourselves time and again.
3. FEAR - And through our fears, whether it’s fear of failing, fear of missing out, or even fear of being successful - the vicious cycle begins again. And we are on and off the diet wagon for years.
So how do we overcome this self sabotage?
As a Holistic Nutritionist and Emotional Eating Health Coach, I work with women every day in the LoYo Method on the necessary steps you can take, the words and phrases you can use to check in with yourself, to become more mindful and ultimately reach your goals of weight loss and optimal health. Because healthy is a state of mind, and you’ve got to get your mind checked in. You have to be present.
Avoid self limiting beliefs. Don’t argue for your limitations. This means, when you say things like “I’ll always be this way” or “I can’t do it” or “not today” or “I have no control,” you are giving your brain the instruction that this is your limit. You not having control becomes your belief - and it’s what you will continue to believe. You need to change the narrative and the things you tell yourself that you believe. You need to start believing in yourself.
Be mindful - Over 90% of our decisions are made on the subconscious level of the brain. When we begin focusing on our intentions and our attentions, we can redirect and reprogram our brain. The LoYo Method is all about switching from negative self talk to positive self talk - to believing in yourself, because I believe in you and I’m there with you. I’ve been there. Be intentional with yourself. Tell yourself - “I am capable,” “I am strong” “I am in control.”
Practice practice practice - It’s not going to be easy or be fixed overnight. It takes time to reprogram your brain with new intentions and mindfulness. We need to focus on now, on today. We can’t worry about last week or the future - because when we forget about today, we lose sight of the day by day goal. Focus on today, and take imperfect actions. That’s okay. We have a choice to treat each day like a brand new start - and we need to put our attentions on one day at a time. Whatever you do today, you are more likely to do tomorrow.
Toni Robbins says “divorce the story of your limitations and marry the truth of unlimited capacity.”
When we focus on the mechanics of today, we’re one step closer to reaching that goal. By redirecting and by being intentional in what we think, we are closer to our weight loss and emotional eating goals than ever before.
Jessica Kishpaugh is a Holistic Nutritionist & Emotional Eating Coach, Owner of LoYo Wellness in Wyckoff in Bergen County NJ (www.loyowellness.com) and Founder of The LoYo Method intuitive eating and sustainable weight loss program. Jessica specializes in healthy and sustainable weight loss, intuitive eating, emotional eating, stress reduction and mindfulness.
Book your FREE Breakthrough Call HERE to get clarity on your weight loss and mindset goals, to understand what’s holding you back from living the life you deserve, as well as to find a solution moving forward.