Joanne Turner's Blog by Joanne_Turner

It’s heating up in spring, and with fewer layers of clothes there seems to be an influx of clients wanting to lose weight. What I so commonly see is a lack of self esteem in these clients to start with, and a boost of confidence does a world of good. If your self esteem is low, you are less likely to believe that it is achievable to reach your goals and revert back to finding comfort in unnecessary food intake.

Positive self talk is what is needed and belief in yourself that you can do what you set out to do. If you continue to tell yourself that you will not reach your goals (negative self talk) you are stopping yourself from moving forward and being happy.

• First of all remember it is about balance. Try and stay away from black and white thinking. Eg. There are good foods and bad foods; I am a success or I am a failure; I am either on my plan or I am off my plan.
  
  It is ok to have a little bit of chocolate every so often and it does not mean that you ate a bad food, you are a failure and now it’s all over. What you need to focus on is the portion, how often you have such foods and what your overall eating plan is like (a food diary will assist you with this).

• No one is perfect and mistakes are made. So don’t focus on what you ‘should’ and ‘should not’ have done, but focus on what you ‘will’ and ‘will not’ do the next time. You can’t change where you have been but you can change where you are going.

• Focus on yourself and don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone’s circumstances are different and it is important to focus on you.

• You may feel at times that it is not working and you may as well give up. This is where believing in yourself is so important and believing that you can do it. Set small goals (see goal setting), the key is not to expect too much too fast.

If you find that you are falling into a trap of self sabotage with weight loss it is time to make a change. I work closely with a great Psychologist who assists in creating strategies for my clients to reach their personal goals. Seeing both a Dietitian and Psychologist could possibly be your recipe to success.

I will leave you with my favourite saying, ‘you don’t have to be a nun to be catholic, so don’t feel you need to be a saint to be healthy’.