The ABCs of Food Freedom (Part 3): Beliefs

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  You're listening to part three of a four-part series on how to stop tracking and learn to listen to your body, to eat more mindfully. So if you haven't yet, go back and listen to the first two episodes (Breaking Free From Food Tracking and The ABCs of Food Freedom: Awareness). And then come back here and stay tuned for our next episode, too.

Today we're going to be talking about the B of the ABCs of food freedom, and the B stands for beliefs.

I feel like I could spend hours talking about this. This one is so huge. The way we talk to ourselves and about ourselves really, truly determines the way we show up in the world and the actions that we take.

A lot of us have these stories that we've created in our heads and we get really attached to them. We get attached to why we are the way we are instead of focusing on the way we want to be. And when it comes to weight loss, especially, I see this over and over and over again. And in myself too.

We cling to these stories because they give us an excuse to fail, honestly. If you're the girl who's tried 20 times to lose weight and you fail your 21st time, it doesn't seem that bad, right. But if you're the girl who definitely has the ability to change and you don't, that feels a little different.

And I don't mean to sound harsh, but the thoughts you're thinking in your head really do matter. And I want to challenge you to start thinking in a way that your ideal self would think. So if you want to wake up and go for a walk and then enjoy a nice coffee and a healthy breakfast, don't create excuses as to why you can't do that because the more you repeat the excuses in your head, the more you're going to act in a way that backs that up.

So instead, I love visualization exercises and affirmations. Repeat to yourself every day the words that remind you of who you are and who you want to be. A daily affirmation is great. You can write it on your mirror, you can put it on a sticky note, and seriously repeat those words to yourself as often as you can throughout the day.

Visualization exercises are also amazing. And when you say these words or you create these vision boards, or just visualize who you want to be, make sure to tap into the feelings that that invokes too. So the words are great, the vision boards are great, but feeling the way that makes you feel is even more powerful and has even greater effects.

So your homework for today is to write down some affirmations that affirm the way you want to show up. Create a vision board, or even just sit in a quiet room and visualize the person you want to be and feel the way that that feels. And then when you catch yourself creating excuses or clinging to old stories, remind yourself that that just simply isn't true. It's not who you are and it's not serving the future you that you want to become.