What You Say is What You Get

The wise King Solomon of the Bible said, “The tongue has the power of life and death”. Most often, we underestimate the impact of words on our lives – our goals, our dreams and our attitudes. You can speak power into your life, only if you choose the right words. The reason why many of us are unable to attain our fitness goals or get frustrated and give up is because we’re talking ourselves into despair and hopelessness. If you can only replace the negative words with positive ones, you’ll begin to see changes and believe in miracles.

When I started working with Saina Nehwal, I first focused on programming her mind and changing her mind codes. “This play will be perfect. I can win. I’m the best.”

This principle is crucial to successful weight loss, too. Without realizing it, when we’re trying to lose weight, we often use language that makes us feel out of control, and that in turn causes us to make choices that sabotage our best efforts. The solution? When you catch yourself using self-defeating language, stop and re-phrase, using empowering words. Write down your own internal dialogue in your mind and make it external by putting it down on paper.

Here’s a guide (adapted from the Weight Watchers magazine) to how you can swap your negative language for winning words and make the attitude adjustment you need to achieve your fitness goals –

Replace “I’ve been bad” With “I had my reasons, but I’ll do better next time.” Do not wallow in self-pity. Evaluate the situation and pinpoint the reasons why you lapsed Learning from a slip will help you cope better.

Replace “I’m disgusting” with “My most attractive feature is….” Focus on your best attributes, not your worst. Ask your friends to point out your best feature and appreciate yourself whenever you look in the mirror.

Replace “She looks so amazing. I’m so jealous” With “She looks amazing. What an inspiration!” Instead of being envious, why not make her your mentor. Ask her for tips and add them to your plan if you like. Jealousy works against you, not for you.

Replace “I’ve so much to work on and dieting is so hard. I’ll never do it.” With “I’ll take steps toward my goal everyday.” Write down all the things you need to do to get to your goal. Break down your list and go slow. Don’t try to change too many things at once. Celebrate small victories.

Replace “I hate working out” With “I love to move. This feels good.” Do not associate exercise with discomfort of a chore. Make it fun. Find an activity that you enjoy and just rev up the intensity.

The words you speak, the words you think, and the words you repeat, will be the decider of your weight loss challenge. They have the power to imprison you, or set you free to achieve your sustainable weight loss goals.

What are the hurdles and challenges you face to achieving your weight loss goals? Share them in a comment below and together we can work towards a solution.