3 ways to overcome a negative mindset

Losing weight isn’t always a walk in the park. We all have bad days. There are some weeks where we hit a plateau- which is frustrating! Sometimes the last thing we want to do is cook, or pack a lunch for work. Sometimes it’s tempting to just throw in the towel! Here are three ways that will help you on days when you are feeling unmotivated.

1: Move

It might sound like the very last thing you would want to do, but getting outside and exercising is one of the very best ways to give your mindset a kickstart. Just commit to 5 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, and give yourself full permission to stop after 5 minutes if you really don’t want to do it anymore. That short spurt of activity will get your heart rate up, get the blood flowing into your brain, and maybe even help you to gain momentum. You might find you are happy to do more exercise once you’ve gotten into it. The hardest part is getting started!

2: Simplify

Sometimes things feel overwhelming if we are overcomplicating them.  Having scrambled eggs on grainy toast for dinner is just fine now and then if you just can’t get together enough energy for preparing a full meal from scratch. Going for a walk after dinner will do the trick if you haven’t found time to join your local gym yet. Having a piece of fruit for breakfast is perfectly ok if you are running late. Look at how you can make healthy choices in the simplest way possible. Then give yourself a little time. You might find that giving yourself a break for a few days is enough to recharge your batteries, and then you’ll have more energy to get back into meal planning and cooking.

3: Get grateful

Instead of focusing on things you don’t do well, mistakes, things you find hard, or just negative thoughts in general- try this. For 5 minutes each morning write down as many things as you can think of that you have in your life that you can be grateful for. It could be as simple as a nice hot cup of coffee on a cold morning, having a roof over your head, clothes to wear, a stable income, friends that make you laugh. Whatever it is, after 5 mins you’ll find it a lot more difficult to swap back to a negative mindset, and might just go about your day noticing more positives!

What are your top tips for getting out of a negative mindset rut?