Are you labeling yourself?

Labels.

They can be helpful, like telling you how to care for that expensive sweater you just bought.

But they can be really unhelpful and mean, like when you label yourself as a failure because you can’t stick to a diet.

Do you ever hear yourself saying, “I am an embarrassment.”

“I am so unmotivated.”

“I am a sugar addict.”

Do you notice what all of these have in common? They’re all labeling you as something negative.

Stop.doing.that.now.

There are plenty of people who will say negative things about you. Make sure you aren’t one of them.

YOU aren’t an embarrassment, unmotivated, or a sugar addict. YOU are a woman who is figuring out how to finally take care of herself without relying on food for comfort. Unmotivated and failure are just labels we put on ourselves, but they aren’t who YOU truly are.

What does this have to do with losing weight?

When you label yourself in a negative way, you tell your brain what to think. Your brain does what you tell it to do.

What if, instead of, “I’m such a failure,” you said, “I’ve tried a lot of diets and I just haven’t found a way to lose weight that I can stick to, YET, but I’m willing to keep trying.”

Putting negative labels on yourself doesn’t help you lose weight. It just makes you feel worse about yourself. At that point, you just want to snarf down Oreos and Doritos.

So, how do you get yourself to stop saying those things?

The first step is to notice when it happens. You’ll be surprised how often you do it.

Once you start noticing those labels more often, try saying something slightly better in the moment. You have to tell your brain what to think. You probably won’t believe it at first, but keep trying.

Instead of, “I’m not an exerciser” try, “Can I walk for 5 minutes?”

Instead of, “I’m a sugar addict” try, “Can I make one better choice today?”

This process takes time, so give yourself the grace to figure it out no matter how long it takes.

If you want help figuring out what your unhelpful labels are so you can get yourself into a mindset that supports your weight loss goals, take my Menopause Weightloss Assessment and start losing weight today.