We all have heard that “you are what you eat” which is very true, but what is even more important when it comes to fasting diets is that “you are what you think.” The great secret to success in life is to have the right attitude. The 5:2 diet plan is easier to follow than strict dieting regimes but to make it work, you need to get your head straight first. Simply said: the way you think, influences the way you feel, and the way you feel will influence the way you eat.
Why People Give Up on Fasting Diets
One of the golden tips to lose weight without picking it up again is to make permanent lifestyle changes.
Every dietician out there will tell you to run from crash diets and diet pills that will quickly get rid of excess weight, yet they remain wildly popular. One of the golden tips to lose weight without picking it up again is to make permanent lifestyle changes. But nobody seems to listen.
For most, is simply too hard to stay motivated enough to make healthy choices with every meal. Even intermittent fasting diets, which give you a lot of freedom and only require you stick to a meal plan for two days a week, seem hard to follow. People try out one diet after the other, lose a bit of weight, encounter a speed bump and end up saying “this diet was not for me.” The only ones who succeed in the long term are those who embrace the way they eat as a new way of life. But why are there so few people who seem to be able to accomplish this?
Researcher Carol Dweck and her colleagues have identified two types of mindsets in people that predict how successful a person will be in life: the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. People with a fixed mindset believe that they are who they are and they can’t do much about it. Those with the growth mindset believe that they can develop themselves and change through effort.
Those who fail to make positive lifestyle changes are stuck in a fixed mindset. Excuses you will often hear include “I just have a slow metabolism,” “I am just big boned” or “I simply don’t have the self control.” However, if you truly believe that you can grow in life and actively live that truth, things become much easier. People with a growth mindset accept that there will be setbacks, but don’t give up the first time they give in to cravings. Self control is like a muscle that you need to develop, the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.
How The 5:2 Fasting Diet Plan Helps You Exercise Self Control
Intermittent fasting diets, such as the 5:2 Fasting Diet Plan have a built-in mechanism that makes it mentally easier to follow than most other diets. Knowing that you can eat whatever you want tomorrow, makes it much easier to stick to the plan today. There’s no need to give up on favorite foods permanently and a bad day doesn’t need to get you down, as you can simply switch your fast day to another day of the week.
Intermittent fasting also helps people to realize that being hungry is not an emergency and that it is perfectly fine to skip a meal now and then. Once you recognize that hunger is something that you can live with, it is easier to practice self control, even on non-fasting days. Fasting also teaches you the difference between real hunger and cravings. Every time you get through a full fast day without giving in, you are strengthening your resistance. The diet plan is designed to be easy to stick to… now it is up to you to get your mind in the game.
Tips to Lose Weight by Changing Your Mindset
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Intermittent fasting diets, such as the 5:2 Fasting Diet Plan, have a built-in mechanism that makes it mentally easier to follow than most other diets.
Compile a list of reasons why you want to lose weight and read through them every morning
- Listen to motivational speakers such as Tony Robbins, Rune Evensen or Dallin Larsin to keep you positive and motivated
- Plan for your fast days. Creating a set meal plan will help you to avoid giving in to cravings
- Eat only at planned meal times, not just when you feel like it
- Although giving in to cravings doesn’t need to spell the end of your diet, keep in mind that it is the habit that counts. Every time you win the battle, you strengthen your resistance
- Exercise and get other healthy distractions that will keep your mind from food on your fast days
- Get someone to hold you accountable. It is easier to stick with a plan if you tell someone about it
- Don’t binge eat on your normal days and over indulge on high-calorie, sweet stuff. Eating healthy throughout the week will make the fast days easier to get through
- Think about everything you eat, even on normal days. Ask yourself with every bite whether this is a healthy choice or not.
Conclusion:
Changing your eating habits and your lifestyle isn’t something that is going to happen overnight, but this shouldn’t keep you from trying over and over again. Intermittent fasting diets are not hard to follow but they, too, require the right mindset.
