Don't Worry, Be Happy: Releasing Negative Thoughts Could Help You Lose Weight

Releasing Negative Thoughts Can Help You Lose Weight
Releasing Negative Thoughts Can Help You Lose Weight

Diet and exercise have long been viewed as the golden keys to weight loss. Put yourself on a restrictive diet of your choosing, and add exercise to your daily schedule, and the simple combination of more calories burned than consumed would successfully lead to weight loss. But what if you're stuck? What if you're following all the "rules" and doing things the "right way," but those last few pounds just aren't budging?

Some may view this halt in weight loss as your body's natural way of holding onto the weight for some reason, often unknown to us. For myself, I know that I can do all the "right" things, but my body just won't drop any additional weight post-pregnancy, until I stop nursing. But for those with no extraneous circumstances holding them back, like breastfeeding an infant, what is the key to shedding those final pounds when the scale just refuses to budge any further? Some claim that a switch in your attitude can make all the difference.

When further examined, it does make sense that a person's positive, or negative, attitude, can make all the difference in a weight loss success story. If you constantly approach your workouts with dread, or hold yourself up to unrealistic diet management goals, and then berate yourself for "cheating," you begin to send emotions and thoughts to spiral out of control, leading to weight loss sabotage. Lack of enthusiasm leads to missed workouts, negative thoughts can trigger emotional eating, which only makes you feel worse and leads to more eating.

Related: 20 little ways to de-stress throughout the day

Conversely, if you look forward to your workouts as a way to boost endorphins, or allow yourself flexibility in your diet, you'll end up feeling good about yourself and the path you're on, and therefore more likely to stay on it. A healthy diet and a realistic workout routine all lead to increased energy, fill your body with positive brain and emotional boosters, and can very well take you all the way to reaching your weight loss goal.

But is thinking happy thoughts really all it takes to overcome that final weight loss hurdle? Personal development coach Bonnie Gayle believes you have to go so far as releasing all your negative energy you've been storing in your cells from the time you were born. By targeting certain energy chakras with a type of organic butter, you can start to release those positive thoughts, stored since birth, and finally hit your weight loss goal.

My question is: Where does that negative energy go? And does someone else get stuck with it? I certainly don't have a lot of experience with energy chakras, and I don't discredit what Ms. Gayle claims, but I think I'll just stick to thinking happy thoughts as I'm pounding the pavement, and continue to feel proud and accomplished when I treat myself right with good, clean food.

- By Andrea Howe
For 10 ways to be a happier person for life, visit Babble!

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