Do You Suffer From a Negative, Defeatist Attitude?

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Many people I meet and take on as clients suffer from a negative, defeatist attitude, “the fattitude,” as I call it.

Having a defeatist attitude means that you give up before you’ve even started, like the runner who is so convinced he’s going to lose the race that he doesn’t even bother to go to the starting line.

Your confidence in your competence, what is called your success-ability, plays a large part in how motivated you are. If there is a particular goal you desire, but in your heart of hearts you feel that you won’t be able to achieve it, you will not be motivated to go after it. It follows, then, that if you don’t go after it, you guarantee you will not achieve it!

When we face such a situation, wanting something but not believing we are capable of getting it, are we caught in a no-win situation? Absolutely not. Not only don’t I think so, but I know so. I’ve dealt with thousands of clients over the last 25 years so I know first-hand that with a strategy and a little bit of work you can restore your self-confidence and become motivated to continuously move forward toward your weight loss dreams.

Strategy. That’s an important word because just encouraging someone to “be more confident” isn’t very helpful, now, is it? What they need, what my clients need, and I provide, are specific tasks, guidance and structure that leads to changed behaviors, that will result in them becoming more confident as they see, bit by bit, the positive results of those tasks and behaviors.

Let me present the issue to you in another way.

Have you ever met someone who was consistently negative? Who always found something to complain about? Who drains the energy from those around them? Who quits at the first bit of adversity?

Why would someone like that, who has given up (on losing weight, on stopping smoking or drinking, etc.), be the type of person who encourages you to persist in your weight and health goals?

Why (how?!) would they be the type to motivate and inspire you?

People who have given up on their own dreams will always find a way to discourage yours.

Would you want to be around someone like that? Probably not for very long.

Well, why be that way with yourself? It can’t be helpful, can it? It hasn’t been thus far, has it?

If you approach your weight loss goals (and the occasional slip-ups) with a negative, defeatist attitude, it is unlikely that the results will be positive.

If, by contrast, you approach them with a positive attitude, it is much more likely that you’ll secure a more positive outcome with weight loss or anything else you’re trying to accomplish.

Your thoughts and words create your experiences. Start thinking and talking to yourself differently to get a different result.