You’ve probably heard a lot about having a “positive attitude” and how this positive attitude can affect your goals in life, such as weight loss. But you may not have heard a lot of answers on why a positive attitude helps, or how to develop this outlook on life. Read on for more in-depth information on how attitude can affect your weight loss results…

What is an “attitude” anyway?

Your attitude, in this case, refers to your frame of reference to the world. Your attitude encompasses your view reality and impacts how you react to circumstances or events in your life. An attitude can be either positive or negative.

Your attitude wasn’t formed in a vacuum.

Your outlook on life was formed by a variety of interacting factors, such as heredity, family life, temperament, environment, your success in life, luck, and many others.

Your attitude can determine whether you fail or succeed in any endeavor.

While other factors definitely intervene, an individual’s attitude is one of the main determining factors in whether they fail or succeed. We know that people with positive attitudes are much more likely to succeed and find happiness than those who are grounded in negativity.

Positive attitudes are often shaped by adversity!

You might think that some people are positive because they’ve never faced a real problem in their lives. Actually, the opposite is often true! Many people who have faced serious adversity have become more motivated and have developed a greater degree of resilience. Adversity is often not a game-ending event for many people.

Positive attitudes turn problems into opportunities.

A person with a positive attitude turns a problem into an opportunity, whereas a person with a negative attitude may only see defeat. For example, a person who is overweight can either see an opportunity to learn about nutrition and have fun getting fit, or they can develop a belief that there is nothing they can do and weight loss is impossible.

Attitudes can be changed.

Even if you have held a negative attitude toward weight loss in the past, you aren’t stuck with these beliefs forever. The first step to changing your attitude is to recognize your negative thinking patterns and consciously work to change them. It take consistent, constant effort at first. But after a while your new thinking patterns become habit.

If you think a negative attitude is impacting your weight loss efforts, talk to your physician or a mental health counselor. In many cases certain therapies or a support group may help you to change your thinking patterns, and consequently you can change your life!