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00:12
Hey everyone, Mikki here. You're listening to another mini-Mikkipedia on a Monday. And today we are talking about mindset for fat loss. And the reason why this is really important is that if you don't get your head in the right place before you embark on a fat loss approach, it is pretty much doomed to fail from the start. And the thing is, is that this stuff needs work and needs constant work.

00:41
But I really don't want anyone to be put off by that because honestly, if you're not constantly working on something throughout your entire life, then what are you being challenged and stimulated by and then what are you getting better at? You know, and weight loss on the outset can seem pretty simple. All of the information that you need is out there on the internet. It's there in a plan. Of course,

01:06
I'm talking about this because my Monday's Matter plan registration for that opens this Thursday and it is open for 10 days before we kick off at the end of May. But importantly though, even if you've got the tools at your fingertips, if you don't have your head in the game, then you may see some success, but you may not see ultimate success. And that is what me as a...

01:33
know, a nutritionist and someone who really wants to see people succeed, that is what we want. We want to give you tools so you don't need us. However, so many people don't succeed in the long term. They can follow a plan, but once the plan is no longer there, they really flounder and they struggle. Of course, there are other reasons why people quote unquote fail. And the very first one

02:02
I heard something actually on a podcast this week and they said, you should begin something wanting to fail because you learn every time you fail something, you learn something about yourself. Now, I don't want you to start something like Monday's matter and fail at all actually. But I thought, you know what, there's a really good way to approach something. So you lose the fear around failure. And the other group of people who I see who aren't successful initially in fat loss is

02:32
They get so far and then something happens and they fail and quit then. They quit because they're not successful at that point in time and they're unable to do it perfectly. That kind of mindset, that fixed mindset is one of the biggest barriers for some people. If they can't do something perfectly, they're not going to do it at all. And that type A personality can really get in the way. And

02:57
Another aspect when it comes to mindset around diets, particularly for people who have dieted before, is that they almost go into a dieting approach, not really backing themselves. They're like, oh, try this. Yet they think, I'm just going to fail long term. They don't really, they try it, not necessarily thinking at the forefront of their mind thinking, oh yeah, I'm going to fail this, but it's sitting there at the back of their mind. I've done so many diets. Why is this going to be different?

03:27
And I really encourage everyone to stop and think about that because the main reason, if you like, that people are unsuccessful with changing their eating behavior or exercise behavior or anything in the long term is because of the stories that they tell themselves. And your thoughts dictate your actions, which dictate your habits in the long term. And then your habits really influence how you think.

03:58
And so if your thoughts initially are thinking, oh, why am I going to, you know, I'm just gonna fail this because I failed everything else, then that is then going to dictate the actions that you take, which is then ultimately gonna dictate what becomes a habit. And then your habits really tell you something about the type of person you are, and that then influences how you think. So it's this constant cycle. So,

04:23
In order to make long lasting effective change, you have to change those thoughts and that narrative that might be going on in your head. Because certainly, it is not a lack of information that is preventing anyone from losing weight. You only need to go to Google and put in how to lose weight. And literally, I did this the other day, and it came up with what, like, I think 14 billion results. About 14 billion is what Google said to me.

04:53
And it's certainly not food accessibility for most people. Most people listening to this could probably access food that is gonna help elicit a fat loss for them. Now, of course, costs of living, and I'm certainly not diminishing costs of living for anyone, and it certainly can be expensive. And particularly when you try to lose weight in a way that also helps preserve muscle and bone, you do need to eat more protein. So I'm not diminishing that, but food accessibility

05:23
fat loss isn't necessarily an issue. However, that healthy food is in a landscape of an unhealthy food environment. So therefore, if you're only relying on willpower for you to lose weight, it does make it very difficult in the long run to be able to do that successfully and sustainably. So you have to change the thought process that's going on in your mind. And it's not necessarily stopping these thoughts.

05:50
These things that come up every time you come across a challenge or you're confronted with a situation that you're unable to handle in your life. It's not like you can necessarily change or stop the thoughts that occur when that happens, but you just need to be able to know how to change the script and rewrite that narrative that's going on in your head.

06:16
And some of the really common things that I get from both clients and people that go through my program are thoughts like, I can't do that, I'm stubborn. No, no, I'm just stubborn. Or I don't need that. I always fall off the wagon. Now is not the right time. Oh, yeah, I can do that, but I just can't give up my traits. And the underlying thought pattern behind this are things that like actually

06:44
that you're not open to new ideas around food. Like being stubborn. I mean, that's just, that's a fixed mindset. That's not a reason that you can't do something. That is you deciding that you're stubborn and you can easily decide not to be stubborn. Or I don't eat that. I mean, maybe there's some food psychology stuff going on. I mean, it's all food psychology, but why not? Why don't you eat that? I'm type A. Now type A's don't actually realize how much of a barrier being type A is.

07:13
sustainable food or fat loss actually because when someone who is Taipei comes across a situation where they cannot control the food that they're eating or things don't go to plan they tend to throw the baby out with the bath water. It's not perfect so they're not going to do it at all. They're really all or nothing. Whereas you know life happens in the grey zone actually. So few things in life are black or white.

07:42
And unless you're comfortable with that, then it can be really challenging to lose weight and keep it off for good in a way that's sustainable, in a way that's not obsessive. And this is why actually, those people who are not type A and instead are more, you know, type B, maybe even type C, whatever that is, are much more flexible in their mindset and much less rigid in their approach to fat loss. So when they do come across a situation where they're unable to...

08:10
eat something that aligns with their health goals, they can move on much more quickly actually. Waiting for the right time, honestly, in anything in life, you'd be waiting forever. It's not the right time to go on a diet. It's not the right time to start an exercise program. It's not the right time to look at my sleep patterns. It is never gonna be the right time. You actually just have to decide to do it and then do it. And remember, it's not about being motivated, it's actually about acting. And...

08:39
Once you start putting to place those actions and doing it regardless, you then are able to be motivated because you might not like what you're doing at the time, but you will begin to like how it makes you feel. And you have to rely on that because ultimately that's the thing that gets you through at the end. You know, I think about weight loss and I think about strength training a little bit like sort of coffee. Like no one likes coffee.

09:06
begin with really do they? You don't grow, you don't, the first sip of coffee almost no one goes wow that's delicious but if you serve someone a moccaccino that has got the chocolate and the sugar they're like oh yeah I could sort of get behind this, this is all right. Gradually they sort of move on to a cappuccino so a little bit more you know less sugar still milky and they're like yeah cool still got the fluff this is good then it's a flat white then it's a latte or whatever order they come in they're not that different really are they? And then suddenly

09:36
long black or not even as a short black and they're taking it like a shot and they're having it hardcore. And that's sort of how I think about diets and strength training and eating in a way that you then love how it makes you feel. So you sort of, it's this gradual approach. You've almost, you've got to sort of start and just believe that ultimately you're going to end up loving how it makes you feel and even loving it, you know. And I think one of the things as well that I'll mention is that people

10:05
are often scared to change how they eat because they are gonna miss the foods that they love. Oh, but I love bread. Who doesn't love bread? I think we all love bread, you know. Oh, but I love that date's gone in the morning with my coffee. But we forget that what we love changes over time as well because your tastes change. And the foods that sometimes people are eating right now, they're not making them feel good. They're the things that are contributing to excess body fat gain and they do have to go. Yet,

10:34
whilst there's a little bit of grieving that goes on initially, when you feel good and when you start to eat different foods, your tastes and your taste buds change. And you know, if you go cold turkey on anything, it takes as little as about 10 days for that to occur. However, over time, it's almost a little disappointing actually, when you go back and have a date skull and you're like, you know what, I didn't really love that. And it does happen. Something that can really help accelerate the changes.

11:03
and get you acting without having to rely on motivation is something called the five second rule. And this is something that Mel Robbins talks about. And it's the meaning behind it is we only have a few seconds to execute an idea once we have it and before our minds interfere and sabotage our efforts to remain in our comfort zone, because that's where your brain wants you to be, in your comfort zone. Yet in order to make any change, you have to move beyond that. You have to challenge yourself.

11:33
always favor safety over risk. So the only way to get beyond this is to act in spite of your feelings. So you have to differentiate what you want to do with what you're able to do. Because we can basically do any of this, right? And you just have to push beyond the fact that you might not really love doing it right at the time. The reason why our brains sort of leave us in our comfort room, in our comfort place and sort of our sort of

12:02
in the safety net is because it's purely energy conservation. Our brains consume a significant amount of energy and when we engage in new and challenging activities like cold water therapy for example, it requires more cognitive resources and effort. So our brains will naturally seek to minimize energy expenditure by sticking to our familiar routines. And there of course is the fear of the unknown, so our brains are wired to be wary of potential

12:31
new situations and experiences can be perceived as uncertain and potentially dangerous. And your brain doesn't know the difference between starting a new gym program or being like the threat of being eaten by a wild wooly mammoth. So by maintaining the status quo and staying within our comfort zone, we reduce the risk of encountering unexpected threats. And then of course there's the fear of failure. So there's always the risk of failure when we change.

13:00
it's new, it's unfamiliar, we don't know if we're good at it. And this can trigger feelings of disappointment, shame or embarrassment. So our brains try to avoid these negative emotions by steering us away from activities that carry the risk of failure. Also habituation, we're creatures of habit and our brains are wired to form neural pathways in response to repeated experiences. That's why when you're sort of two weeks into a diet plan and then someone offers you chocolate

13:29
without even thinking about it, you do it. It's so easy because that's the default behavior pattern that has been going on for potentially decades. This is why you have to sort of give yourself some grace when you are changing what you're doing around your food and your exercise and then you do, you know, for want of a better sort of term, you screw it up. It's because that's your default behavior. And it's been years and years and years in the making. So it does take time to change these thought patterns.

13:58
The best thing to do though is to just move on. Because if you ruminate in that, and you allow yourself to dwell on sort of what went wrong, then it's really hard to move forward. You can never move forward by constantly thinking about things in the past, and you always have to sort of draw a line in the sand and move on. So you can't really switch off sort of old thought patterns. You just have to move forward with it basically. So with the five second rule, for example,

14:27
You just have to give yourself those five seconds to do it. So you're not pushing snooze on your alarm clock. If you're having a new routine around an exercise, um, routine, or, you know, you need to do food prep, but you'd much rather sit on the couch and do Netflix. Just do it. And when it comes to sort of thought patterns, you can overwrite them over time.

14:51
And sometimes with new things as well, we can be a little anxious or overwhelmed or scared, particularly overwhelmed. And I get this a lot with people coming onto the program when they're given all of the information at the start and it's all new and unfamiliar and they're scared to fail because again, it's this, I've been on so many diets. If I give it my all, what if I still can't lose weight? You know, like people really do think that there's something uniquely in them that prevents them from meeting their goals.

15:20
I'm not saying that there aren't reasons why people can't lose weight beyond their thought process. Of course there is, but for 99% of people they hold themselves back for fear of that failure. And it's overwhelming to get all of this new information first and foremost. But fear and excitement, they're the same feeling. You get that increase in heart rate, you get this increase in

15:49
adrenaline or the sort of rush that can occur in this strange feeling in your stomach butterflies in your stomach. That's either fear or anxiety, or it can also be anticipation and excitement. So sometimes when you're sort of faced with a whole lot of information and you feel really overwhelmed, you just need to take some deep breaths and try and let it sink in and don't try to take it all in at once and read and reread it over. But also if you just notice

16:19
at this new thing, try and turn it into excitement and anticipation and think about the opportunities that can occur when you adopt a new behavior. And of course I'm thinking about weight loss, but this occurs or applies to everything that we do in life. Anything that we're nervous and anxious about. If we can reframe it as anticipation and excitement for something new, a new opportunity, then that can really change how you then approach that opportunity. But of course, you know, it's...

16:49
It takes more than just someone saying, oh, just change how you think about it. It's certainly not that easy. And it absolutely takes time. So it takes practice. It's an everyday thing. And it does take resources. And some of the books that can help with this are books like The As If Principle by Richard Wiseman. Of course, James Clear's Atomic Habits. That's an amazing book. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kinneman. Nudge by Richard Theller and Cass Fowler.

17:19
Sunstein, The Happiness Advantage by Shaun Abell, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Coey, one of my favorites, The Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss, Tiny Habits by B.J. Fogg, Deep Work by Cal Newman. These are all books which are readily available either at the library, on Amazon, or not book depository anymore because that's apparently gone kibosh. But they're not that hard to find these books and then you need to consume them.

17:47
This is the thing, you can't just own a book, you actually have to read it, and then you probably have to reread it. And do it often. I find myself engaging in podcasts, reading chapters from books almost every week, because it really helps reframe my mind in and around sort of challenging business decisions or situations where I'm uncertain about the outcome. I constantly need that reinforcement from resources like this to help me make the best decision.

18:17
going forward. And it's no different when it comes to weight loss. Like all of these books are about mindset and absolutely applies to weight loss. And I would say as well is that sometimes when you're changing your diet, you don't even know one, what the problem is or two, where you're even at. So I really encourage people and I'm getting them to do this in my anatomy of fat loss sort of event that's going on right now is

18:46
write down exactly what the problem is. Why aren't you losing weight? What is the issue? Have you even really given it enough deep thought to know? Because if you haven't, then it's really hard to know your best place to start. And then on that, do you even know what you're eating in a day? And I talk to people about this every week about what they eat, and they will give me this broad outline, and then other things come up and I'm like, hang on, well...

19:15
You've never told me that you eat cheese and now you're telling me you've got a cheese addiction. You know, like what are you even doing? Do you even know? So first be really explicit when you write down what is actually the problem, what is preventing you from losing weight. And second, write down what you eat in real time. Doesn't have to be in an app. You don't even have to weigh and measure it at this stage. Just become aware of what you're actually doing, because then you'll be able to relate that back to

19:44
habits and behaviors and situations and exercise and sleep patterns. You know, we make over 200 food decisions in a day and we were only cognizant of maybe 10-15% of these. So you really want to ask yourself when you've got your food intake down in front of you, you need to spend this time doing this, what emotions or feelings were you experiencing before, during or after eating? And did they influence your food choices?

20:14
Were you genuinely hungry? Were there other factors such as boredom or stress or distraction? How did the time of day or your schedule affect your food choices? Did you make any of these food choices based on convenience? Were they influenced by social or cultural factors? Did you experience any cravings? How did you manage them? And what do you think triggered them? Were you mindful of portion sizes and serving amounts when making your food choices?

20:40
How did the taste, appearance, or aroma of the food affect your decisions? Did the nutritional value come into your decision making process when eating the food? How did it impact your choices? And how satisfied were you with the meals? Did they meet your hunger or taste expectations? You know, putting this work in might seem like a chore, but how important is this goal to you? You know, like if it is a chore to you, if all of this sounds like too much like work,

21:08
Maybe you're not in the right place to begin a fat loss plan to begin with actually, or to make these really wholesale changes. Because ultimately, this is what makes change sustainable. And that is the bottom of the fat loss pyramid. You know, it's certainly not grains and breads and cereals when we think about food pyramids. No, no. Pillars of fat loss is absolutely underlined by adherence and sustainability. But unless you know how your thoughts...

21:36
are affecting your decisions around what you eat and your habits in and around food. And unless you know what the actual problem is, like what are your barriers? What are the things that are holding you back? And unless you actually know what you're eating, then how on earth are you going to then make a decision around where to make changes? Look, I'm a massive fan of nutrition plans, obviously, because I sell them, and nutrition coaching, and they're really successful.

22:03
but they're most successful in the people that do the deep work first. Because anyone can follow a food plan, but what happens when that plan finishes, you know? And the people that are most successful are those who have a plan afterwards, but have also done the work beforehand so they know where the work needs to be done. So when it comes to fat loss, it is about the habits. It is about your priorities. And it's about what you can do.

22:32
versus what you're willing to do. Like most people can do everything, but what is it that you're willing to do? What are you willing to change? Have a think about that as well. And when you are doing this exercise, because I do encourage you, if you're interested particularly in Mondays Matter or any fat loss program or making changes, do all of this stuff, but don't put any judgment on it. Because so many people...

22:55
judge themselves for their decisions and for their situation. Whereas you've got to let that go. Like you've really got to have such a blank canvas coming into this, because then you're able to make better sort of objective decisions and resources really help consuming information really helps not diet information really. I mean, it does, of course, because you've got to sort of know what to do. But if you struggle to sustain, make sustainable changes to your food or your exercise.

23:23
then you've got to do this kind of work as well. And that's where the mindset stuff is so helpful. Anyway, I hope this was helpful, getting you thinking about it. And like I said, Mondays matter, that starts on Thursday, right? Well, registration starts Thursday. So get in, it is such a great time to do this. Winter, I mean, what else are you gonna do? You want to emerge like this amazing spring butterfly or maybe winter butterfly, because it's just eight weeks. But you don't want to be a little

23:52
of caterpillar in your cocoon over this time don't hibernate get a mainstream peeps sign up to mondays matter anyway if you've got any questions on this hit me up on facebook at micky willard in nutrition instagram and twitter at micky willard in or head to my website and we have just updated it and i am super excited micky willard in.com where you can book a call with me join the mondays matter on waitlist actually if it's before thursday you get a better deal

24:21
sign up to Mondays Matter if this is after Thursday. Have a great week guys.