Mindset Beyond Positive Thinking: The Shifts That Actually Change Everything

We are halfway through this coaching series and whether you're joining now or have been here from the beginning, you are in the perfect spot.

Last week, we covered all the practical pieces that support weight loss. This week we are going deeper into something just as important... mindset. And not just "think positive" mindset. We are talking about the shifts that change how you see yourself, how you talk to yourself, and how you actually create lasting results in your body.

These principles go far beyond weight loss. They touch every area of life.

Why Mindset Is Just As Important As the Practical Stuff

We are usually pretty comfortable with the practical... tell me what to eat, how to move, what to track. But when it comes to shifting our mindset or our energetics, we can have more resistance there.

Here's what's important to understand: changing your mindset works the same way changing your habits does. Both take practice. Just like habits are worn into the brain in grooves, how we approach life and talk to ourselves is also worn into our brains as a pattern. This is called neuroplasticity, the thoughts you think repeatedly, especially when paired with emotion, carve deeper pathways in the brain. And the beautiful thing is  those pathways can be rewritten.

You are never stuck with the story you've been telling yourself.

Mindset Shift #1: You Get to Choose What It Means

Your brain's first response to a situation is often just a habit, not the truth. And you get to ask: is this ultimately true?

The scale doesn't move. Does that mean you failed? That you can't do this? Or does it mean you're in a natural part of the cycle, doing all the things, and just need to give it more time?

"I'm not disciplined enough." What does that thought trigger inside of you? How helpful is it to your success?

"This isn't working", this one is one of the most dangerous thoughts we can have. It completes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It invalidates every bit of work we have already done and cuts off internal motivation. Unless we have truly fallen in love with the process, this thought alone can stop us.

It is never a failure when you recognize things aren't going how you desire. Sometimes that contrast is exactly what's needed to incite change. It shows you what isn't working right now which means you are one step closer to finding what does.

Life is a journey. In health and fitness there are so many ebbs and flows. Shifting from "I failed" to "that was hard and I can shift and recover" changes everything.

Mindset Shift #2: Everything Is Optional

How many times have you started your day telling yourself "I should..."?

This is similar to the shift from "I should" to "I get to", and it matters more than it sounds.

Free will is everything. So much less resistance comes when you truly believe you have choices. Think about taking kids home from the park you never say "we're leaving now." It's always "we can leave now or do you want 10 more minutes?" The choice reduces the resistance.

Workouts are optional. But here's what I know, I know how good I feel after a workout versus how I feel after a couple of days without one. I can imagine my older self being so grateful for the muscle mass. That knowing is what makes me choose it, not guilt, not obligation.

When we feel like we have no choice and we don't want to do something, that's when it becomes a struggle. My personal trick, if I really don't want to work out, I say "let me just do 5 minutes." If I still don't want to after that, I don't have to. But more often than not, after those 5 minutes I feel good and keep going.

Inside my Lift Library there are different workout options and time frames from 30 to 50 minutes. When I lead workouts in person I always give options — easier or more challenging. If someone needs more breaks or just needs to vibe in class, that is completely okay. Take the option that allows you to do what is best for your body long term.

Feel good about your choices, not guilted or shamed into them,  and you are far more likely to keep making them.

This is where your nervous system plays a real role. When we operate from guilt or shame, our body is often in a low-grade stress response. Cortisol, our stress hormone,  makes habit change significantly harder. It drives cravings, disrupts sleep, and keeps us in survival mode. When you shift into "I choose this," you create a completely different neurochemical environment, one where dopamine, motivation, and follow-through can actually flourish.

Mindset Shift #3: Feel Good Now

This is the big one. And it goes beyond positive affirmations and positive thinking.

There is both an energetic and a neuroscience component to this, and they point to the same truth.

From an energetic standpoint, your emotional state right now is your vibrational setpoint. Abraham-Hicks teaches that you attract what you are, not just what you want. When you practice feeling like the healthy, capable, vibrant version of yourself, before the results have fully arrived  you are operating from a different signal entirely. And your habits, choices, and perception begin to respond to that signal.

From a neuroscience standpoint, your brain has what's called a Reticular Activating System  your RAS. It is essentially a filter that decides, out of millions of bits of information hitting your senses every second, what you actually notice. When you hold a positive, health-oriented identity and feel it as true, your RAS begins surfacing the opportunities, choices, and momentum that were always available to you but previously invisible.

There is real power in starting your day with intention. The morning is when your day holds the most potential and possibility  before you fall into old patterns or focus only on what already is. Neurologically, the 15 to 20 minutes after waking are a particularly receptive window. Your brain is still in a theta wave state, open and impressionable. This is the ideal time for affirmations, visualization, and intentionally choosing how you want to feel.

And here's the key to affirmations actually working... they have to feel true for you.

An affirmation your nervous system rejects will create resistance, not momentum. Instead of leaping to something that feels impossible, try a bridge statement,  something your brain can genuinely hold. Something like:

"I am becoming someone who naturally makes choices that support my health." "My body is capable and responsive to the care I give it."

These land. They create the feeling. And the feeling is what does the real work.

Visualization works the same way. Research shows that vividly imagining yourself as the person you are becoming activates the same neural circuits as actually doing the thing. When you see and feel yourself as already that person, your brain begins building the architecture to make it real.

A Note on Self-Talk, Shame & Your Nervous System

If you notice you have a lot of negative self-talk, or you've been using guilt and shame to try to motivate change, it never lasts. It can't. Shifting your mindset and being the person you want to be before the results come is the most powerful part of this journey. It is also what allows you to hold the results once they arrive.

Most people, beyond wanting a certain number on the scale, want to feel good in their bodies. A regulated nervous system, one that is not stuck in fight or flight,  is what allows these mindset shifts to actually land. When you are in survival mode, even the best tools won't take hold.

This is a huge part of what coaching holds space for giving women the time to come to their own conclusions about how they want to feel, what they are willing and ready and even want to do. Having accountability and someone who cares beyond "did you eat xyz" truly makes a difference.

Reflection Questions for This Week

Sit with these — and if you can, write out your answers:

• How do I want it to work for me?
• Is there anything telling me I can't have it work out that way?
• Do I know that is ultimately true?
• Write your story of how it works for you.
• Can I summarize that story into one or two affirmations I can return to?

Listen to the Full Episode

There is so much more in the audio, including personal examples, the park analogy, and a deeper conversation on all three of these shifts. Listen to Episode 120 wherever you get your podcasts.

I’m so glad you’re here.

Join the Free Coaching Series

If you’re ready to stop starting over and start building trust in yourself again, this is your invitation.

👉 Join Trust Your Body, Change Your Habits 12 Weeks of Free Coaching
Join HERE https://www.dorothymcgatlin.com/Trustyourbody

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