When someone loses weight, you probably attribute their success to diet and exercise, but mindset makes a big difference, too! Josephine Desgrand from Australia ended up losing 132 pounds in total by adopting a positive outlook. Of course, she also hit the gym and changed up her eating habits, but her newfound optimism pushed her through it.
When Josephine was 16, she reached her heaviest weight of 127 kgs, or almost 280 pounds. At that point, she realized she needed to make some serious changes, so she jumped right into a healthy lifestyle and never looked back. When someone feels that fire within and loses weight, it often ends up falling off very quickly.
“I lost in total, I’m pretty sure it was like 62 kilograms. So over 132 pounds, and that was in under 11 months! All by myself, all naturally”
Such a dramatic transformation can only happen when someone really wants to make a difference in their life. Oftentimes, it’s only by reaching our lowest point that we rise from the ashes and become our best selves. When a person loses weight, it doesn’t just change their physical appearance – they change for the better within, too.
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So, how did Josephine achieve such life-changing results?
“I started my fitness journey back in 2016. I was 16 years old and I was overweight,” Josephine says. “I was actually so exhausted of being overweight. I had tried so many times, so many different diets, to try and lose weight but nothing was working for me.”
She says at that time, she didn’t have the right mindset for losing weight, and hadn’t done enough research on healthy foods. So, she got to work learning all she could about food to understand what her body really needed to thrive. This served as the first stepping stone toward reaching her goals and feeling better in her own skin.
“I sat there and googled everything I could and tried to find as much information as I could.”
While she came across a lot of conflicting ideas, everyone seemed to agree on the negative health consequences of sugar and refined carbohydrates. So, she cut those out of her diet right away.
“So I started seeing results pretty much immediately. The first few weeks I could see a massive difference.”
Josephine decided not to weigh herself as she continued shedding pounds, but rather use before and after pictures to track progress.
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“At the end of two weeks or after a week I would compare my two photos, my beginning photo and my current photo, and I could see the minor little differences,” she said. “I would do that every couple of weeks and I would see so much change, and the first six weeks I lost 15 kilograms!”
That equates to around 33 pounds, which came from tweaking minor things about her lifestyle. Cutting out sugar, paying attention to the foods she ate, and getting regular exercise contributed to the weight loss. Of course, when someone loses weight, keeping up these good habits becomes a challenge. However, if you look at exercising and eating healthy as “treating yourself,” this mindset shift could make all the difference.
It’s all in the positivity
Most people view working out and choosing healthy foods as boring or restrictive. If you look at fitness as drudgery, you will have a hard time sticking to it long-term. However, if you choose to see the lifestyle change as something beneficial to your mind and body, you’ll want to keep at it.
As Josephine said, a positive mindset helped her stay on track and remain motivated to continue losing weight. She knew she didn’t feel good carrying around excess weight, but she had to shift her perspective to start seeing results. If you want to achieve any goal in life, it all begins within your own mind. Positive mantras and affirmations can greatly help you to realize your potential and move forward in life.
Just think how much you can accomplish in a year if you just get started today. You don’t have to go from sitting on the couch to running a marathon right away, either. Simply take that first step – sign up for a gym membership, cut out foods you know make you feel bad, or walk around your neighborhood. Every little step will take you in the direction you want to go.
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“Today is my 2 year anniversary of the day I decided to change my life. I remember just clearly thinking, this is it – I am going to do this. I took control myself. I knew that it was me, and only me, that could make this change. I lost 60kg in 11 months and have maintained for just over a year. The biggest advice I can give is just keep going. Don’t give up. The time will pass anyway, so spend it creating the life you want. It’s your choice.”
Final thoughts on how someone loses weight through positive thinking
We all feel stuck sometimes in life, but only you can decide to take the reigns and make a difference for yourself. Don’t feel like you have to lose weight or look a certain way for anyone but yourself, either. If you compare yourself to other people’s journey, you’ll always feel inadequate. Just try to become better than the person you were yesterday, and you’ll inspire others in the process.
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“Same girl, completely different life. It took me a long time to believe I could do it, but if you change your mind, you will change your body. I feel so proud seeing the results of my hard work and effort. Make the change. You got this.”
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