What often holds women back from getting the body they want is the belief that they can have it.

Ultimately, you get what you expect.

You may hold yourself back from being willing to believe you can achieve your goal because of:

• Fear that you will be disappointed
• Worry that you aren’t doing the “right” eating plan or exercise program
• Other contradictory beliefs, such as there’s something wrong with your body and it doesn’t respond like other people’s
• Faulty beliefs about your self-worth and how much you deserve it
• A combination of these or other thoughts

There are a number of reasons that expectation is so powerful and is such a huge predictor of success.

One is simply that you hold back on your commitment to action if there’s a part of you that believes the results are not possible.

Just think about it. How likely are you to give your workout your all or stick to your eating plan if you are questioning how effective it will be?

It can feel like a huge risk to put all your emotional chips in the game. It can lead to sabotaging thoughts such as, “What if I give it my all and still fail?”

But how likely are you to succeed if you aren’t giving it your all? By holding back, you are actually creating the outcome that you don’t want.

This is why really thinking about what optimal wellness means to you and the value it will have in your life is so important. This is why is it critical to be focused on creating a healthy lifestyle rather than a “diet” that you are doing for a limited time.

It helps you redefine success and the parameters of the game.

If you only define success as the numbers on the scale, it’s easy to “fail.”

But if success includes having your clothes fit better or being a smaller size, having more energy, doing more, feeling better, being more engaged in life, improved health, endurance, strength and stamina, etc., there is no way you could give your plan your all and “fail.”

And if you are focused on creating a lifestyle there is no end buzzer in which the game is over and you “fail.” It doesn’t matter if you reach your goal in 12 weeks or a year. What matters is that you are making progress. (See definition of success above.)

Expecting results is powerful. How much you hold back on being willing to believe you can achieve your goal is how much you will fall short.

The good news is that, as Abraham-Hicks says, a belief is just a thought you keep thinking.

This means that you can change your beliefs by choosing to think new thoughts!

Choose to think about:

• How it will feel to be slim and healthy
• How eating healthy food in the right portions and moving your body will help you achieve your wellness goals
• How hard your body is working on your behalf
• How much you deserve—and can achieve—the the body you want

What else can you do to shore up your expectation that you can achieve your goals? How does that impact your success?

Together we can do it!