7 Tips to Boost Your Confidence

Do you remember the last time you felt confident? If your answer is yes, I’d love for you to share that moment! If your answer is no, I understand completely. I’ve been there too.

I was once that person hiding beneath over-sized sweaters and jackets, standing in the corner of the room, trying to make sure no one noticed me.  I can also remember those days when everyone around me kept telling me I looked great, but all I saw in the mirror were the same flaws I’d always criticized myself for.

 
Melanie before weight-loss surgery, and Melanie with husband Blair after maintaining 100 lb weight-loss thanks to her surgery and Nutracelle.

We need to stop picking ourselves apart and start putting ourselves together.

1. Fake it until you become it!

Amy Cuddy said it better than we ever could at one of her well renowned TED Talks, “Don’t fake confidence ‘til you make it, fake it ‘til you become it.”

Her tip? Change your body posture! Stand up straight. When you’re feeling insecure, stand like Wonder Woman or Super Man.

After two minutes, you’ll start to feel more confident.

2. Exercise!

Regular exercise improves your energy levels and produces various chemicals in your brain like endorphins (associated with improved mood, increased pleasure, and minimized pain).

You may dread exercise, but you WON’T dread the euphoric feeling of confidence you receive after you do it.

My tip? Don’t want to go to the gym? Do some yoga at home or go for a 30-minute walk.

3. The past does not equal the present.

After you lose weight, whether you followed a healthy meal plan, hit the gym, or like me – you’ve had bariatric surgery and changed your lifestyle, it’s difficult to see yourself as who you are NOW as opposed to who you were before.

The only way to really appreciate how far you’ve come is to let go of the mental image of your previous self. Realize that you are not the same person you were a year ago, three months ago, last week, or even an hour ago.

YOU are constantly changing and evolving. Accept that and you’re one step closer to being confident!

4. Compare yourself to yourself, not to others.

A lot of the time we’re comparing ourselves to other people.  At the gym have you ever compared yourself to the person on the treadmill next to you or the twenty-something who is at a completely different place in life than you?

• “I wish I had her legs (arms, stomach, figure, you name it!).”
• “How does she stay so slim?”
• “I’ll never be able to look like that.”

Comparing ourselves simply causes unnecessary anxiety and pain. It doesn’t accomplish anything.

Focus on YOURSELF. Remind yourself of your victories and how far YOU’VE come.

Who cares if that person on the treadmill next to you is running a two-minute mile, when you walked up four flights of stairs the other day without being winded? Who cares if that body-builder is lifting a hundred pounds more than you, when you can bowl with a 12-pound ball and your arms don’t hurt afterwards?

Your accomplishment are just as amazing and praise-worthy as theirs. Trust me.

“I always wanted people to see the best sides that I thought I had, so I never left the house without makeup and my hair done,” says sleever and Nutracelle customer, Connie Poss(seen below). “But now I can go out without all the makeup and still feel good!”

Success story Connie Poss.

5. Redefine failure.

Failure is something that can take a blow to our self-esteem. As a mom, an author, an entrepreneur and especially as someone who has struggled with my weight for most of my life, I know it firsthand.

But it doesn’t have to.

You have to realize that it’s not the end of the world if you fail at something.

Take a look at really successful and confident people! How do they handle failure? They’ve all experienced it. Some of the most successful people have come back from the biggest failures.

They look at each failure and see the positive in it. They view it as an opportunity to learn how to improve for next time.

Did you know that to be successful at something one must fail maybe 5, 10, or 20 times? Each failure is a step forward towards success.

Try to take failure and improve yourself. Listen to the advice from others and try again. If that doesn’t work out, get back up, dust yourself off, and try again! And most importantly – praise yourself for getting out there and trying!

We have faith in you.

6. Think positive!

Positivity has become a throw-away slogan in our cynical world. But it shouldn’t be! Choosing to be positive is something that you can think, do, and be surrounded by.  As you start to think positively, you’ll soon find yourself taking life’s disappointments in stride.

You’ll start to see the glass half-full, rather than half-empty.

My tip? If something disappoints you, try to remember a positive memory! Let’s say your weight plateaued, try to remember how you felt when you finally fit into that dress you’ve been waiting years to wear! Or let’s say you slipped up over the holidays and overate, try to remember how you felt when you stayed on track before. You got this!

Your positive memories aren’t for nothing. Use them to bring you confidence!

7. Listen to feel good music!

Inspiring and motivating music can pump you up and make you feel good.

Do you have a favorite go to song that always puts you in a good mood? PUT IT ON. Blast it. Scream the lyrics at the top of your lungs. Jump around the room. Do a little dance.

You will feel SO much better once the song ends.

And because we love YOU and want you to become confident we’ve thrown together a little Nutrafamily inspired play list:

• Fight Song – Rachel Platten
• Sexy Back – Justin Timberlake
• Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
• Confident – Demi Lovato
• Just The Way You Are – Bruno Mars
• Do It Our Way (Play) – Alesha Dixon
• Shake It Off – Taylor Swift
• Dark Horse – Katy Perry
• Downtown – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

We all know that channeling your inner confidence will be difficult at first but start small with one or two tips on my list. And know that I feel insecure and self-critical too – you aren’t alone! But the real success is recognizing it and refusing to let it define you.

And as you keep working at it, you won’t have to fake your confidence anymore.

You will BE confident.

Do you have any feel-good songs you’d like us to add to our playlist?
Comment below and let us know!

Xo,
Melanie