Ep 6: WLS Mindset | 4 Mindset Tools with Mabel Joseph
This post is a companion to Episode 6 of the Bariatric Nutrition Coach Podcast. Listen to the full episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Most people will tell you that the emotional journey after bariatric surgery is harder than the physical one. In this episode, I sat down with Mabel Joseph — certified mindset and life coach and founder of Beyond the Sleeve Academy — to talk about four powerful mindset tools that can help you succeed on your weight loss surgery journey.
Mabel had her own sleeve gastrectomy in 2018 and lost 120 pounds. She knows this journey intimately, and her insights are gold.
1. Become Aware of Your Thinking
Everything starts with awareness. Your thoughts create your emotions, your emotions drive your actions, and your actions create your results. When you become the "watcher" of your own thoughts — observing them with curiosity rather than judgment — you gain enormous power to shift them.
As Mabel explains, awareness is uncomfortable at first. But it's also liberating. You can't change what you can't see.
2. Ask Yourself Powerful Questions
Your brain is like a search engine — ask it a question and it will find an answer. Low-quality questions ("Why am I such a slow loser?") get low-quality answers. High-quality questions ("What did I do well this week?" or "What can I learn from this?") direct your brain toward growth and possibility.
Working on your mindset isn't about being positive all the time. It's about navigating your brain skillfully through both the good and the hard.
3. Productive Evaluation
Instead of beating yourself up when things don't go to plan, try evaluating your journey like a scientist or a project manager. What happened? What can I adjust? What do I need? This neutral, curious approach — rather than shame-based self-criticism — keeps you moving forward without the emotional weight of judgment.
4. Learn to Fail Forward
Failing is not the opposite of success — it's part of it. Every time you stumble and get back up, you have more information than you did before. Your worth as a person has absolutely nothing to do with whether you reach a goal. You are worthy simply because you are human. And the journey to becoming the person you want to be will involve falling — and that's not just okay, it's necessary.
You can find Mabel on Instagram at @beyondthesleeveacademy.
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