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“Start to look beyond the physical aspects of your training and enjoy the process”
Having been involved in the fitness industry for the last 12 years, I obviously get asked a lot of questions about health and fitness. One of the more of the more common questions received is that about weight-loss. How do I lose weight? How do I “tone” up quickly? I’m training and eating well but not hitting my goals, what’s wrong? Here’s the thing, once you understand thermodynamics you realise it’s not that difficult to lose or gain weight. IN THEORY. In reality though, If it was easy to do, we would all look like supermodels and bodybuilders.
Why can’t I lose weight?
More often than not the weight gain has been a by-product of a sedentary lifestyle, along with a surplus of high calorie foods. In a lot of cases it’s not the first time the potential client has attempted to change their lifestyle and lose the excess weight. So, why have our attempts been unsuccessful?
The excess weight being carried is usually not the issue. We tend to look at the symptoms i.e. the weight gain, rather than the root cause of the problem. A series of bad choices or decisions caused this weight gain. So, what caused us to make these decisions? If it’s obvious our lifestyle is not in alignment with our goals, why can’t we introduce more positive practices that help us stay on course toward our goals? Before we focus on changing our bodies, we must first learn to take control and strengthen our mindset.
How can we fix the problem?
To change the way you look, feel and act, it takes some work. It requires you to stretch the limits of your comfort zone and put yourself under some physical stress/pain. In order to grow and progress though, it’s important we learn how to manage and push through this stress. It’s important you realise, that the more often you push to the point of exhaustion and then beyond, the better you become at doing so. When we lean towards the uncomfortable in our training, it has a direct correlation in to other areas of our lives. We become better adept at dealing with stressful situations at home, in the work place, our daily lives. The psychological benefits of embracing a fitter lifestyle, should be first and foremost the reason we choose to train.
Positive Mental Health
The effort we put in directly determines the results at the end of the process, and this effort starts to increase as we succumb to the realisation that our bodies are able to do remarkable things. However, we only begin to understand this, when we start to push beyond the comfort zone and welcome the discomfort created. As we start to become more tolerant of this stress and discomfort we start to grow in confidence. We understand that we are capable of more. We start to negate the negative thoughts with more positive, healthy thoughts. We become more self-aware, we make better decisions, we have better control over our emotions.
Tips to help you achieve your goals
- Understand it takes time. The point you are at right now is down to a number of choices or decisions made over a long period of time. The habits you have created have taken time to build and will therefore take time to break or replace with more positive practices.
- Stay CONSISTENT. It’s easy to train and eat healthier when we are ‘motivated’ to do so, anybody can do that, but it’s when times get hard and we lose that motivation that you need to be strong. You build this strength by pushing yourself each and every session and going ALL-IN every time.
- Enjoy the Process. Be present in the here and now and realise the great strides and progress you have made.
- Be PROUD of yourself. Don’t look at what you didn’t do, but rather start to pat yourself on the back for the things you did do. The habits you’ve created, the goals you’ve hit, the weight you’ve already lost.
- Assess your progress regularly. Assess, Re-assess and then assess some more. Use the results as feedback as to what you can do differently moving forward.
- Enjoy your training sessions. The boost in confidence they give you, the increased energy you have, and the way you feel after the workout.
If you would like to learn more about how you can strengthen your mindset and introduce habits or increase your motivation, check out “The Mindset Manual: Take control of your thoughts” OR “Motivate Me: How to create positive habits and achieve your goals”.
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the article. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
