One of the top New Year’s resolutions has always been to lose weight and improve health in the year to come. Come January, our fitness centers fill up with people who are enthusiastic about achieving their goals. However, come February our good intentions seem to mysteriously fall by the wayside! Maybe you have been one of them!
Year after year the yo-yo goes on and the decline in one's personal health is their new reality. Each year gaining a little more weight, losing a bit more strength and enduring new health ailments along the way. It can feel like you are on a downward slope that is gaining momentum. Climbing your way out of it can seem like a daunting task so we don’t even try, we simply give up.
What is it that makes some people successful long term while others just can’t seem to get past the first couple of weeks?
Let me give you a few pointers that I believe will help.
MINDSET
I can usually tell when a new client comes to me if they are going to be successful long term or not. How do I know this? It is obvious from their mindset. I am sure you have heard the saying that it all begins and ends in the mind. This is true! Anytime I have made a major change in my life, I thought about it for quite some time before I took solid action. I spent time understanding my WHY for wanting to make a change. I questioned myself with honest interest in what I am getting out of continuing with unhealthy habits. Then I questioned how my life would change if I took affirmative action. I also gathered information and education to give myself the knowledge I needed to succeed.
PAIN vs. PLEASURE
We live in a fast paced world where we are addicted to instant gratification. We can have anything we want now at just a click of a button. This sets off a chemical reaction of serotonin in our brains where we get instant satisfaction. Taking the time and discipline to work towards a goal is often missing in our modern society. Our default is instant pleasure, that unfortunately takes us back to our state of pain, ie being overweight and/or unhealthy.
When we choose to reframe our thoughts on health and fitness, we can make the association that:
Healthy foods and exercise = pleasure,
And
Junk food and lack of exercise = pain.
How do we do this?
It all starts in your mind and how you see yourself. If you continually see yourself as someone who is always carrying around that extra weight or who despises exercise, your subconscious mind will work toward that goal. By consistently visualizing and speaking to yourself what you want to see, your subconscious mind will start to help you bring that reality to fruition. It’s about retraining your mind. You can be that fit, trim version of yourself.
Do you believe it?
If you want to win the battle for your health, it starts with your mind. This new year, I want to encourage you to go on a diet, a mental diet. It will be one of the hardest things to do, but oh, the rewards you will reap!
Action Step: Practice visualizing yourself at your healthiest each night before going to bed to reprogram your subconscious mind. Go into each day with stubborn optimism until it becomes an unstoppable attitude.
I want to leave you with the story of the little engine who thought she could. If you recall, as the engine was going up the hill, she kept repeating to herself, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” It wasn’t until she was on the other side of the mountain that she could confidently say, “I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could.”
This new year, I want to encourage you to believe in yourself, to believe you can, and watch to see how as you reprogram your mind, your body will follow, and before you know it it, you’ll be saying to yourself, “I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could!”
My best to your health & wellness,
Yvette