Why mindset makes the difference
A few years ago (when I was busy failing at every diet I tried) I wouldn’t have even listened to any “hullabaloo” about mindset. I’d have said something like “you just have to do what you have to do, and that’s that.” So I’d suffer through every diet, eating and doing things that I did not want to, feeling unhappy that I couldn’t eat or do the things that I did want to, that everyone around me was doing. This situation was the source of 99.999% of my failures. I never paid attention to the real reason I’d fail, and I’d just move on to the next diet, after taking a few months to recoup from the terrors of the last diet. Now, I know my mindset is what has kept me on track with my new lifestyle and it is 1000% the reason for my success.
Think about this- You have been doing great on a diet for a couple months, you’ve lost 20 pounds, have been exercising and generally feel much better than before. Then, you have a bad day. Like really bad. Work, relationship, family problems, the whole shebang. You get home, starving and have nothing healthy prepared to cook. You end up just grabbing all of the snacks from the pantry, and a glass of wine and sit on the couch and decompress. What happens next?
Well, for me, in the past, what would’ve happened next is I would have felt horribly guilty on top of all of my other emotions going on. I wouldn’t have even enjoyed any of that food or wine. I would have avoided the scale like the plague. I would’ve put myself down to the point that I would just give up on that diet. I’d spend the next few days likely gaining back 10 of the 20 pounds I lost, and then forget I was ever on a diet for a couple months, until I needed new clothes, or had an embarrassing moment.
Now, I’d enjoy every bite and sip. I would possibly enter everything I ate into My Fitness Pal, just to keep a record, or at the very least I’d add a note that I had binged. I’d go to bed, sleep well, and wake up the next morning ready to resume my routine. Get on the scale (weight is up, I know why) then gym at 6:45am (going to sweat more, going to perform less, I know why) breakfast, then start my day. I wouldn’t think twice about my weight, or what I did last night, or how shitty my gym time was. I had enjoyed myself the night before, and I can now move on from that. I know that as long as I am consistent, binging or drinking when I’m having a day from Hell is not going to affect me.
Life is not meant to be so rigid every moment of every day. Sometimes you have to just go with the flow. As everyone knows, the flow rarely goes exactly how you want it to. You can either be knocked down by it, and continuously fight against it, OR you can adapt, and move with it, and make the best of every change in direction. I used to fight it in every way possible. Now, I make every situation work for me. That has made 100% of the difference in changing my life.
It took a few months for me to really get settled into my new mindset, and still almost a year later, I catch myself having some thoughts like I used to before I started this. But now, they are so foreign to me that I recognize and neutralize them right away. They are toxic and I have no room for that in my life. No one knows how much time we’re each given on this earth. I decided I would rather enjoy each moment to the fullest, feel and look my very best, and try to prolong my time here as much as possible so I can enjoy this gift of life and help others to do the same. I enjoyed my life before, don’t get me wrong. However, I had as many, if not more, “downs” than I had “ups”. Since changing the way I think and the way I view things, my “ups” run laps around my “downs” and the “downs” are not nearly as bad as they used to be, even at their worst. I think about things differently now, in ways I would’ve never imagined a few months ago. I know it might sound like a bunch of crap. Please believe me when I tell you this is the key to every single change you see in my photos, and my writing, and my personality when you talk to me. Mindset is everything.
Things to remember:
It’s OK to have a bad day.
One meal or missed gym session will not ruin all of your progress.
Two meals or missed gym sessions will not ruin all of your progress.
Giving up is the only way to ruin all of your progress.
You CAN eat whatever you want. But you must be mindful and responsible while doing so or you won’t make progress.
Make your goals, YOUR goals. Not what other people want, or what you think other people want. Figure out what YOU want.
YOU are your first priority. No matter how many dependants you have, you cannot care for others before you care for yourself.
The scale going up is NOT a sign of failure. It’s science and your body completing processes to keep you alive.
DO NOT cut out any foods from your life. That only makes you want them more. That only drives temptation and positions you for failure.
DO cut bad habits from your life by replacing them with better ones. (more on that later)
