1.Stop going on a diet, start nourishing your body
While you keep the mindset that you are supposed to be on a diet and that you are depriving yourslef from something, in order to get in shape, there will be always some kind of a deficiency, which you will be desperately trying to fill in.
The first one will be the deficiency of the mind- the one which is constantly whispering you that you are depriving yourself; that you are missing something. Your mind will be constantly “hungry”and it will always push you towards a behavior, through which you will try to satisfy this hunger. For a hungry person, every crumble is precious. Thus, for the starving mind, every food will be a potential opportunity to satisfy the deficiency. That is why you will find it hard to resist the Easter bread, which is left after the holiday; that is why you will find it hard to resist the chocolate or the pancakes.
The way we program our mind is the way we act.
If in your mind, is stuck the notion that you choose just the foods which nourish your body, then your mind will be focused on this type of foods. Everything else will be ignored by your mind.
The human body is like a computer ( actually it is vice versa). Still, it seems as if we have better knowledge about the computer, than we have about our own body. That is why I will go ahead and use this analogy. When you preprogram your computer to search something, it will search in the data base, where this file could possibly exist. Everything else will be ignored.
Well, it is the same with your brain- what it searches depends on what you preprogram it to find.
The other deficiency is the deficiency of the body- the physical deficiency, where your body feels severe nutrient deficiency; it lacks nutrients which guarantee its optimal functioning.
When there is such a deficiency, you will always feel the inner strive to fix it- with more food.
Do not forget that biology always trumps willpower and that a priority of your body is survival. This is an evolutionary rule and everybody who ignores it is cursed to spin in the enchanted circle of diets.
If you do not give your body what makes it healthy and strong, it will always push you towards a behavior, which will contradict to what you want to have or achieve. And you couldn’t be mad at your body- as every living, functioning being, which is desperately looking for something, your body will ferociously want to absorb every food, that is in your sight- just as a drowning person, desperately strives to catch a straw.
Start choosing your food, so it nourishes your body; so it sustains your health. This will keep you away from the deficiencies, which push you towards an unwanted behavior.
2.Stop punishing your body, start training it.
Stop believing in the pseudo- motivation and stop sharing the kind of pictures that have “motivating” quotes, where everything they preach is the idea of pain, torture and punishment, being the main routes to success. Everything that such a conviction feeds is just more negativity.
Actually this type of mindset, pushes you towards choosing the wrong or actually the less optimal ways to get fitter.
In my opinion, the most valuable resource is time. Everything I do is always consistent with using my resources optimally- so I can have optimal return of the investment of time and the results I achieve. From this point of view, I search for the methods and “strategies” about training and nutrition, which guarantee me, that I will use just as much time and that I will invest just as much effort, as I need, in order to achieve optimal results. I do not waste my time or efforts for something, which does not give me optimal return of what I’ve invested.
Life is full of so many opportunities and it is a sin to waste the luck of being alive, by directing all your resources towards achieving something so insignificant, when you can achieve it in an easier and more pleasant way, while having more time to achieve bigger, more meaningful things.
That is why you need to stop torturing your body. Start training it. Here you should once again look from the position of health, not just appearance. Realize, that a healthy body is the body which will give you what you desire. The healthy body is the body, which will help you look athletic and fit and everything will be accompanied by a huge palette of functionalities. I.e., you will have not just a body which looks in a particular way, but also a body which functions in a particular way.
Start lifting weights and incorporate exercises that actually matter. Exercises which you include in your training program on purpose, and not just with the idea of wasting energy. Perform exercises which you do in controlled conditions in the gym, so you can educate your body how to move better throughout your daily life. Perform exercises which will strengthen your weak muscles and which will return your body’s functionality- the one you need in order to feel healthy, strong and pain free.
Never forget the rule- 80/20- 20% per cent of your efforts, lead to 80% of your results. It is about time to realize that these 20% are- two or three strength training workouts, using basic, compound movements and a lot of non-exercise physical activity- walking, taking the stairs, climbing, doing a couple sets of pushups during your day, or just sporadically testing your max time on a plank.
This is my formula for an athletic body and for being fit- 2-3 strength training workouts in controlled conditions and a daily life filled with the celebration of being healthy and enjoying what my body is capable of doing.
3. Change your mindset from thinking you are not good enough and trying to fix yourself to thinking you are good enough with the potential to become great.
If you consider yourself not good enough, you will always experience doubt about who you are and who you have the potential to become. People really underestimate the psychological aspect in achieving their goals, and in reality your mind is everything. Change your mindset and you will change your life. Change your convictions and you will change your results.
When you accept the fact that you are good enough but you have the potential to become great, then your choices will be dictated by this notion. Then, you will know that you should choose what builds you and what makes you better.
When you consider yourself not good enough, you will always work with the instruments of mediocrity and you will always try to fill in your deficiencies. When you consider yourself enough, then you will work with the instruments of the unlimited opportunities and every day you will recreate a better, more complete version of yourself.
4.Start aiming for health not just for appearance
Appearance is an accompanying attribute of health, not vice versa.
The goal dictates the steps we choose, towards its achieving. When our goal is mistakenly formulated, then the behavior that follows, is usually filled with decisions, which hold us back, instead of leading us forward.
If your goal is just your appearance, then you will always choose the “quick and easy diets”. You will always choose the “quick” results, instead of the lasting results.
I have a philosophy- I’d rather choose the slower but the lasting. I’d rather choose what takes some time, so it can start happening, but once it happens, then it becomes a habit, which frees my mind from the daily duty to be busy with it and makes room for the next goal. Thus, I optimize my day, my life and my mind. Thus, I have the opportunity every other year to become a better myself- just because every year I achieve something lasting and I open space for something new.
The philosophy about “quick results”, will guarantee you this- every year you will be busy with the same goals and the results you achieve will never be satisfying enough, so you can move on to the next goal. This philosophy, guarantees you that you will spend a life, which is a sum of the mechanic repetition of years, filled with the same lesson, that you stubbornly refuse to learn.
One of my new achievements 🙂
I can’t wait to share with you a project I’ve been working on. It’s called IFS Journal- my FREE online magazine. Go ahead and subscribe for it HERE.
Download my FREE E-Book- 30 Exercises on Becoming a Wonder Woman. Download it HERE.
P.S. Don’t be a stranger and please take a minute to share this post with your friends! I’d greatly appreciate it!
