Many people, once they’ve decided to shift their lives for the better and adopt exercise and healthy eating will take an “all or nothing at all” approach to both.
What exactly does this mean?
It means they want everything to be perfect. Every meal must be perfect and they must stick religiously to their eating plan.
Even their exercise routine must be done religiously without excuse.
This extreme attitude might work for a few days…possibly even a few weeks to the “die-hards” but in the end, this “strict” approach will eventually sink any valiant efforts.
This “all or nothing at all” approach to both exercise and nutrition only leads to failure and a repetitive vicious cycle of starting again with the best of intentions – “I will start again and this time I will succeed and follow things perfectly” – only to stop again a short while later because of “broken rules.”
Once again, life gets in the way…maybe it’s a birthday party, or a special night out with friends or the holidays have hit and the temptations are just too great and you end up eating or drinking something that was way out of bounds and off-limits to your “plan.”
With no flexibility, once you’ve broken your own rigid rules, you’ve opened the door for your negative voice to chime in. You know that voice well because it waits for an opportunity to express negative statements such as – “Oh well, I screwed up again.”
Now, you begin rationalizing your actions and what was an innocent human slip-up that should be instantly forgiven, ends up leading to an entire day of “bad eating.”
Once you’ve broken your own agreement, defeat sets in and the “why not eat whatever now” attitude takes over and the vicious “start again, stop again” cycle continues.
The truth is, life is not black and white and neither is sticking to your diet and exercise routine.
Just look around. What happens to rigid stiff items when they are bent? They break. There is no flexibility to allow movement. Humans operate the same way. Remain rigid and stiff with your intentions and they will break you.
The key to success is to adopt flexibility with your diet and fitness routine. When something comes up or you “have that moment” of weakness (and you will at some point) this type of flexible attitude allows you to bend, accommodate and adapt to your new conditions or circumstances and is especially important when beginning a new exercise routine or adopting a new healthy eating plan.
Lifestyle Fixes –
It’s way too easy to forget that lifestyle changes are not a single “quick-fix” process. Huge changes do not happen overnight no matter how rigid and stiff you are with yourself. Success is the result of hundreds of tiny steps day after day, workout after workout and healthy meal after healthy meal.
The reality is, the road leading to health and fitness is a life-long journey, not a “quick fix.” Any changes you make must fit into your life because you must “live” your life as it happens…rather than demanding your life revolves around them.
Pressure yourself to be perfect and life will soon “get in the way” with defeat not far behind.
If you have to work late one day and you miss your exercise routine, it does not mean that you that you are a weak person…it simply means that you are human. There will be times when you miss a workout or days that you don’t eat well and it’s at this point that you must practice compassion…self-compassion. Accept your short-comings, embrace your humanity, and move onto positive actions.
Rather than turning “faltering moments” into defeat, allow your supposed “missteps” to help you create an even better plan that is more suitable to your life. Something that moves you forward.
If you truly want to succeed and have great results with your diet and fitness plan, then the “all in or all or nothing at all” approach must be ditched. Pouring yourself into extreme change and demanding perfection only undermines your potential for long-term success.
Eating and fitness has never been about being “perfect.” It’s consistent action over a long period of time that counts.
Success is the result of employing sustainable healthy eating and fitness plans. Stress levels decline as you break that vicious cycle caused by rigid thinking, dieting and workout routines.
And remember…when it comes to your health and fitness, “something” always trumps “nothing.
It’s time to throw away all the false statements you’ve accepted about dieting and exercise and learn what it really takes to stay healthy and fit.
“Healthy Self Healing” can help you do just that.
For more tools and resources from Carolyn Hansen to assist you in attaining your health and fitness goals and achieving the success you desire in life, please visit:
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