I could not have put this better. I found an article that really digs into what kind of mindset you need to improve your fitness. This will make the difference between doing and not doing, between eating well or eating bad. I have to warn you that some of the things in this article go against what I have said in the past, especially as far as goal setting goes but Paul definitely has an opinion so it is good to listen to anyway. Here it is:
I met her at a networking group early one morning. Lacy (name changed for privacy reasons) was in her 40s and had a lot going for her. She was intelligent, well spoken, and confident in her ability to run her own Law Firm as an attorney. Lacy was able to enjoy many things in life that others whom believed themselves to ‘less fortunate’ did not think they could enjoy. However, there was one big issue Lacy struggles with. It is an issue that you may recognize in another person, or even in yourself. Body image and fitness.
It was no secret that Lacy was a woman of large bone structure; something genetic that she has absolutely no control over whatsoever. It was also no secret that Lacy tried just about every trick and diet in the book to lose and get into shape. In fact, Lacy was bold enough to announce to the entire networking group of over 30 people her ambitions to fit into a sexy lingerie outfit for her husband and feel like a word I better not mention in this article (but I’m sure you have a good imagination).
Being a fitness professional myself, Lacy and myself were bound to be a magical match made in fitness and diet bliss, or one may have thought. After all, my track record is very good, and over the years I have been able to guide many people into discovering how to stay fit, so helping Lacy make this discovery would come naturally right?
Actually not. I worked with Lacy for a couple of months and after that Lacy decided the low carb diet she was insistent on sticking to was not working, and she was going to go off on her own program again. Think this is uncommon? Think again, Lacy was doing what many people do when it comes to health and fitness.
As previously mentioned I have helped many people discover how they can live the fitness lifestyle. However, there is another side to the story. There have been more people that I have crossed paths with in a professional manor that have not been able to maintain the fitness lifestyle. For years I wondered how and why this happens. What causes a person to invest so much time, thought, and effort into the idea of getting into shape only to succumb to disappointment and end up exactly opposite of where they wanted to be?
I eventually discovered it’s all in the mind. Lacy was the way she was because of the way she thought about fitness and nutrition in relation to herself. In her career Lacy obviously demonstrated the characteristics of successful thinking. In her idea of diet and fitness Lacy demonstrated the opposite.
You may be wondering how does one swing the thinking pendulum from fitness failure to fitness success and make it stay to fitness success?