Your thoughts could be sabotaging your success… and here’s what to do about it

When it comes to fitness & nutrition, there are 4 Unhelpful Thinking Styles:

 1-     All-or-None

2-     Negative Filter

3-     Once Makes Always

4-     Don’t Worry, Be Happy

All-or-None includes thoughts such as:  ‘I ruined my whole day’, ‘I’ve blown it. It’s all over’. You’ve been doing well maintaining your nutrition choices & staying consistent with your workouts, but you slip by eating a cookie ONE TIME and you begin the all-or-none thought patterns. Blaming yourself & feeling as if you failed. Possibly giving up completely.

Negative Filter sounds like this: ‘I lost 3 pounds this week, but I still have 10 pounds to go’. You focus on the negative, rather than the positive. Step back, take a minute & celebrate your successes. Focus on the good.

Once Makes Always can be thoughts such as: ‘When I go out with friends, I always eat too much’, ‘I missed a workout this week, I’ll never be successful.’ These thoughts often have words like always, never, & forever.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy thinking can sound like: ‘Things will be better next time’. Staying positive & being kind to yourself while focused on your fitness & nutrition is a good thing. But, not planning or setting doable goals can hold you back from progress.

(source: ‘The Shift’, Gary Foster, Ph.D.)

So how do you stop these unhelpful thinking styles?   

When you experience a setback and are feeling ‘funky’, discouraged, disappointed, or another emotion that has you ‘spinning’ & wanting to make a poor choice when it comes to your fitness & nutrition goals, try this:

This is a simple 4-step process to help you identify your thought patterns & practice a new thought. It’s called ‘Feel the Funk’.

FEEL THE FUNK! & MOVE THROUGH IT- Practice this:

1-     STOP- ASK:

How am I FEELING right now? What am I THINKING right now? It could be something like I’m a failure, I’m tired, I don’t want to do this, I can’t do this, I want to quit.

2-     REALITY CHECK- Is this true/FACT???

3-     ACKNOWLEDGE the thought & state aloud: ‘Thanks for sharing!’

4-     CHOOSE a new helpful thought such as: I ate the ice cream without planning to, but this does not discount all the progress I have made so far. Or, Things happen. Don’t beat yourself up. You can get back on track.

5-     MOVE through the funk!

Practice this simple strategy next time you are faced with a setback or a challenge on your health & fitness journey.

Your mindset matters!

At H3 Fitness we teach simple sustainable strategies to help you reach & maintain your health & fitness goals. We focus not only on exercise & nutrition, but also on your mindset & daily habits. This journey is about a LIFESTYLE CHANGE, not just exercise or a diet.

If you are ready to take the next step in your health & fitness journey- a step towards lasting change- schedule your Free Initial Fitness Consultation & find out how H3 can help you reach your goals.

XO,

Stacy

H3 Fitness

Healthy. Happy. Habits.