The brain is the most powerful pre-workout supplement, diet pill, and fat loss fad diet combined.
It can also be your worst enemy and your biggest oppressor to your goals.
It all comes back to the old adage of are you a glass half empty, or a glass half full kind of person?
How do you view things most of the time when it comes to you, your body, your health, your nutrition, your lifestyle, and your abilities?
The more and more you view these things in a particular manner, the more and more you will start to subconsciously store them, believe them, and possibly become them…
You – how do you view you? How do you think about you? Are you someone who is always putting yourself down? Or are you proud of yourself? Do you feel like you are a good person – or do you feel guilt that eats away at your insides?
Your body – are you always calling yourself “fat, ugly, flabby, weak, or gross”? Or do you take a positive approach and realize that these words don’t determine your well being and they don’t make you, the person. I’m not saying that people should ignore it if they have extra body fat to lose and just live in a happy land, but constantly calling yourself these things wont change that, and it will only de-motivate you to do anything even more.
Your health – are you unhealthy? What does that mean? Drinking 10 sodas a day and eating no vegetables? Then change it! Sitting around talking about how unhealthy you are won’t solve a darn thing. The reason I don’t write a ton about “eat these foods to lose fat” is because the truth is that we all know what to eat more of and what to eat less of. It’s the actual doing it that people forget about.
Your nutrition – same thing as above. Be honest with yourself. Are you pounding 500 calorie coffee drinks and eating frozen chicken tenders and mac n cheese for dinner off your kids’ plate? Yep, probably not the healthiest approach. But this is where the mind can really mess with you – in the absence of basic nutrition knowledge. Do you think that you are barely eating, and still struggling to lose weight? In some cases, this CAN be a deeper issue, but that’s for another time. In many cases, it looks something like this:
This is why I believe in some form of basic nutrition education should be mandatory, and some form of tracking should be recommended when beginning a nutritional change.
Your lifestyle – how do you view this? Do you feel like you have a boring life? Again – then do something about it. Try new things, connect with friends, stay out past your bedtime once in a while…
On the flip side – do you live in denial that your current lifestyle choices are leading you down a bad path? A la burning the candle at both ends…
Your abilities – are you always calling yourself weak, stupid, lazy, etc…. well then you will start to believe that that is you. Do you live in a constant fear of failure? The “what if’s” eat you up and keep you up at night…I’m all too familiar with this one – as this is one of my biggest struggles, and something I continue to work on daily. It helps to take a step back and lay things out, look at what you have done, and where you have gotten, and realize that nothing can hold you back if you put your true effort towards it.
So before you go out and sign up for the latest cleanse or diet trend – take a good look at your brain, and think about how you utilize your bodies strongest asset.
Stay healthy my friends,
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