Then one day, my weight hit a peak… I looked at the scales and thought they must have been wrong. I looked in the mirror and saw someone I didn’t know. It was at that moment that I realised that I had to do something, so I put on my runners and went for a walk. I didn’t even realise then the power of ‘now’ and how much of the way I thought controlled not only everything that I thought was possible, but also how my mind had let me justify my weight gain.
I quickly learned that I could find an excuse to miss a session with my personal trainer because of my busy life, or because I was too tired. I felt like I had deserved to rest or skip the gym to fit in other things. And when I didn’t see results, I felt like it was because I was ‘big boned’ or had a ‘slow metabolism…. Inevitably, the real reason was because I was cheating on myself; by not finding the time to work out then by rewarding myself with food to help me feel better. I was able to justify my negative mindset when it came to physical activity by eating foods that didn’t fuel my body correctly and by drinking alcohol to make me feel better after a bad day.
Somewhere along my mission to epic physical health, I realised the power my mind had on my situation. I came across some small tricks from my own experience, from my trainer and of course Google and Facebook pages. I found things that motivated me and reasons for achieving my goals. I realised that by understanding what my body was doing, that I could manipulate my mind to get the most out of the experiences.
They are -
· Don’t make unrealistic goals. Instead of trying to lose 20kgs, aim for 2kgs at a time and appreciate your hard work at every mile stone
· Make working out a commitment by making it an appointment – allocate that time to yourself. You deserve it.
· Always keep your stuff to take to the gym in a bag and in the car. If you don’t do it while you are out, you won’t make it back out again after getting home and will get distracted with other things you think take priority over ‘you’ time.
· A 15 minute workout is better than no workout. No-one is taking notice of how long you work out for; just make that time count while you are there.
· If you plan to work out that day, wear your gym gear from first thing in the morning. You will feel ridiculous wearing it and knowing you haven’t made time to work out that day.
· Don’t be put off by other people who are fitter or skinner than you. We all feel the same about our bodies and cellulite etc. Use it as motivation and appreciate that you are surrounded by like-minded people who just want to look and feel good on the inside as well as the outside.
· The gym isn’t the only place that work-outs count. Mowing your lawns or walking the dog count too!
· Make a play list and pace the intensity of your workouts by the music you are listening to. The songs will be familiar to you, so you will know when the song gets fast or when the chorus is and you can use that as the peak of your workout. When the song slows down or when the chorus ends you can slow down and use it as your rest period. Wait till the songs end before you change activity, and finish the playlist to complete your workouts.
· Compete with yourself. If you see you are 8 minutes into your workout and have burned a certain amount of calories, set yourself a goal to reach a certain amount of calories in the last few minutes and really push yourself. This will help you to not cheat yourself and slack off towards the end!
· Gain knowledge. Understand nutrition and what your body needs. You will soon start feeling full of energy and proud of your achievements. It’s addictive. You will eventually let off steam by punishing yourself during a workout or reward yourself with taking time out instead of turning to anger, food or alcohol.
· Look for photos and words or quotes that motivate you. Remember – strong is the new sexy… use weights; it burns more energy than you realise and gives you the sexy body that you want. Its not achieved by starving yourself, using fad diets or excessive exercise regimes.
· Don’t give yourself time frames or numbers to reach. When you do, you often relax and undo all of your hard work. Instead, use physical things like being able to jog for 5kms consistently or being able to do 5 chin ups and then increase them as you reach them.
· Don’t let other people’s opinions affect what you want to achieve. People will ask you why you did it at first, and then they will ask you how you did it. Be proud of what you are doing and enjoy the moments where you choose healthy options over junk. You will be surprised how many people are inspired by you and want to do it too.
· Exercise your mind and use training as your therapy. Focus on your breathing and let yourself think of other things instead of the pain that you may endure. If you concentrate hard enough on breathing right, you will find that you can almost reach a point where you are meditating instead of wishing for time to pass before you die. You will eventually crave that feeling and then the time that you can stay at your highest intensity becomes longer and longer until it’s not difficult anymore – but remember to push yourself for best results. A bit of hard work won’t kill you, but having an unhealthy lifestyle might….
In the last 12 months, I made it to my weight loss goal and lost a total of 20kgs in 8 months before I started to relax based on other peoples’ opinions (that I was obsessed with my weight loss and getting too skinny) and in turn relaxing my ‘mind muscle’ for too long until the weight creeped up again. Now that I have seen the power of my mind and body, I can get straight back on track and pick up from wherever I left off. I punish myself and work hard for a little while because I have been cheating on my body by mistreating it with the wrong foods and alcohol but then use it as my kick-start for the next goals I set. It is never too late to start and I will never give up trying, no matter how many setbacks or kick-starts I have to do….. I have found a passion, and that passion is me. It is like any relationship, it takes hard work, patience, commitment and not letting anything get in the way of what you want. I am in a relationship with myself and have in turn, found love. I have not only learned to love myself, but also realised that it’s necessary to love yourself before someone else can love you. Life can be crazy sometimes, but if you have nothing else in life – you always have a choice…. Choose to be the best version of you….. And ask yourself – what would you do if you knew that you couldn’t fail?
