Health & Fitness with Ricky Parcell
- “I don’t have time to exercise.”
You may be busy, and you may have a lot of responsibilities, but we all have the same amount of time – all the time there is: 24 hours a day. The truth is, getting things done is not about time available, it’s about priorities – the choices we make about what is most important to us. We have to MAKE time. The best way to make exercise and nutrition top priorities today is to make health your highest value in life.
Remind yourself every day that all the other stuff you were so busy about means nothing without your health. Self-care has to be your number one priority, because without your health, you can’t take care of anything else, including your job, your business or your own family.
- “I injured my (blank) so I can’t exercise at all.”
I could never understand how something like a foot injury, could lead someone to believe they can’t do any exercise at all, or even more bizarre, that they can’t follow a healthy diet plan either. Naturally, some injuries can lay you up completely, and you should always follow the advice of your doctor. However, many common injuries are localized. For example, knee, shoulder, ankle or elbow pain may prevent activity around those joints, but not necessarily in the rest of the body! The remedy is to ask yourself, “What CAN I do?” If your arms hurt, work on your legs. If your back’s giving you pain, try yoga or swimming.The list is endless.
3.”I have to eat 100% clean food to get results.
In a word, this attitude could be described as dietary “perfectionism.” In striving to be 100% perfect on a nutrition program, you often fall prey to the psychological truism that you tend to crave what you’re not allowed to have. Trying to eat “clean” 100% of the time, or be “perfect” on your diet is usually a recipe for failure. Depriving yourself of foods you enjoy is not only unnecessary, it’s actually counter-productive to your long term success and happiness. For example, pledge to yourself that you will eat mostly unprocessed, nutrient-rich foods 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time is for your “free meals” where you eat anything you want.
That 10% is your psychological release valve. without it, the pressure of deprivation will build up and a binge is almost inevitable.
- “I cheated on one meal and ate junk, so my entire day is blown!”
Many people see one diet mistake as a reason to give up on their entire day or even more strangely, as an excuse to binge. Why? Because their brain is in all or nothing mode. Their day wasn’t perfect, so their focus instantly shifts to starting over tomorrow. There are two simple fixes for this. The first fix is if you slip off track JUST GET BACK ON! And do it as quickly as possible. Not tomorrow. Not on Monday. Today. Your new affirmation is, “I’m only one meal away from being back on my plan!” The second fix is to establish, in advance, a compliance rule as I mentioned above. When you understand that you can get great results from eating nutritious food 90% of the time, then if you mess up a meal or two, you know that won’t make or break you.
- “I messed up this week, so I have to start the whole program over again!”
To avoid falling prey to the “start the whole program over from scratch” attitude, remind yourself that just like slipping up for one meal does not ruin a whole day, an entire day or weekend off your plan does not ruin an entire program or training phase. Even if you really did lose time, like a whole week sidetracked from your plan, a three or four month goal gives you plenty of time to compensate. Remember what David Beckham once said, “Don’t give up at half time. Concentrate on winning the second half.”
- “I didn’t meet my deadline, so I failed to reach my goal and I’m a failure!”
The “I didn’t reach my goal on time, so I’m a failure” attitude is an especially dangerous one. That’s because some people take what could be an important learning experience, and not only call it a failure, but also generalize it to their self-image and identity. If you choose, you don’t have to accept a missed deadline as failure at all. You can re-frame it like this: If you don’t reach your goal in the time frame you initially set – you didn’t fail, you just under estimated your completion date. A famous sports coach once told me, “We didn’t lose the game, we just ran out of time.” Think about that!
The good news is, though you can’t always control all your circumstances, you’re always in control of your attitudes!
Written by Ricky Parcell
Partner and Mind/Body Program Creator – www.thebodycamp.com
