Stress and Obsession with Food and Exercise
Constant stress and obsession over food and exercise can absolutely prevent you from ever getting to where you want to be.
When humans want something, they are going to do whatever it takes to achieve what they are looking for. Take health and fitness, for example, if you set your mind on a goal, say lose 10 lbs. or develop the strength for your first pull up, do you neglect other areas in your life including your mental and physical wellbeing? Do you become stressed and obsessed with this one area of your life? If so, what do these achievements mean if the quality of your life is poor? Will the amount of weight you lose and will your strength matter if you are consumed by the thoughts of food and exercise and are stressed to the point that you cannot even enjoy life?
One initial thought may have been “If I lose 10 lbs., then I will be happy” “Once I get that first pull up, then I will consider myself strong” Yes, determination and dedication to reaching a goal, is a wonderful thing. When we carve out a goal and get after it, it is rewarding, and we receive praise. The problem happens, when we focus on too much in one area of our life and neglect other important areas, including mental health, spiritual health, relationships, work, play, sleep, and recovery. When we do this, we don’t really achieve what we were originally looking for, happiness, and fulfillment.
Preventing the all-or-nothing mindset is challenging, for us humans. We let doubt, fear, and insecurity get in our way. Unfortunately, we just do not trust ourselves and, often that is because time and time again, we have failed, so we may think the only way to reach a goal is to go all in. But ultimately, we get to make that choice!
We can fall for the doubt and believe that to reach our goals, we must go all in, count every calorie, weigh, and measure all meals, eat on a perfect schedule, plan out everything we put in our body, never eat a meal out, exercise 7 days a week and “burn off” all calories consumed or we can choose not to obsesses and overconsume life with food and exercise. Instead of obsession, we can focus on small manageable, and consistent changes including committing to exercise 3-4 days a week, taking 30 minutes out of your week to plan meals in advance, eating mostly whole, nutrient-dense foods, planning dinners out, and swapping processed snacks, with fruit, veggies, or another healthy alternative.
Simply, be mindful of how you treat both your body and mind. Make healthy changes when necessary and you will get where you want to be.