The area of psychology that I am most passionate about is wellness and the mental approach to optimising one’s physical health and fitness goals. The second half of the year is the perfect time point for all, from athletes to busy mums, and corporate professionals to review their health and fitness goals and reflect on the lifestyle habits most individuals have seemingly involuntarily adopted as the year passes by. It is typical to reflect on the goals you set at the beginning of the year and realise you have fallen off the wagon. It is also common for many of us to surrender these goals to our hectic schedule and look forward to the following January when we can fully commit to the cause.
Based on my experience as a psychologist and former personal trainer, I would like to share with you a common unproductive mindset in approaching health fitness goals that I have found to be the number one cause of continued failed attempts.
In taking a closer look at your approach and attitudes to your fitness goals, start by answering yes or no to the following questions:
- Do you typically begin your new program on a Monday?
- Do you use the words good and bad to describe certain foods and your eating behavior?
- Do you typically want to speed up the process by eating less than your program suggests to reach your goal?
- Do you expect to suffer, feeling starved and deprived?
- Do you fall off the wagon and throw in the towel after making just one unhealthy food choice?
- Are you convinced that past failed attempts were due to lack of or drop in motivation?
The All-or Nothing mindset
If you answered ‘yes’ to most of these questions, your approach in optimising health and fitness is likely powered by the ‘all-or-nothing’ mindset. Similar to perfectionistic achievement striving, the all-or-nothing mindset is result-oriented and leaves no room for error. You only see whether you are making progress in terms of performance and are quickly discouraged when you are not winning.
The all-or-nothing approach is fueled by the belief that you must exercise full control and be restrictive; expecting to have no fun in the process of reaching your target. This mindset prompts people to start a new regimen on Monday and treat the weekend like your ‘last hurrah’. The slightest ‘slip-up’ can cause total relapse, hence shifting gears from ‘Turbo’ to ‘Idle’ in your action plans.
Recent research examining wellness action plans in California found that 68% of people interviewed for the study started their weight loss diet on Monday. From that group 34% had quit by Tuesday night! The bottom line is; if you do not allow room for error and expect to suffer in your wellness journey, it is almost impossible to sustain your action plan.
Altering your mindset is the first step to achieving your positive health habits. The second step in developing a sustainable action plan is to identify the daily hassles or events that frequently act as road blocks or obstacle to achieving consistent positive health habits.
Identifying and acknowledging the daily hassles or “road blocks” that throw you off-course helps to shape the guiding attitude that “no plan is perfect, you are human, and the best plan is one that is adaptable.”
The key is not to prevent the daily hassle from occuring but to alter your response when it pops up.
