30 Aug What Is Truly Blocking Your Nutrition Progress

We have a million different thoughts that run through our head every second of everyday. 

And most of the time our thoughts are very overwhelming and hard to sort through. 

When it comes to our nutrition goals, our ability to reach them are directly dependent on the mindset we have towards and throughout our health journey. But a lot of us tend to suffer from subconscious negative ways of thinking that can hinder and block our progress!

What are some of unhelpful negative mindsets?

How do we go about reframing them?

1) ALL OR NOTHING THINKING:

“If I eat a brownie it ruins my progress. I might as well finish half the tray since I already blew it.”

“My workout doesn’t really count unless I am dripping sweat and completely exhausted.”

This type of thinking is called polarized or all-or-nothing thinking. This is a tendency to think in extremes.

A lot of times this all or nothing mindset deters our nutrition goals because it clouds our vision to believe there is either success or failure.

how to reframe polarizing thoughts:

• progress is not linear

• what other positive steps forward have you made this week?

2. OVERGENERALIZATIONS

“I’m not seeing the health changes that I want. If I’m lacking here I feel like I’m failing in other aspects of my life.”

When you don’t feel successful in one aspect of your life or things aren’t going our way, it can feel like everything is going wrong.

 How to reframe over generalizations:

When you find yourself jumping to these conclusions remember that you are so much more than just a body and coming across a road bump isn’t closing all the roads you drive. There are other ways to get to your destination that aren’t going to stop your whole journey!

3. CATASTROPHIZING

“I didn’t meet my goal for this week. I’m never going to meet the goals I set, which means I’m never going to make progress and finally get to a place of comfort in my own body.”

As humans, we are trained to be attentive to the worst possible scenario. This is a defense mechanism to protect us against harm. 

Sometimes this adaptive characteristic works against us in catastrophizing a situation focusing on the negatives of a situation.

How to reframe catastrophizing thoughts:

When we start going down this rabbit hole of negative and self-deprecating thoughts remember that these thoughts, though inherently helpful, are not necessarily true!

Take a deep breath.

Reflect on the situation and write out what’s bothering you.

Recognize that you might magnifying this bump in the road.

Acknowledge what happened but focus on the positives and where you are going.

4. SHOULD STATEMENTS

“I really want to have a slower day to myself because I know I need it after this week, but my friends are all hanging out and I should really go.”

A lot of time we make decisions based on should statements instead of want statements. Instead of trusting our gut and going with what may be best for us, there is a tendency to live up to societal and social expectations to do what “morally” should be done.

Continuing to live at this pace, can lead to a one way ticket of feeling depleted and burnt out.

In your health journey it’s important to find the balance between wants and shoulds.

A lot of time we don’t want to do the things we should be doing to move us closer to our goals.

But also, don’t push yourself with should statements to the point where you don’t feel energized or start to resent it.

How to navigate should statements:

Ask yourself what your priorities are in your nutrition journey and balance them with your non-negotiable basic needs.

5. FILTERING

“I’ve done so well this week in staying active and working out in a regimented way but I missed the one workout I planned for this morning. I feel like missing this one morning messed up the progress I made this week.”

When we think negative, we see the negative.

Negative thinking can be a really hard pattern to adjust after going through years of dieting, distrust with your body and degrading self-talk.

How to prevent filtering negative thoughts:

Recognize the negatives and that things didn’t go as planned.

This was an important realization and obstacle in your nutrition journey in making you stronger next time.

Acknowledge what you could do differently next time

Let go of the negatives and congratulate yourself on the positives.

Progress is not defined solely by outcomes, its defined by your reaction to the challenges.

Keep moving forward, you got this!