Getting Started - 4 Mind Traps to Avoid

Getting started on a fitness program is often one of the hardest steps. It’s daunting, confusing, and scary to consider all the work that goes into a healthy lifestyle, but when you finally realize that you need to make a change all you have to do is push forward. Here are some common mind traps that had previously prevented me from my goals.

1) I don’t know how - This was a complaint that I literally said to several people during the time of my life when I’d often complain about being out of shape but refused to do anything about it. “It’s too confusing.” There’s good carbs, bad carbs, starvation diets, aerobics, isometrics, infomercials, hiphopbootyballetabcrunchers… It was all too much for me to understand until my wife called me out on my crap. The words she said I’ll probably never forget: “Look, you already know how to eat well. You just don’t do it.” It was true. It’s not that hard to know what is good for you and what isn’t. The technical stuff can be learned - Don’t skip meals, Cut calories, Increase exercise. It’s all pretty fundamental. If you really do have problems about knowing what to do (and sincerely aren’t using this as an excuse like I was) you can always catch up on the fithacks.com archives

2) It will be too hard - You know what? Living well IS hard. But it’s not THAT HARD. After the first week of making healthy choices, your routine should really start to fall in line. The key is to not be so strict with yourself that your diet is unsustainable. You have to eat well, but you’ll need to enjoy life while you’re doing it. This can be accomplished by cutting back on a few items at a time or by giving yourself a binge day. As for the exercise, again it will be hard. But after your body is used to being more active, exercise becomes addictive. I honestly can’t wait for my next 5 mile jog.

3) I don’t have the time - See point number 2. Exercising does take some time, but not that much. With just 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day, your body will begin to see noticeable differences. Plus eating right doesn’t take anytime at all. Actually, if you can learn to portion your calories better and eat smaller meals, it may even save you time

4) I’m afraid to fail - If you decide to start living a healthy life, there will be times when you don’t meet your goals. You may give in to too much desert or oversleep your morning runs. But whenever this happens you must not be too hard on yourself. There will always be times when we fail. When those times come we simply need to press on and not abandon the goals that we started with.

If this article describes you, then I hope you overlook these little mind traps that we sometimes fall into. Getting fit is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and you shouldn’t let your silly brain get in the way of that.

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