Negative Thinking Can Derail Your Health and Happiness

A large percentage of people are struggling with self-doubt and negativity toward themselves. This has lots to do with our perfectionist society placing so much pressure on people to obtain the unobtainable. 

Our self-scrutiny can be harsh as we tear down our bodies and life. This kind of negative thinking has the potential to derail your health and happiness.

You may put off making healthy choices and starting a fitness program because you just don't believe it's possible. But I am here to tell you that getting healthy and happy is possible for everyone at every age and stage in life.

Mental Outlook is Important

Your mental outlook is one of the most important parts of achieving success. Remember, your body achieves what the mind believes.

It's also important not to waste precious time caring what other people think and body comparisons because instead of being positive about fitness, we often become intimidated. Possibly even resentful and angry. This often leads to self-sabotage and what's the use of even trying attitudes.

Focus on You

Why are people still trying to live up to someone else's standards and fitness results? Your drive to accomplish the grass is greener on the other side does nothing but rob your positive thoughts. By remaining so focused on not measuring up, you're failing to see how fabulous you really are. Let's turn this around.

Each day is an opportunity to be proud of your efforts. Instead of being upset about losing only one pound, be happy to have lost one pound. Did you notice how that got switched around to a positive?

We have to stop believing everything we think about ourselves. This has become a big problem getting in the way of your health and fitness goals. And it will take mindfulness to be aware of negative thinking so it can be changed into positive thoughts about yourself.

Believe in Yourself

What you believe determines your life, health, and happiness. Negative thoughts take you down while positive feelings uplift and carry you to great places.

For example, getting fit takes acceptance of being a beginner and progressing each day. Not trashing yourself for not being as good as someone who has been working out for years. Did you workout? Eat healthier? Awesome and be happy to have achieved a daily goal.

Fitness is really a simple process we often complicate with negative stuff. Time to toss out the negative committee living in your heads. You are stronger than all that useless noise between your ears.

Working on your mental outlook will help create a healthy, happy life. What I found to be helpful is writing positive affirmations on post-it notes where they are readily visible. Or writing on the bathroom mirror with dry-erase markers positive thoughts for the day. And it's not only important to read the words but also to believe the words.

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Working Out for the Wrong Reasons

The other day, when I was at the hair salon, my hairdresser said something that caught me by surprise. We were discussing our professions, and how we both enjoyed what we did for a living. I told her that I was a CrossFit coach, and she responded, “Good for you! I can never seem to stick to a workout routine for more than a few months. I’m skinny, so I don’t really need to workout.” I didn’t really know how to respond. Her words had really resonated with me, though. I thought to myself, “because she’s thin, she doesn’t think exercise is a priority?”

This is neither cute nor healthy...

I can’t lie though, I’m sure at one point when I was younger, I felt the same way. We have come to associate working out with the pursuit of losing weight. Someone who is thin must be healthy, too, no?

First of all, I want to just express how much I loathe the word “skinny.” Let me just read you some of the adjectives that I found when I looked up the word “skinny in the thesaurus: “undernourished,” “emaciated,” “scrawny,” “skeletal,” and “scraggy.” Do any of these synonyms sound desirable to you? I certainly don’t find any of those terms to be endearing. I would much rather be “lean,” “fit” or even “muscular.” The word skinny denotes weakness.

Exercise is about so much more than improving my body composition, in my opinion. I want to be able to be prepared for anything life throws at me, I want to defend myself against a potential attacker on the streets, I want to move heavy objects without fear of hurting my back in the process, and of course, I want to ensure that I will avoid decrepitude as I age! Vitality is so much more important than physical appearance.

Building a lean, fit body is a wonderful perk of exercise—I certainly can’t deny that. I have grown more comfortable with my body in the process, but I have also become healthier and more resilient.

UCLA physician Preethi Srikanthan surveyed more than 3,500 participants in her research. She found that those with more lean muscle mass had significantly longer lifespans than those who lower percentages of muscle mass. Additionally, she did not find any dramatic differences between those with higher body fat percentages versus lower body fat percentages. This means that muscle mass is more important than body fat in estimating one’s overall life expectancy.

We all want to live a long, fulfilling life, right? Exercise and a healthy diet are integral ingredients in the recipe for longevity. On the other hand, those who are sedentary and eat poorly have weaker tendons, more fragile bones, weaker immune systems, and shorter lifespans than their active counterparts.

Just remember: someone who is "skinny" is not necessarily healthy.


Sources:

1. Toss F, Wiklund P, Nordström P, Nordström A. Body composition and mortality risk in later life (2012)
2. Srikanthan, Preethi, and Arun S. Karlamangla. "Muscle Mass Index As a Predictor of Longevity in Older Adults." The American Journal of Medicine 127.6 (2014): 547-53. Web.

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Learning to Love Your Body