Most of us can agree that being fit is a good thing.. but what does being “fit” really mean? To me, fitness is about balance and it goes beyond the physical. The most significant breakthroughs I’ve had in my fitness have been the direct result of emotional growth. For example, my binge eating subsided when I started practicing mindfulness; I was able to make better nutrition choices and lost weight as a result.
What I’ve observed as a trainer is a resistance to look beyond diet and exercise and dig deeper than meal plans and workout routines. Unhealthy relationships, excessive stress, poor sleep, an unhealthy work environment, and trauma effect our fitness and health. Often, instead of dealing with the root causes that may be inhibiting success in the gym/kitchen, people berate themselves for being “weak” and lacking willpower. They either give up or engage in destructive yo-yo style restricting and binging habits.
And why the resistance you may be wondering? BECAUSE ITS SCARY! WHATS UNDER THERE?? IT HAS FANGS!!!! AHHHHHH!!!! CLOSE THE DOOR! CLOSE THE DOOR! Spooky stuff, huh?
Root causes are complicated and nebulous. They can bring up confusing, intense, and painful emotions. They aren’t simple or straightforward. We are forced to ask the question,”WHY?” Why do I feel powerless around potato chips, why do I have this voice in my head telling me I am fat and disgusting, why the fear, why the negative self talk, why the binging, why the restricting, WHY GOD WHY?
Of course, we should all be in therapy, but here is the next best thing: a few tips from me, your personal armchair psychologist.
1) Variety truly is the spice of life and is key to the balance we need for our mental and physical health. Here’s the basic rule: if you find you’re only doing high intensity activities, get more low intensity activities in the mix, and vice versa. You prefer to sit around? Than you need to stand up. Do you prefer to stand? Then you should probably sit for a while. If you are interested in deep diving into the idea of balance in your life, check out this article.
2) Look before you leap. You may leap anyways, but at least you’ll do it with your eyes open. Here’s what I mean – I used to binge eat basically every day. Then I began a very simple (yet difficult) practice: pause & choose. Before I cooked the box of pasta, I would take a few moments just looking at the box. I would say to myself, “I am making the decision to eat this, this is my choice, I am not sure why, but I need this right now.” Instead of binge eating on auto-pilot, using the “pause & choose” tactic made me take responsibility for my actions, not in a blamey/shamey way, but in way that highlighted that I had a CHOICE, and I found it empowering. It took time, but I eventually chose not to have the pasta at all, and my eating habits changed drastically because I gave myself the space needed to look at what the hell I was doing.
3) Ask WHY – As a trainer I use this all the time. Keep asking “why” until you get to the root cause. Read this Wikipedia article to learn more about this simple and effective as hell tool.