Your fitness mindset is critical if you want to make a lasting change in your health and wellness. There are many elements that can become barriers to change even if the desired change is attainable. Mental attitude, eating behaviors and habits, how and what you eat are the most important elements for those that desire to tackle their obesity or live an overall healthier lifestyle.
Often, we have prospective and current clients who want the results without having to change their poor eating habits. Some want to forgo their alcohol consumption. As trainers, we never take these biases personally. Rather, we recognize them as a common thread. We know that as we train, educate and coach our clients, their mindset will naturally pivot. When our client’s perspective and mindset changes, THAT is all the opportunity we need to help to make a huge impact on their lives!
Commitment
Resistance training and activity in the gym only comprises about 20% of the commitment needed to achieve long-term fitness goals. Consequently, the other 80% are the foods and beverages our clients consume which will affect their efforts either positively or negatively. As experienced trainers, we have seen clients who are compliant with nutritional protocols and those who choose to ignore them. The former clients tend to be the most successful in achieving their health and wellness goals. The old mantra, “you cannot out train a bad diet,” has never been more true or relevant in the fitness community today.
Having our clients recognize how certain unhealthy foods make them feel is one of the biggest hurdles we face when we start coaching them. It is imperative that we address issues such as identifying why they are driven to eat certain foods at certain times of the day. Then we are able to offer a solution as to how and what needs to be changed. This is the mindfulness that is representative of the “mind your body (SM)” mentality promoted through All Attitude Fitness.
Sugar is the most common addictive food and it continually shows up in habitual eating preferences. Throughout our years of training, tackling sugar addictions and eradicating them can truly create an environment for meaningful change.
Facts About Sugar
1) The brain uses more energy than any other organ in the human body and glucose (simple sugar) is its fuel.
2) EXCESS sugar IMPAIRS our cognitive skills (thinking) and self-control.
3) Sugar has a drug-like effect on the reward centers of the brain.
These facts may make you wonder, “Why would our systems be set up this way?” The short answer is that these triggers actually ensure our survival particularly when food was scarce thousands of years ago. Fast forward to today, this primitive stimulus has become a double-edged sword due to the convenience and abundance of food available. Some people eat out of boredom. Others because it makes them feel good or as a means to socialize. And emotional eaters will eat when they are sad, mad, depressed. The bottom line is that if we want to consume food today, there is no shortage.
High-glycemic index foods are foods that cause a spike in blood sugar shortly after consumption due to their make-up. These foods activate regions of the brain associated with the ‘reward response’ thus provoking more intense feelings of hunger compared to low glycemic foods (The Negative Impact of Sugar on the Brain; Furhman, 2018). This is why we do not promote or agree with the “If It Fits Your Macros” (IIFYM) ideology.
The Neurological Response
Not only does food create a physiologic response in the body, but it also creates a neurological response. Our brains are chemically altered based on our eating habits, history, and food preferences/addictions. Utilizing lax nutritional guidelines promoted by the IIFYM ideology will not cure these addictions and neurological responses. Recognition and acceptance that food addictions and habits can negatively impact your health is an opportunity for self-knowledge. Once someone can recognize a pattern of feelings related to an action of eating then there is a chance for real, lasting change.
For example, if our clients consume 40% of their carb intake from fibrous carbs (vegetables) versus 40% of their carb intake from simple sugars (sugar cubes, non-diet soft drinks, hard candy), their neurologic AND physiologic response are EXTREMELY different. The IIFYM mindset is analogous to the “I don’t want to give up my red wine, Oreos, or ice cream and still get the results that I want” mindset. It blatantly ignores the facts of biology and creates a false sense of expectation which undermines lasting results and REAL change.
Opportunity for Change
Revelation, becoming aware of a practice or tendency that is toxic, creates an opportunity for change. Once connections are made that expose the driving force behind behaviors there is freedom to know yourself better and create new patterns based on this knowledge. This is almost like watching yourself from inside your thoughts. Once this happens, you can practice mindfulness in ALL areas of your life. We grow our clients’ mindset in order to help them to succeed and attain their fitness goals. It is extremely rewarding to see clients take these elements learned with us and translate discipline and self-knowledge to other areas in their life. Fitness level is not defined by how you look, how much you can bench press, or your weight on the scale. Rather, it is more about self-knowledge, empowerment, discipline and continuing the growth of your mindset. Mind your body.
