This month we celebrate our nation’s independence…both in the United States and Canada…so it seems a fitting topic for the month. What does freedom mean for you in relationship to your health? What about independence?
For me freedom means that I am able to physically do what I want. I am not held captive by a body that is obese or out of shape. It also means that I am not tethered to some restrictive diet, where I have to count every single morsel that I put in my mouth for the rest of my life.
I am free from restrictions and failure because I have freed myself from my old ideas.
If we are truly going to be free about our bodies and our weight loss goals then there are certain things that have to be in place for any program to work. They include:
F ocus and Flexibility
R eaching, Realistic and Responsibility
E asy
E nergizing
D elicious
O ptimistic, Open-Minded and Ownership
M anageable
Focus and Flexibility: you must focus your attention on health and positivity and away from negativity. Focus on the right things in order to have success. Your goals must be flexible enough to allow for life to happen, so even though you are focused you do not need to (nor can one be) perfect in order to attain the results you desire.
Reaching, Realistic and Responsibility: while our goals can be reaching we must temper them with a realistic assessment of where we are right now and what we can achieve physically, emotionally, financially and from a time perspective. Having a goal that reaches too far without taking into account our personal lives and differences will be of no more help than setting no goals at all. Above all, these are our goals and we must accept responsibility for them. We are not victims; we are in control of our lives.
Easy: I believe that our goals, especially in the beginning, should be easy to achieve. We have spent much of our lives setting lofty goals and not hitting them that our inner mind doesn’t believe us any more when we set a health or weight loss goal. Set the goal to be so easy that you absolutely cannot fail. This helps train your unconscious mind that you CAN succeed and that you are telling yourself the truth. This is an important part of changing your mindset around weight loss. Set easy goals and reach them and then set and reach another and another and another. Once you have set and kept some easy goals, then you can start to make them a bit more challenging if you wish.
Energizing: eating healthy foods and exercising energizes our bodies and our minds. Not eating enough food does not lead to permanent, healthy weight loss and is physically draining. Eating too much over tasks the body and also leads to fatigue.
Delicious: our food and our experiences should be delightful and delicious, whether it is enjoying the feeling of our body become stronger or the foods we eat, savoring these moments is one way to catapult these small changes into permanent, massive results.
Optimistic, Open-Minded and Ownership: place emphasis on what you are doing right; break the habit of looking at the negative—at what you are doing wrong. This is the time to celebrate your successes…every single one, no matter how small or large. Be open to new things, whether that is a new way of looking at something, a new recipe or food, or a different exercise. This open-minded attitude will help your health, both physically and mentally, and will keep your routine from becoming…well, routine! Own everything that you do…make it YOUR choice, your decision about your body. No one can make you healthy—only you can. You don’t have to be perfect about it, but don’t blame your failure on anyone else and don’t give the credit away for your successes. It is all you, every bit of it!
Manageable: keep your real life in mind when setting your goals…you might have to be creative to figure out how you are going to attain them, but if you keep the goals small to start with you will be able to manage. Give yourself permission to be human too…the expectation of perfection will kill your success rate because it just isn’t possible to maintain that for long. Instead of perfection for a day, a week, or a month, have your goal be something that you can manage for the rest of your life.
Keep the “FREEDOM” mantra in your head…if what you are doing or thinking about doing doesn’t fall into one of these categories then think long and hard about whether or not it is the right choice!
After you have read how to apply this concept to your Mindset, Moving and Mouth, be sure to refer to the Goals of the Month sheet and determine what your goals are for this month of celebrating Freedom. Writing your monthly goals is a great way to help you keep them in your mind so that you continue to make progress on your journey to a healthy, energetic and slender body.
