Want To Know 6 Limiting Beliefs That May Be Keeping You From Creating the Body You Desire?
Everyone has certain beliefs (what I call self limiting beliefs) and habits that dictate their behavior. Unfortunately, many of these beliefs can keep us from the very things we desire the most. This seems to be especially true when it comes to diet and exercise. Beliefs that prevent us from even getting started are common as well.
It’s especially unfortunate in light of how easy it actually is to make simple changes that can have profound effects.
If any of these statements ring true for you, read on to discover how to counteract their damage:
1. "I must have everything before I get started."
You know the routine; you think you have to get new tennis shoes, join a gym, buy new workout clothes, find the perfect diet, and more.
Realize that you don’t need anything fancy to get started.
You know what food is healthy and what isn’t. Go for a walk.
Get started today with what you already know. You can improve your diet and exercise routine each week. Nothing happens without action, so start taking action today.
Trust me I am on this journey myself. My wife bought a fancy new scale late last year. It told me just how overweight I was… SEVERELY OVERWEIGHT. Ouch!
So I started learning about things and doing better with my food choices and started getting more active by walking. The holidays hit and things blew up. In January I started a new food delivery service called Hungryroot – Give it a try and get $50 off your first order.
This is a little techy, but Hungryroot makes it easy to order healthy food choices and better yet, helps you create a system that suggests meals for you each week to keep things interesting and yummy based on what you like.
Oh, and did I say most meals cook in 20 minute? BOOM!!!
Quick and easy and very yummy. So I’ve been using them for the last 6 weeks and it’s made switching to a more healthy diet easy and made it fun to eat at home more often. Here is a meal I made this week that was A. Maz. Ing!!
Taverna-Style Beef Tips + Smashed Potatoes
I only share the Hungryroot ideas because it was easy for me and really helped me to start eating better (more fruit and veggies, less processed stuff, more vegetarian meals).
If budget is a concern than this might not be a good option for you but it is cheeper then going out to eat and probably comparable to regular groceries.
I’ll share another tip – In the HEALTHY LIVING: BASIC NUTRITION course I offer, there is a free lesson with tips you can start doing today related to eating.
Go watch the lesson on MEAL TIMING – HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU EAT?
2. "I'm too out of shape to exercise."
Lots of heavier people believe this one. The truth is that exercise is relative. For some people, exercising means running 10 miles. For others, it might mean walking to the mailbox and back. The key is to stress your body slightly and then let it recover. The amount of work it takes to achieve that is secondary.
For me I have done easy things like 30 Jumping Jacks a few times a week, or Walking around the block or neighborhood, or what I am doing now… Biking around the neighborhood, where I used to walk.
I also set a small goal on my iPhone app that tracks my footsteps per day. I was doing roughly 2K footsteps a day when I started. I wanted to boost that to 10K, but have moved it back to about 5K a day now.
Try a few things and see what you can do. Make it fun and easy so you can stick with it. I am amazed at how I am now riding my bike a few days a week for a few miles. Not HUGE, but it is a HUGE improvement to what I was doing last year. Start small and build over time. You can do it!
Heck, maybe try some basic Chair Yoga if you are older or have any limiting issues currently. This is sometimes an easy way to get started moving and learning yoga.
3. "I don't have time to cook."
There are plenty of things that are healthy to cook that take almost zero attention. Throw some beans in a pot and let them boil for a couple of hours while you’re busy with something else. The total time actually spent doing anything is less than a minute. Do this ahead of time and then just reheat for mealtime.
I also love crock-pot meals. We put on ribs add salt and pepper and let it cook all day and it turns out great. Throw in a roast or something else and this is about as easy as it gets.
So I had this issue or this limiting belief, and the meal delivery program helped me out a lot. As I said the meals are quick and easy. Another thing I did was bought some thing to help in “snacky” times. Sometimes I have cravings and working from home if my boys have chips and candy around, I grab some stuff and snack on the garbage.
I started however getting a big bag of almonds and a big box of raisins and I mix them in a little dish and eat some healthy and filling things that hits a bit of sweet with the raisins and a little salty with the almonds.
I also like having vegetables like little sweet peppers that I will sometimes dip in ranch. Ok the ranch isn’t the best probably, but adding more veggies is way better than chips. I guess my point here is find something that is VERY EASY so you can bust this limiting belief about not having enough time to cook.
4. "I'm so out of shape that I'll never be able get back in shape."
It’s true that the more out of shape you are, the longer it’s going to take. But you can improve each week. It doesn’t take much to lose one pound each week, but that’s 50 pounds in a year. It’s important to just focus on this week. If you focus two years out, it’s tough to persevere.
I set a goal to lose 40 pounds by the end of the year. I gotta be honest… I’ve been on a seesaw going up and down each week. It is frustrating at times, but you know what? I am learning more about myself and how my body works. That is pretty cool!
I am playing a long-game so I do not get hung up with the weekly struggles too much. I just do my best and keep improving week over week as best I can.
5. "I don't know how to get started."
If you’re in poor physical shape, nearly anything is good enough. Clean up your diet a little bit. Move around a little bit more than you have been. Once you make an improvement in your habits, your body will respond. Then you need to change a little more. It’s not necessary to have a complicated routine.
Try this: Replace one ‘bad’ food that you eat regularly with something that you know is healthy. Also add going for a walk to your daily routine. Go as slowly as you need to. If you can only walk 5 minutes, that’s fine. Next week you’ll be able to walk 10. Each week improve your diet and increase your activity by just a little bit.
In all honesty, one myth we often have is how important exercise is. Although exercise really helps as part of the bigger picture, nutrition is a HUGE powerhouse that will get you the biggest results. This is why I mentioned the Basic Nutrition course above and different healthy food ideas.
If you really want to start exercise but struggling to know where to get started then maybe you want to check out the HEALTHY LIVING: GETTING STARTED WITH PHYSICAL ACTIVITY COURSE.
If you’d like check out the free lesson from this course to help gain more insight on how to get started with physical activities titled PHYSICAL ACTIVITY’S ROLE IN LIFESTYLE CHANGE AND WEIGHT LOSS.
I use all these ideas and courses myself to gain knowledge and build a healthy program for myself. I work with professional personal trainers and physicians to help me create these courses because I need expert advice to help me chip away at my old bad habits.
6. "It's too complicated."
This self limiting belief comes from the nutrition and fitness industry. If they kept everything simple, what would they have to sell and talk about? Diet and exercise are both actually very simple unless you’re trying to make the Olympic team. Don’t be fooled into thinking that your knowledge is insufficient.
I shared a few free options to help and although some of the other solutions are paid options, I tried to keep these as reasonable as possible but again, do not let this stop you.
If you need to start right now, then log off and go walk around the block or even back and forth around the house if it’s raining or too cold today. Just DO something. Small things over time is what creates HUGE change. Be patient and find the easy things you can commit to daily or weekly.
Examine your own beliefs. Are they self limiting beliefs?
What is stopping you from taking better care of yourself? Is your belief reasonable, or is it just an excuse to maintain your current behavior? If you can change your beliefs, you can change your behavior and enjoy better results. Start eating a little bit better and exercising a little bit more today, and sooner than you think, you’ll have the body you’ve been wanting.
Trust me you can do anything you put your mind to and you can overcome any beliefs that are holding you back. You got this!
If MINDSET is the issue then maybe it’s time to address this with the free Limiting Beliefs Assessment Test to see if and where you might have limiting beliefs. Click below to take the free Limiting Beliefs Assessment Test.
Or continue learning more with the 25 page easy read eBook titled Are Your Beliefs Holding You Back? This is a great additional read to dig deeper on this topic and to start exploring HOW TO overcome your limiting beliefs. Try either or both great resources today!