This is going to be a 3-part post. I’ll put the next two segments up separately to break up the reading…

With very few exceptions, we all find ourselves every so often, stuck in a weird place. It’s called The Plateau. Whether it’s in fitness, healthy living, education, relationships, . . . we all get burnt out, binge, rebel, regress, forget, lose focus, or any of many distractions that get us away from achieving goals. I often feel like I’m stuck spinning my wheels in relationship to my nutrition. I’ll be great for a few weeks and then… BAM! I binge on something I know is not a healthy choice. I’m not talking about having a cup of ice cream or a few cookies. I’m talking about the full-head-on-box-of-Entenmann’s kind of binge. I used to binge every few days on candy and at least I’ve been able to cut things back over the past few months to more of a “once a month” kind of cookie related binge… What I’m learning is that the more I focus on my process, the better my outcomes are psychologically, which in turn, directly affects my ability to make steady (sometimes excruciatingly slow) progress towards long term fitness and performance.

Learning how to be mindful of what my goals are, and the process I use to get there are valuable lessons that helps keep the idea of healthy living forefront in my mind.

Breaking free

An honest, non-judgemental gut check. No one can do the work (both mentally and physically) except you. The choice to intentionally change one thing today about your relationship with your health and wellbeing. Every person has different choices to make. Some might be driven by personal relationships with family and friends, or professionally. There might be choices about nutrition or fitness. Maybe you have been having trouble with choosing to get more sleep or personal time to yourself. They are all connected. It starts with acknowledging that the challenge exists. You have to name it. You have to name it honestly and without judgement.

1. Addiction to past eating relationship
2. Intentional food choices
3. Intentional exercise
4. Intentional rest and recovery (sleep/mindfulness)

This is a difficult step in the process but not the most difficult one, I promise. Every challenge you overcome only sets you up to face a larger, more difficult challenge down the road. The road gets easier to travel but the obstacles become more complicated and may require different kinds of effort to move off the road…but it all starts with today. One step, one small change. Something I used to tell my students was:

“Try to be a little bit better today than yesterday.”

They’s it. Just a little bit. It doesn’t have to be much, it just has to be an honest, intentional choice. To get to a point of Breaking Free of the rup you have to name it. Say it out loud.

“I want ……. And I know it’s a poor choice”

“I am having trouble sleeping”

“I am nervous about ……..”

“I’m sad about ……”

“I’m angry or upset about….”
The point is is that there will always be something every single day that has the potential to derail your goals. Name it. By saying it out loud will help give you power over your health demons.