3 Mistakes You Could Be Making In Your Health & Wellness Journey

We all make mistakes (because we are human), especially in our journeys to health and wellness. We are constantly surrounded by things like diet culture, social media and the news where we are told that a “certain way of doing things” is the answer. We are trained to think that those “ways of doing” are our answer to long term health and wellness, but in most cases they actually set us back.

When I first sought out on my journey to health and wellness years ago, I thought it was going to be a breeze. I followed every tip I could find online, I followed any advice I could find from even the most credible people and I tried any and every diet I heard of. I thought I was doing everything right and for so long I never saw results and I never reached the goals I set for myself. In fact, I was actually worse off than I was before I started working out and “eating better”. I found myself going back and forth with my weight, looking for quick fixes, pushing myself too hard in my workouts (anyone else thought they had to do 2 hours on the elliptical machine at the gym?) and always in a negative head space. I was making massive mistakes that were setting me back instead of pushing me forward to reaching my goals.

Below are 3 of the most common mistakes that we all need to stop doing:

The 3 mistakes you could be making that prevent you from reaching your goals:

1. Focusing on restriction and deprivation
   
   What this can look like:

   -Putting restrictions on certain foods
   -Putting a label on your diet (unless it is for allergy related or ethical reasons)
   -Depriving yourself of a craving
   -Avoiding snacks between meals because you’re worried it’s “too much food” for a day
   -Saying no to going out to eat because you fear making an “unhealthy” choice
   -Counting calories or macros

   Why this doesn’t work:
   
   Restriction and deprivation creates a negative mindset around health and wellness- the opposite of what it should be. Often when you put restrictions on certain foods or on the amount of food you should be eating in a day you end up depriving yourself of things that you truly want. When you feel deprived you end up looking at health and wellness with negative eyes which only leads to reverting back to old habits and never seeing results. This is diet culture. Instead of moving in the right direction at all times, you end going back and forth and never reaching the long term results that you desire. Instead focus on abundance! Focus on the foods you can have rather than all the things you can’t! Shifting your attention to all of the beautiful options you have in front of you will do you better in the long run than always leading with the mindset of “I can’t have this or that” or “I shouldn’t be eating this”. When focusing on abundance and even having balance in your diet (aka not depriving yourself of your true wants) you start creating a positive experience for yourself. A positive experience will lead you to long term results.

2. Only setting goals based on body image
   
   Why this doesn’t work:
   
   If your focus is just on weight-loss or having the perfect abs, you might be setting yourself up for disappointment. Creating your goals around what you think you should look like can only get you so far (and sometimes no where at all!). When you are focused on “I need/want to look this way to be happy”, you’ll find yourself always picking yourself apart and never feeling truly satisfied. Why? Because weight-loss or perfect abs won’t make you happy or take away all the other feelings, worries or anxieties you have inside of you. Setting goals and intentions based on how you want to feel is the better choice! Striving for only something like weight-loss puts limits on what you can achieve (the scale will only read a number, it will never read “I feel confident” or “I am happy”). You may get temporary satisfaction by reaching a number on the scale, but you will never be fully satisfied because you only focused on external results. Switching to a goal of “I want to feel confident in my body” can open you up to not just workouts and nutrition choices that can lead you to feeling more confident in your body but it also leads you to open yourself up to different wellness concepts that can help you feel confident, strong and powerful, happy and stress free. Weight-loss and abs are just an after-effect.
   

3. Overwhelming yourself with too much!

   
   What this can look like:

   -Trying to fit in too many health and wellness activities that your schedule doesn’t allow for
   -Not taking time to rest
   -Spending above your means to keep up with wellness trends
   
   Why this doesn’t work:
   
   You can’t do everything and that old saying “we all have the same 24 hours in a day” is BS. It can be so motivating to see others in the health and wellness space going to pilates, going for a 12k step walk, going to acupuncture, meal prepping and going out for midday green juices all in the same day. It is easy to get caught up in someone else’s world and think “I need to be doing all of that too” to see results like they have. The problem is that your lifestyle differs from everyone else’s. We don’t all have the same schedule (or even budget) to fit in all the health and wellness rituals out there. When you are setting a health and wellness goal is it so important that you have an action plan that is doable for YOU. If your rituals and routines are things that are causing you stress, then it is time for you to create a new ones that work for you, not against you. Your time, budget and happiness shouldn’t suffer just because you feel obligated to “fit it all in”.

In my 1:1 coaching program I help you to avoid making these mistakes by helping you to create goals and a wellness plan that works for YOU, check it out here!