As we know, the key components of getting fit is input and output: diet and exercise. As a local radio commercial puts it "Move more, eat less." But overlapping that is the mental aspect of fitness.
There are two main themes that frequently come to mind. One is denial, and the other is the mental sabotage of the fitness routine.
Denial is that state of refusing to accept the need for fitness. Our mind tricks us into believing that we aren't really in bad shape, and we have a picture in our mind of a fitter person than we really are. St. Paul says in the 13th Chapter of his 1st letter to the Corinthians that we see now through a glass (mirror) dimly. Even looking at the mirror we can deceive ourselves.
For many, it takes an outside shock to help us out of that denial. Clothes no longer fitting, or for many it is seeing ourselves in a photograph that is the shock to the system that breaks through the denial, and that we have allowed ourselves to get so far out of shape!
The other aspect of the mental battle, particularly once we begin to workout out and eat properly, is a long ingrained self-image as one who cannot get into shape, and we sabatoge our workout regime despite the success we may be having. Tom Venuto wrote great article on this, found here http://www.howtobefit.com/self-concept.htm
In a nutshell he says that we have to change our Self-Concept. Tom writes...
People who don’t understand self-image erroneously put all their attention on changing their eating and exercise behaviors, but the problem with this physical-only approach is that it’s not addressing the SOURCE or cause of the behavior. The source of your behavior is your mental self-image. You are more than just a body. You are a body, a mind and a spirit. You will always act - and can ONLY act - like the type of person you SEE yourself to be in your mind.
If you see yourself as a fat person, you will behave like a fat person. If you see yourself as a lean, fit and healthy person, you will behave like a lean, fit and healthy person. A fat person would never work out faithfully every day of the week, so why is it any surprise that someone with a “fat person” self-image would skip workouts? Their brain is programmed to skip workouts. Someone with a “fat person” self-image would never eat healthy, low fat, low sugar, low calorie meals, so why would it be surprising that they cheat on their diet and binge on junk food? After all, their brain is programmed to eat junk. Is this starting to make sense?
To make a lasting change, you must work on the physical AND the mental planes. Of course you have to change your lifestyle, exercise and nutrition habits, but the real secret is not trying to force new behaviors, but changing the self-image which controls the behabior. Put your energy on a new mental picture, and the new picture will create new behaviors. Best of all, the new behaviors that spring from a positive new self-image will come without as much effort or willpower because they’re hard-wired into every cell of your body. The “unseen forces” are now working for you instead of against you.
Tom then goes on to recommend a four step program to create a new self concept; 1) Create your new image 2) create a written description of your new self image 3) act the part 4) Reinforce the image daily...even hourly.
I recommend the link http://www.howtobefit.com/self-concept.htm to read the article in its entirety! So whether you are in the "I'm not so bad" mindset which is preventing you from getting started, or trapped in a destructive mindset concerning that self image that knocks you off track of a fitness routine already begun you can get beyond it to get fit and stay fit!
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"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which he have of God, and ye are not your own?" - 1 Corinthians 6:19 "...unfortunately, MY body is a temple of doom" - a comedian in the 1980's referencing the Indiana Jones movie of the same title.
