It’s another bitterly cold day here on Long Island, and I write this to you from my parents’ home. Every Tuesday and Friday, I visit my hometown of Port Washington, and work with my grandmother on rehab from hip replacement surgery last summer, and my dad on improving his strength, tone and overall cardiovascular health.
Today, I want to piggyback off my message yesterday: This time of year is all about mindset, and more specifically, staying strong despite copious amounts of temptation. By now, you probably have the information you need to improve your health and to reach your goals. Of course, if you don’t, then check out my Food Guide and Healthy Recipe Book to guide you on your quest: www.weightlossbypete.com/foodguiderecipes.
Anyway, with holiday parties mounting, your desire to put that knowledge into action is probably slim-to-non-existent right now.
‘I deserve it!’ ‘It’s just one!’ This mentality coupled with apathy compounded on an almost daily basis for over two weeks can do quite a bit of damage to any progress you’ve made in recent weeks. And even when the holidays aren’t upon us, we tend to find excuses for our poor choices, such as: ‘I’m stressed!’ ‘It’s the weekend!’ ‘I deserve it! (Again!!)’ ‘It’s better than doing drugs or turning to prostitution!’
Yeah, believe it or not, I get that last one a lot :-/…
A lot of folks the world over have been taught a victim mentality from inception. Participation trophies just for playing — Not for when you’ve actually won anything. Do your best — It doesn’t matter if you succeed or not, so long as you give ‘it’ a try (God, I hate that one and everything it stands for!). And my personal favorite: It’s not your fault! It’s your genetic’s, or it’s ‘the system’s!’
This isn’t to say that there aren’t other forces at play — For instance, having never played organized basketball at any level, and being shorter than the average league point guard, aspiring to play in the NBA is not a realistic goal for me. But when it comes to personal growth and self-development, all that’s needed is both a will and a way! Improving your health and losing weight are both well within EVERYONE’S reach, provided we’re willing to do what it takes to reach those goals.
All that’s not to say that you have to (or should aspire to) be perfect. Perfectionism can lead to improved health and lifestyle habits, sure, but it will certainly lead you down an even bigger rabbit-hole of self-sabotage once you eat that bad food or skip that workout. You’ll feel so ashamed of your bad decision that you’re going to punish yourself by doing more of that negative behavior. It’s something I’ve both personally experienced, and is something that I’ve seen time and time again in my Permanent Weight Loss clients over the last decade.
One mental exercise that’s really helped change my life and kept me on-track regardless of any missteps is to take ownership of EVERYTHING: Both my successes, as well as my failures. If I ate a crappy food or drank a shoddy drink, it wasn’t like I was a prisoner tied down to a table while one person held my mouth open, while another shoved the food or drink down my gullet. If I had the time to work out but chose not to, anyway, it was just that — A bad choice which I needed to make up for doubly the next day!
When I started instilling this thought process into my life, I NEVER got off track for long at all. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I had two subpar days in a row when it came to eating clean, getting quality sleep, and working out. Try it out, and let me know how it goes!
Enjoy your weekend ;-)
Sincerely,Pete Weintraubpete@weightlossbypete.com
P.S. I’d mentioned yesterday that I’m going to be releasing my Holiday Recipe Guide this coming Monday, 12/18, due to an OVERWHELMING demand for recipes on various holiday favorites!
If you’re interested in getting a FREE copy once the Holiday Recipe Guide is finished, simply go to www.weightlossbypete.com/holidayrecipeguide, and register to get your’s once it’s ready to go ;-)