1.  Weighing in daily.

Daily weigh ins are something that people seem to do obsessively and it is one of the most rampant and unhealthy habits among women.  Your weight will fluctuate a bit, typically somewhere within a range of 3lbs. Or so.

This means in the morning you could be 140 for example, and then at night after a meal and hydrating more you weigh 142 and you freak yourself out.  This unhealthy pattern can cause you to get discouraged and make negative food and health choices in the short-term, instead of focusing on the long-term.  If you weigh in once per week at the same time as the first measurement of 140 was taken, you will often find you’re losing weight consistently when following healthy lifestyle principles.

Weighing in daily is over-focusing on one piece of data and ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING!  I’ll repeat that, weighing yourself ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING.  You need to be focusing on building the actual habits that improve your health, and this is much more challenging and demands your full attention, we cannot be distracted with unnecessary weigh ins.

You will be LESS likely to hit your goals with this obsessive habit.

Tip: You should only weight in once a week, some of my clients who struggle with this but who are doing everything right I tell them to only weight in once every TWO weeks.  This will allow you to see substantial changes only, not regularly occurring fluctuations.

2.  Thinking Nutrition is all or nothing

Just because you eat a cheeseburger or some ice cream does not mean your entire diet, healthy lifestyle is out the window.  The people that I coach who often have the most frustration with diets and who constantly seem to be going through up and downs have a hard time realizing that they can have not the best day one day, and still make great decisions the next day.

I personally do this all the time.  I might cave and have some ice-cream on a monday, but I never stress over it, and typically the next meal or day im right back on track.  I don’t think twice about it, because I focus on building good habits, not sustaining perfection forever.

3.  Not Enjoying your “Cheat” or Vice Fully

This is a continuation of my last point.  Life is never perfect, or all or nothing.  We all have our favorite cheat meals, unhealthy snacks, and imperfections that we enjoy.  I personally love pastries because I have a sweet tooth.

The key is to PLAN or INDULGE once in a while but to do it WITHOUT GUILT!!!

Guilt does nothing except drive the pattern deep into our brain and associate it with feelings of shame, failure, etc.  All things we are trying not to associate food and eating with.  If you have a cupcake at work, or a slice of pizza, it is not a big deal just move on.

But on the same note: it is important that you allow yourself the things in life that you truly enjoy.  If your favorite thing on the planet is a big plate of pancakes drenched in syrup, allow yourself this meal once a week for the emotional enjoyment it gives you, and be 100% present in that moment without guilt!

It is amazing how much healthier we can all become when we allow ourselves to indulge fully and not hold back, it allows us to move on back towards our more important goals instead of feeling guilty, shameful, and like failures.  With these negative emotional reactions we are way more likely to binge eat poorly again.

4. Emotional Stress or Trauma

People deal with stress on all levels and some severe traumas that may be hidden deep under the surface.  Any stress that threatens our survival, such as financial, a life threatening or PERCEIVED threat, will cause us to reach for safety and security.  One of the biggest aspects of a human beings safety and security is food.

Thus it is highly important that if you are dealing with financial stress, relationship stress, work, etc.  that you do not allow food to become your coping mechanism or overeat to de-stress.

Dealing with deeply rooted trauma can be challenging, you may need the help of a professional, the only advice I can give is to try to become self-aware of your actions and habits.  Try to analyze how you eat/when you eat and meditate on if it could be related to past life issues or fear based patterns.  Becoming self-aware is often powerful enough to work on dissolving the unhealthy relationship with food.

5. Lack of a Dream

Without a strong dream that embodies you completely you will most likely not achieve your health and fitness goals for the simple reason that creating change is hard work.

One of the most difficult things to do is to create new habits and instill change, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  But, people do it everyday and it can be done.  This often happens either when we get fed up with our poor health etc. or when we are motivated by something larger than ourselves.

I recommend you either use a negative association, such as you do not want to be fat, unhealthy, weak, sickly, pathetic, and die young (just examples.)

OR

A positive association such as : I want longevity, to be strong, healthy, happy and at peak ability.

My dream is a combination of both:  I want to be able to climb some of the worlds toughest mountains still at 85 years old with relatively minor aches and pains, I want to prevent illness and disease from ever being a factor in my life.  I want strength and vibrant health so I can love myself and others to the best of my ability.

You need to visualize your dream goal and you need to be able to feel it BEFORE you are successful with your health and fitness goals, or else you most likely will not care enough to build new habits.

6. Eating healthy/organic is too expensive.

NOT eating real food and buying organic is what is really expensive.  1/3rd of Americans are obese and ⅓ are diabetic or pre-diabetic.  The entire healthcare model is a disaster and is on the verge of collapse.

Don’t be a cheapskate when it comes to your health and wellness, you’ll get 10x what you invest by spending 30 cents more.

7.  Not surrounding yourself with Healthy People

No matter how hard you try if you do not surround yourself with more positive people who already behave in the manner you which to achieve, it will be hard or nearly impossible to reach your goals.

If everyone in your family, friends, and maybe even your spouse is not going to support your new eating habits, workout routine, or health goals, it is an uphill battle.

This does not mean that it cannot be done.  I’d say 5% of us have the willpower to do anything on our own, but the rest of us need a support system through other people.  This is where following influential people online and hiring a coach comes in handy.

Hire a coach or trainer who embodies the lifestyle and body you would want to have and start behaving like they do, this is a simple way to become healthier.

Remember, this is more challenging than it sounds, as nearly our entire society is overweight and has poor eating and health habits!

8.  Not doing it for the right reasons.

Your goal needs to be powerful but functional from a holistic viewpoint.  It should support your health in the long-term and be sustainable.  If you need to workout 4 hours a day and only eat limited to hit your goal you’re not going to be able to do it forever.  I’ve seen plenty of people burn out and train themselves into an illness that can take years or sometimes they never even recover from because they wanted to do some extreme fitness show or competition.

Do it because you love your health, vitality, and your body.   Love yourself enough to respect your body, but also push it hard at the same time.

Avoiding burn-out and injury is the key.

Wishing you health and wellness and success in your endeavors.

-Mike