Getting Healthy Starts In Your Head

Getting Healthy for Physical Transformation

If you’ve ever struggled (or still do) with the emotional rollercoaster of weight loss or any health journey, you know it’s not simply about lacking knowledge when it comes to getting healthy. Real personal growth is often what’s missing.

Just browse any online or bookstore diet/self-help section – filled with expert “how-to, step-by-step” guides on dieting, fitness, and getting healthy.

The premise of weight loss seems “simple” – burn more calories than you consume each day.

It sounds logical, right?

But getting healthy goes beyond calorie counting and exercise routines. It requires a mindset committed to long-term well-being and healthy self-esteem.

The premise of weight loss seems “simple” – burn more calories than you consume each day.

But without proper self-care, it becomes easy to fall into cycles of burnout or all-or-nothing thinking.

Yet, none of this matters if the process isn’t sustained during your journey to reach your goal and then maintained afterward.

Consistency in mindset and habits is the key to getting healthy and staying that way, and learning to be good to yourself is what makes that consistency possible.

Let’s Not Forget About Genetics

Genetics plays an important role in maintaining optimal body weight, but only gets us so far. Our mindset dictates the rest of our journey, whether positive or negative. According to Harvard research, adopting a positive mindset focused on getting healthy helps us overcome genetic limitations and achieve our goals.

I can reflect on both extremes.

In my youth, my perception of weight and body image looked very different than it does today.

Back then, my focus wasn’t really on getting healthy. It was on avoiding weight gain, something that felt almost impossible on my naturally lanky frame. But as a child, I didn’t fully understand any of that.

I was an incredibly shy child. The kind who was always looking down at the floor.

To help build my confidence and make me feel special, my mother would often praise how I looked. When I tried on a new outfit, she would say, “you would look good in a paper bag.”

She adored me and wanted me to feel good about myself.

But in my young mind, I made a different meaning out of it. I started to believe that because she was overweight, she couldn’t look good in anything… and that somehow meant she wasn’t as special or worthy of attention.

I vividly remember the fear that would wash over me when she placed second helpings on my plate.

Even if I was still hungry, I would sometimes refuse to eat. I was afraid of what overeating might do to me. And my stubborn nature often took over.

So, you could say my 10-year-old self used fear as motivation for what I wanted to avoid.

And while fear can be powerful, it’s also uncomfortable and heavy. It can lead to anxiety and unhealthy habits that don’t support a healthy lifestyle.

It’s not something you can sustain.

(Related: 4 Healthy Action Steps to Emotional Regulation)

A Healthy Body Doesn’t Start in the Gym, It Starts with a Decision in Your Head

I didn’t always understand this complex psychology, but what I did understand was I never wanted to be overweight. So, in hindsight, I guess my ammunition for staying slim (notice I didn’t say staying healthy) was the fear of “getting fat,” as I used to say. In all honesty, it was a fear of resembling my dear mother, who dealt with her weight almost my entire life.

At the time, I resented the way she looked, the struggle I witnessed – her unhappiness with her body. As a child, I didn’t have the comprehension to empathize and understand the full picture, the other side as I do today. Learning to embrace authenticity and a mindset free from comparison has been key.

We are a combination of all the information we surround ourselves with – the people we are close to, the books we read, the podcasts we listen to, etc. All of this filters through our minds, shaping beliefs and behaviors, whether positive or not, including our journey towards holistic health.

You see, our behavior is preceded by thought. Our body is a mirror of what’s going on in our minds. The words in our head and the things we say out loud to ourselves and others hold great power. These narratives run rampant in our minds all day long, often on autopilot. Fostering a high vibration mindset for physical transformation is crucial for overcoming obstacles and experiencing sustainable changes in getting healthy.

Our Inner Critic & Fear

The innate calling of our highest potential lies in our deep desire to grow, master our minds, and rise above the negative opinion of ourselves – that harsh inner critic. This critic births from an obstacle we all have inside us, masquerading as being helpful – FEAR! Fear plagues us all trying to keep us safe from harm's way but, at the same time, can trap us from living our best life.

And if you develop an unconscious limiting belief that you don’t deserve to prioritize getting healthy, looking and feeling good, or having success — or, in my case, believing that being overweight is undesirable — your emotions surrounding those beliefs shape your experiences.

It was years before I had this awareness, but in my teens, I had conveniently developed a habit of working out – thankfully, I wasn’t obsessive over it. And out of this passion for training my body, grew a healthier mindset. This fitness journey took twists and turns, but I decided to follow a more positive path that; aligned with what felt right to me.

This deep desire to stay healthy propelled me forward. Not just a few times at the start of that honeymoon phase, but repeatedly, over and over, especially on the days when it felt the hardest. And there were many of those, after gaining 50-pounds while pregnant with my twins.

Be Consistent with Your Habits

Surpassing those tough moments with my inner power of grit, provided my brain with the evidence it needed to rise above my excuses and persevere. It became clear that I had to commit to consistent healthy habits instead of settling into a comfortable inertia. Throughout this journey, I prioritized feeling good about myself and learned how to get motivated by focusing on positive emotions and outcomes, rather than judging others or being driven by fear. I was no longer equating being overweight with not being special or loveable.

Getting healthy took me time. It’s a mindset to understand that health begins on the inside. There wasn’t just one ‘aha’ moment that made the switch in my head. I had bumps in the road along the way, but this new mindset shift grew from a deep knowing that living in fear was not a happy place to be.

I learned; not to depend on the low-hanging fruit of negative reinforcement to keep me going.

As much as I have embraced the fear-based path as part of my past, I know now that being hard on myself, perhaps disguised as “tough love”, is not sustainable for a healthy mind.

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The key is to wage our potential against our doubts - to decide that you are worthy of both: a healthy body and a happy mindset to get you there.

Free yourself of this self-fulfilling sabotage by taking the first step in truly understanding where all this negative energy comes from and how to replace it with positive energy, which is a lot more pleasant a journey.

What I mean is; challenge your beliefs and take action daily to clear them from your mindset, if they are untrue. Know that limiting beliefs are rooted in things such as; fear, judgment, rejection, shame, and failure, and then ask yourself, are those limiting beliefs true for you?

A Healthy Mindset

Getting healthy is not just about physical appearance. It's about nourishing your body and mind, making choices that support overall well-being. This requires a mindset that values self-care and prioritizes getting healthy as a lifelong journey.

It's not always easy to maintain a healthy mindset, especially in a society that promotes quick fixes and instant results. But remember, getting healthy starts in your head and is a long-term process. It requires patience, grit, perseverance, and a strong mindset that believes in your ability to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

By cultivating a positive mindset focused on getting healthy, you can overcome obstacles, stay, and make sustainable changes. Getting healthy for physical transformation is all about your mindset. Remember that!

If you struggle with losing weight, you can’t seem to feel good about yourself, or if something is holding you back from your goal-setting plans, chances are it’s because you don’t believe you can achieve your goals due to a limiting belief mindset. These beliefs retreat you into your comfort zone, constraining you in some way.

Once you can compassionately pay attention to your discomfort and struggle, you can go deeper into your mindset without judgment, shame, or pressure. Bringing this awareness to the surface earns you credibility, upgrading your behavior and trust with yourself to move forward and remain engaged.

It doesn't matter if your goal is to lose weight or take on any new habit or skill. Getting healthy starts in your head if you want a physical transformation.

Any change from impossible to possible is a decision that starts with a decision you make up in your mind. This mindset shift changes your inner self and your belief that you can achieve things that were once seemingly out of reach.

If there is one thing everyone should know on the road to wellness and getting healthy, it’s that long-term change takes time. Slow down, take a deep breath, and have realistic expectations. Unfortunately, we live in a culture that desires instant results — quick fixes that promise what we desperately want to believe. It’s natural to want to improve your body, but what you truly need is to address your old programming first.

In my experience, everything we don’t already know how to do will be a struggle at first, until it isn’t. Learning anything new takes time and begins with a decision to consistently make an effort.

When we learn to become fully conscious and change our mindset, we can manifest a stronger inner self and empower new beliefs that align with our soul.

This powerful beginning sets the stage for confidence to emerge, supporting positive change. It's easy to stay where you are, but surpassing the struggle is far more rewarding.

I want to remind you that even though some days may seem dark, you are still growing, and you can still start a new day fresh again. Getting healthy starts from a place of rest, nourishment, love, patience, and compassion. And if you need that extra push and accountability support, a women's empowerment coach like myself can help you achieve your goals without the struggle of trying to figure it all out by yourself.

Throughout my year of experience as a online life coach, I have learned to embrace my “failures”, and imperfections and see them as; little stepping stones toward success instead of beating myself up over them. They are all a part of the learning and thus the growth mindset process.

Getting healthy can be a hard road to travel on while trying to lose weight in an effort to look and feel our best, especially when starting from a place of low self-confidence and fear. However, if you remember that you are good on the inside, worthy of love and greatness, you will realize you already have the power within to make big things happen. You just have to convince yourself you are worth it. And you are!

(Related: It's Really Okay to Love Yourself First)