How being mentally tougher at Christmas can make you slimmer.
Paul Lyons
Mental Toughness Expert | Helping athletes, coaches, leaders and their teams effectively measure, and develop mental toughness for a stronger, consistent performance
It's the festive season this time of the year In the western world, with many social, work and family gatherings that involve more food and drink than usual. It’s easy to consume calories and add more weight than you want or need.
However, this festive season can be different. You can lose weight and become physically fitter through a high degree of resolve and an exercise routine.
Here are two easy to describe, but harder to adopt, mental toughness tips to help you stay disciplined and make you slimmer;
1) Build your resolve by setting a goal to lose weight over the next month.
How much do you want to lose weight or not gain weight over the next month? Its up to you. Write down your goal and put your written note in a prominent place (the door of the refrigerator?) Weigh yourself today, and then every day, to monitor your progress.
Every time you are faced with the temptation to eat or drink more, draw on your resolve, read your note, picture yourself as slimmer than you are now and choose to limit your food and drink to one small serving or abstain altogether. Enjoy the event but tone down on the food and drink.
Every day that you abstain, every day that you weigh yourself in with no increase, you build you mental toughness a little more and feel less inclined to ‘break the chain’ . It's a valuable compound effect.
Sure, its far easier said than done but that's the essence of mental toughness -having the resolve and mental strength to stick to what you believe in and not cave in to temptation or be swayed by peer pressure.
2) Exercise every day through the festive season.
Regular exercise is the best way to build both physical and mental toughness and during the festive season it is a good counter balance to the endless round of events and gatherings. Certainly, I have found the morning exercise routine this year beneficial in setting me up for a positive day. Also, I have been able to productively use the grit and determination required to push myself to my physical limits in more mental pursuits.
In the absence of celebrity personal trainer Faisal Abdalla knocking on my door at five in the morning to pound the pavement I was nevertheless interested to read his view in a recent edition of menshealth.com
In his article below he thinks that even a small amount of regular physical exercise will help build your mental toughness that in turn strengthens your willpower to resist the culinary cravings.
Over to you, Faisal.
We’ve all been guilty of it: smugly swallowing a mouthful of greens before regurgitating platitudes such as, “Ab’s are made in the kitchen “, or, equally misguided, “Its 90% diet “. We’ve been fed the same message for years – changing what you eat is the surest route to getting in shape for the long term.
However, no matter how you serve it, it’s nonsense. Without rebooting both your training and your diet together, you’ll never tip the scales in your favour.
Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle confirmed this when they conducted randomised trials on overweight participants: a clean diet alone was nowhere near as effective for fat loss as combining good nutrition
with exercise. What’s more, our obsession with food consumption could be distracting us from more urgent statistics.
A 2009 study suggested that poor cardiorespiratory fitness was responsible for nearly 17% of male deaths, while obesity accounted for just 3%, once activity levels were factored out.
In short, you’d better get moving.
Most of us underestimate the mental toughness required to resist cravings, but research shows that even small amounts of physical activity help to strengthen willpower. One Dutch review concluded that forming an exercise routine leads to significant increases in self-control, probably because it increases blood flow to the frontal region of the brain.
That means hitting the gym not only improves cardiovascular fitness, muscle mass, blood pressure and mood, but also steels you against the lure of the Golden Arches. The same can’t be said of any kale smoothie.
If you’re training hard, don’t be afraid to break from nutritional austerity with a cheat meal. Or have a cheat day. Rely on food alone for transformation and there’s no room for slip-ups: you can’t burn off extra calories without exercise. Workouts are what turns any reboot into a sustainable lifestyle, rather than a short-lived dietary denial.
To make this festive season your most physically rewarding yet, lace up your trainers.
Access Faisal’s full article here:
To learn more on mental toughness contact Mental Toughness Partners
Paul Lyons is an experienced CEO who coaches leaders to improve their performance and wellbeing by developing their mental toughness.
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5yAnother excellent article Paul. As a “mature” part time personal trainer, it’s been proved to me time and time again that a degree of mental toughness is the key to both fitness & nutritional goals.
Healthy High Performance Leadership * Mental Toughness for Wellbeing
5yYou make self regulation so doable Paul!