When it comes to your health and wellbeing (and most other things too), your mindset will more often than not be the determining factor of your success.
Generally speaking, proactive thinkers see more success due to their anticipation of what’s to come and as such, a plan to overcome anything that comes their way.
For example, let’s say that you’ve had a bad day at work, your tired, stressed and the last thing you want to do is put any thought whatsoever into your evening meal.
Here a reactive thinker would do the easiest thing possible which could be picking up their smartphone and ordering a takeaway.
Who’d blame them?
I’ve not met anyone yet who when they don’t have food prepared, have had a bad day, get home and think i’d love to sit here cook some broccoli now!
On the flip side, a proactive thinker has already planned their food in advance.
They may have already made it and just need to plate it up, if not they’ve at least prepared everything so they can chuck it in the oven so they don’t have to put any more thought into it.
For this to be you, we recommend that you choose your meals 24 hours in advance, even prepare them if you need to, so make sure everything is ready to make your life easier 24 hours from now.
The are a few benefits to this, it takes away emotion which when it comes to food is a very big deal.
It makes you choose foods that are complimentary towards your health and wellbeing goals rather than getting a poor quality, nutrient deficient meal that is probably more likely to take you further away from where you want to be rather that close to it.
I know some people who plan their meals a week in advance, usually on a Sunday when they have more time and they aren’t stressed they will plan all their meals for the week ahead.
If this is a strategy that works for you that’s great, if not I’ve found personally for myself and most of my clients that 24 hours in advance works really well.
Try a few options or make up your own routine, go with what suits your personality and schedule.
Finally, it’s worth noting that it’s not possible to be proactive all the time as much as we may like to be.
Plans change, things happen, life happens, and when it does being reactive to a situation is required to keep you on track.
Firstly, you need to accept that something has changed from your plan and be ok with that.
Secondly, you need to take a breath, relax and trust yourself to adapt.
A flexible structure and thought-process than can be easily adapted as things change is highly recommended.
Above I’ve talking almost exclusively about food but you can also replicate these thought processes in terms of exercise too.
Put them both together and you may just have the winning combination to give you everything you need in terms of living a happy, healthy lifestyle.
Thanks for reading, have a great day.
Craig
Do you need confidential help with your health, fitness or nutrition? I have a range of services available, with Personal Training in my Private Gym in Manchester, also at your home or workplace in the surrounding areas. For clients further afield, I provide Online Personal Training, Nutritional Consultancy & Private Fitness Holidays.
