Turning Negative Self Thoughts to Positive Ones + Premier Protein Giveaway Winner & Share Good Energy Promo

One thing that will keep you from reaching your goals is the way that you talk to yourself and the conversations that you have in your mind.  I don't think that we pay enough attention to what we are saying to ourselves because there are so many outside distractions.  We log into Facebook and read what is going on, visit Instagram and check out all the pictures.  All of this is playing into how we think about ourselves and how we talk to ourselves.  Especially if you are following a lot of fitness pages, like I do.  I think we start to compare and then decide that we are not as______ as someone else.  You must remember that what you see on social media is what people want to you see.  But we all know that there is more to life than what we show our friends and followers on social media.  So we have conversations with ourselves about how we are not as _____ as "Jane" or "Sally".  Which can lead to negative self talk.  Comparison is the thief of joy!  Maybe it comes with age, but I have let that go.  Or Maybe it is because I am a mother now, and I think about myself differently.  I do know that it has taken work and time to change how I talk to myself and the conversations I have with myself.

Fear and Self doubt are two things that most of us face or have faced in the past.  They are the voices in our head that say "You can't do this", "You're not worth it", "Why even bother?".  How do these thoughts get there?  I am not sure?  Television? Social media?  People in our lives?  I am not really sure, I am guessing a mix of those things.  If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you have probably seen by now that I am doing the TTP program that Amber Dodzweit has designed an I am part of the Ateam, a group of amazing women!  When I started back in January, I filled out the questions in the info that was sent to us and there were two questions that stood out to me.  They had to do with feeling like you deserve success and if you are having doubts about being successful.  I have to say that when I answered them honestly, I cried.  Because at that point I thought that I didn't deserve it and had doubts that I could achieve what I really wanted.  It was then that I realized that I had the power to change my mind about these things and that is what I set out to do.  "Limits, just like fear are often just an illusion."

Someone shared this video by Mateuz M on Facebook and I watched it and it was so inspiring.  It made me feel like I could do anything.  So what I started to do was watch it when I was warming up for a workout, then I would watch the next and the next and each title was pulling me in to watch.  Unbroken, Unstoppable, Why Do We Fall, Desire.  These are all amazing videos.  When you have the time go and watch them, the messages are powerful.  These messages started to seep into my thoughts and when a negative thought crept it I replaced it with something empowering.  I was taking control of my thoughts and my mind.  Have you ever read the quote "The body can handle anything, its the mind you have to convince?"  If there is one thing that I have leaned in my past 7 weeks of working hard at changing my mindset it is this.  We have to train our minds just like we train our bodies.  We have to replace the bad with the good.

One of the voices in the videos I watched and listen to on repeat was Eric Thomas.  He is a motivational speaker and he speaks with such passion that it is hard not to want to run out and get your workout in or start writing your business plan!  He came from nothing, was born in Detroit to a teenage mother and didn't have a father, he was homeless.  But he was able to get himself to where he is now with mindset and hard work.  Look him up on YouTube and watch his videos.

So where am I going with all of this?  The thing that I want to share the most is that if you want to change you have to start with your mind.  You have to decide that you want to change.  You have to find your WHY, the reason you are going to work hard to reach your goals, whatever they may be.  You have to work every day to change the negative self talk that creeps into your mind.  It is a practice that you must master.  I still have doubts or fears that creep in, but I quickly replace those thoughts with a positive one, I don't give power to those thoughts.  I remember my bigger why, the reason that I am working on the things that I am working on.  The things that give my life meaning and why I live with passion.  We only get one chance to live the life we want.  It is possible for you to live the life that you are meant to live.  Find what gives your life passion and pursue that!  Don't ever forget that your thoughts are powerful.  Make them positive!

I would love to hear from you in the comments about how you overcome negative self talk and what goals and dreams you are working on pursuing.  Next week I will share some of the things that I am working on in my personal training/fitness career.

I want to say thank you to everyone who entered my Premier Protein Prize Pack Giveaway!  The winner is: Olivia A.  Congrats!  I will send you an e-mail to get your info.




 If you didn't win don't worry Premier Protein is giving away samples for you and your friends!  Click HERE to Share Good Energy, and choose your free protein bar or shake sample and choose 5 friends to pick their samples too!  Limit 2 samples per person per household, available while supplies last.  Chosen friends will be notified via Facebook Messenger to choose their sample.
Don't miss out on your chance for a free sample and Share Good Energy with your friends!








Be sure to link up for Wild Workout Wednesday!  Each week I link up with Annmarie from The Fit Foodie Mama, Nicole from Fitfulfocus and Michelle from Fruition Fitness.  We love to have you join us!

Changing Your Mindset

 

Hello!  I hope that you had a wonderful weekend and are starting your week off on the right foot.  Monday's set the tone for your week, so if you are prepared with healthy meals and snacks, and have your workouts scheduled you will be more likely to stay on track for the day and set a healthy tone for your week.  Do you prepare your food and set your weekly workout schedule ahead of time?

 I have been working on staying on track on the weekends as much as I am during the week.  This weekend was great! We went out to dinner Friday night and I had Chilean sea bass, its my favorite fish, with some spinach and tomatoes.  It is easy to skip the bread basket now, I don't feel tempted or miss it at all.  I think that once the grains and white processed stuff is out of your system you don't crave it anymore.  On Saturday we had a wedding, and like most weddings I knew it would be a while till we had dinner so I ate some chicken and veggies before we left.  Smart move on my part, it was family style and the food took a really long time to get.  So I had to wait for the chicken, meat and veggies to make their way, after passing up two huge plates of sauce laden pasta, and honestly it didn't even look good to me.  Once the chicken came I noticed it was breaded (damn), but the meat looked okay so I piled that on with some zucchini, summer squash and carrots.  I ate enough until I was full and then drank a ton of water.  I decided I wanted to see if I could keep up the willpower to not drink... and to my surprise I was able to.  After the wedding we went with some friends to another bar, and then we decided to grab a bite to eat, thankfully, because I was hungry!!  We went to a coney island, not the best place for clean eats, but the only place open at 2 am, besides the drive thrus and you know how I feel about those!  I had a tomato and spinach omelet with some bacon, and it was decent and Paleo at least.  Waking up the next morning was awesome because I wasn't hungover and didn't have a stomach ache from eating foods I know I shouldn't.  All in all a successful weekend.


This got me to thinking about how important your mindset is to reaching your goals.  If you truly believe that you can achieve your goals, you are halfway there.  When you are going into a situation where you are not totally in control of the food situation you have to do the best you can and prepare yourself mentally ahead of time.  It is easy to give in to what others are doing or have a drink because everyone else is if you haven't planned ahead of time and decided to stay strong in your convictions.  I am working on my goals of losing fat and gaining muscle, but at the same time I am working on believing that I can create the body that I want.  It is so much easier to give up when you are not seeing the results you want as fast as you want.  The hard part comes from staying the course even when things get tough!  I know that if I give into temptation every time it is there then I will never reach my goals.  Have you ever made it through a night of temptations and then realize that you had the strength to do that all along?  It feels really good to stay the course and stay on track.

I have changed my mindset to Food as Fuel.  This helps to put only good food in and skip the junk that will make me feel like crap.  I am also listening to my body and eating when I am hungry, stopping when I am full and allowing a few treats when I want them.  The only thing that I really crave or want is dark chocolate.  I have found a few clean versions of the treats that I want and stick with those when I want chocolate.  The first is Alter Ego 85% Organic Dark Chocolate, one square is satisfying and very low in sugar, the second is Justin's Organic Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (I know PB is not paleo, but the small amount I have is not going to throw me all off), I usually have one a week when I feel like I need some chocolate. Once you stop eating processed stuff with lots of sugar the organic dark chocolate tastes sweet enough.  When you eat the processed stuff with all the sugar it sets off a chemical reaction in the pleasure center of your brain and this will make you crave those kinds of foods,   so when you make the decision to stop eating that stuff your body will detox of those chemicals and you stop craving them.  This is why Paleo has worked so well for me, after the initial week or two I stopped craving and missing the processed foods.  I now know that if it is Paleo I can eat it and if not I don't.  Whatever your specific eating plan is make the decision to stick to it and give it your all, you will be surprised how strong you really are.

Your mind is so powerful when it comes to achieving your goals.  Really set your intentions and constantly remind yourself why you are working on your goals, this helps to keep you on track.  There is a blog I read Glam Legacy Fit written by Anna Richardson, WBFF competitor, and a few of her sayings that have stuck with me.  The first is "Why NOT Me?"  This one keeps me going when I am ready to give up because I am not seeing the results as fast as I would like.  I really still want to give a bikini competition a go before we have another baby, so I am trying to keep that in the back of my mind on days like those.  The second is "Results are beyond genetics, work hard and the results will come!"  Now that I am older I don't lose weight as fast as I once was, and I have to push harder and keep my nutrition cleaner.  I have been consistent with my weight training workouts for 6 weeks, but have only started adding in the heavier weights the past few weeks.  I have been doing Paleo for 4 weeks now, and besides a few cheats, I have been doing well with that.  I am going to stay on pace and keep my goals in mind and not quit when the going gets tough, I will push harder and keep moving forward!

How do you keep moving toward your goals?  What are your mantras and motivations?  Have you set your WHY?