Mental Strategies Part 2

Mental Strategies: Part 2

Your Truth or The Truth

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
- John 8:32

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:17

One of the biggest obstacles that you will face in your weight-loss challenge (if you haven’t figured it out already) is your mind.  Think back to when you started your journey.  If you’ve been on your journey for any length of time, your mentality has probably changed since you began in a positive way, especially as your overall health habits change for the better.  As you continue to lose weight, this process will bring up so many different thoughts and feelings.  Some are good and others are not.  Some of the “old you” thinking may pop up out of nowhere and hinder your progress.  I know.  It happened to me.

One thing I battled for years was that I didn’t finish what I started.  This character trait haunted me.  Somewhere during my childhood, someone told me I was a quitter.  Instead of defending myself, I chose to believe that negative statement.  I owned it and mad it part of me well into adulthood.  I actually lived out that thought day to day and replayed it in my mind without even questioning it.  But was it true?  Was I really a quitter?

While I did give up once in a while on projects, the fact was this negative statement was not the truth.  I had, however, allowed it to become my truth.  I remember one day on the ranch (The Biggest Loser Ranch) when we were all exercising real hard.  As I looked around me, I saw most of my peers struggling with their workouts.  The old thought pattern suddenly came to me, Well, I guess it’s time to quit.  But just before I made the choice to entertain the old me, I thought instead, No, I am strong!  I am going to keep going.  I am not going to quit.  I made the decision right there to finish my workouts that time and every time.

Changing my mindset didn’t happen overnight.  I cannot tell you how times I was working out and would be so exhausted I was tempted to quit.  I had to tell myself over and over, No!  The new Phil finishes what he starts.  The new Phil doesn’t give up.  The new Phil keeps going. I was changing my truth, the thought that someone had planted into my head years ago.  And I had to keep changing it every single day.

Sometimes your truth is a lie that you have let yourself believe.  Maybe a family member, a friend, or a stranger said something bad to you that stuck with you for years.  You don’t have to believe it.  It doesn’t have to be the truth.  Start today to look at those thoughts and tell yourself you are going to create a new truth about yourself.  Don’t allow yourself to talk negatively about yourself.  Start believing, saying, and living the truth that you can be successful, healthy, and fit.

Mini-Challenge of the Day

Spend some time today reading the Bible.  Write down five truths about yourself based on what the Scriptures tell us.  Psalm 139 is a great place to start.  Write down how wonderfully God made you and other statements from that passage so you can see the truth God believes about you.  Start writing by writing, “The truth is, I am…”

Tip of the Day

Never skip breakfast.  You need energy to get you going, and eating the start of your day will help you not overeat later on.

-Phil Parham

This was taken from “The 90-Day Fitness Challenge” by Phil and Amy Parham, former contestants on television’s “The Biggest Loser.”