It is likely that those who strive for physical fitness end up stressing themselves out and even, at times, hating themselves due to feelings of inadequacy or due to perceived failures, like not sticking to healthy foods. You may find yourself in a situation where you have to withdraw from friends and family in the name of maintaining healthy eating habits, and you become antisocial. You also increase your chances of an unhealthy mental state due to being overly concerned with what is considered “the right thing to do” in regard to health and fitness. As you work on your physical health, it is most critical that you also maintain your mental health.
To keep healthy and fit, you need to do workouts and check on your diet to ensure it is well constituted and in the right quantities. A dose of some great steroids can also supplement your efforts.
The following are some tips that can help you maintain stable mental health as you endeavor to have excellent physical health:
Eat intuitively without obsessing over counting calories
Research has shown that there is some connection between eating disorders and the excessive use of calorie and macro-tracking applications. When you closely monitor the calories you consume in each food item, food is no longer food, but instead becomes numbers as well as nutritious malfunctions. Too much of an understanding can become unhelpful, as it can easily become devastating. You need to eat naturally, or intuitively, where you select food items from all essential categories—healthy protein, fat, carbs, veggies, and fruits. Eat consciously and take what gives you pleasure. Food should delight you, energize you, and bring you joy. Do not try to overthink it.
Workouts can be helpful in dealing with depressive symptoms and to lower stress levels and anxiety, but too much of them can have adverse effects on your psychological and physical wellbeing. It is absurd to work out any time you think you have consumed something you should not, such as a cake, and believe you have some unwanted calories. You should instead aim to do exercises to build structure, strength, endurance, and overall health, but not as a means to produce a calorie deficiency. You should avoid viewing workouts as a penalty. Identify something that you will enjoy and go for it—be it weight lifting, swimming, running, group sports, or anything else that excites you. Workouts should be a crucial part of caring for your health.
Mind the celebrities and other people you follow on social media
You need to be aware of whom you follow on social media and whom you spend so much time envying. If you end up comparing yourself with them, this can cause feelings of inadequacy and can negatively affect your life and that of the people close to you. It is better not to follow those social media personalities, as the images they portray are perhaps highly doctored. Instead, follow those that motivate you for the right reasons.
Avoid negative self-talk and refer to yourself lovingly
The more you claim something negative about yourself, the more it becomes a reality in your mind. You should use favorable words to describe yourself and to lift yourself up rather than bringing yourself down. Play the “Antonym Game” with yourself, where for each undesirable word you would use to define yourself, substitute it with a much more positive and different word.
Do not perceive your mental health as secondary to your physical health
Most of the time, when you think of taking care of yourself, you are talking about your physique, and forget about your psychological wellness. Mental health is as important as physical health, since neither exists in isolation. Mental health is the foundation of your whole wellbeing, and neglecting it is very wrong. You need to take time to relax your mind and be mindful of your mental wellbeing. Take a deep breath when overwhelmed and put yourself in a position to be able to determine when you are not well. Whenever there is a need for professional assistance, look for specialist care for your psychological wellness.
