Sometimes the harshest critic and roadblock to success in making a lifestyle change may be those internal thoughts.
Those thoughts may step in and provide all kinds of reasons not to be active, encouraging a stay on the couch or eating foods that may not be either healthy choices or beneficial to a weight-loss goal.
But there are tips and methods to talk back to negative thoughts-which is the topic of Monday's social media session with lifestyle coach Cassie Carey.
Carey has a background in teaching in both physical education and health education, she also is a certified lifestyle coach in the National Diabetes Prevention Program. Carey graduated with her registered nursing degree in 2014. She is the director for Crow Wing Energized working for both Crow Wing County and Essentia Health.
Overcoming Negative Thoughts
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"Positive thoughts are thoughts that make us feel good about our progress," stated Miranda Anderson, Essentia Health marketing and community relations manager. Negative thoughts cause us to lose hope or to stand in the way of our progress using the National Diabetes Prevention Program lessons. The program is aimed at helping people make a lasting lifestyle change for better health, more energy, weight loss and increased activity. The NDPP lessons are the bedrock for the Your Energized Year classes. More than 500 lakes area residents joined the classes, which meet weekly for 16 weeks to help people make a change and then continue to meet monthly through the year.
"A negative thought is usually a criticism of ourselves," Anderson noted. "We become angry with ourselves for something as simple as eating a piece of cake or not going for a walk.
We are all human, so we all have negative thoughts from time to time. However, we must try to overcome them because they often lead us into doing even more eating and less activity rather than the reverse.
"Negative thinking can become a habit. For many of us, negative thoughts occur automatically. We tend to believe and act on our negative thoughts without being aware that we are doing so. Make a goal to recognize negative thoughts as they occur and talk back to them."
Talking back to negative thoughts means people must first catch themselves having the negative thought.
"Imagine saying "Stop!" to yourself, and picture a huge, red stop sign. Then, talk back with a positive thought. An example of a positive thought would be to praise yourself for what you've already accomplished. Doing so will help stop the cycle of negative thinking we all experience."
How to participate online with Facebook and Twitter
As part of the Your Energized Year to help people reach health goals to move more, eat more healthy foods and lose weight, the Dispatch is hosting a live social media event from noon to 1 p.m. Mondays through June 6, to give readers an opportunity to send in questions or follow tips online via Twitter @brd_dispatch or the Brainerd Dispatch Facebook. In addition, send in questions, challenges, comments or feedback via email to getfit@brainerddispatch.com , via Twitter to @brd_dispatch or via the Dispatch Facebook page. Use the hashtag #getfit to keep track of the conversation and answers to questions in real time.
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