YOUR BRAIN!

Your brain is a good liar! I know what your thinking, but it is! In fact every one’s brain fibs. For instance, where is your nose? Can you see it? The answer is no (unless you go cross eyed), but it’s there, it just get in the way of things when using your eyes, so the brain prefers to ignore it (your now going cross eyed trying to look at your nose aren’t you?).

The brain can also lie about other things as well, for example when we look at a book we most of the time don’t actually read the words that are written down, our crafty brain just looks at the first and last letters and skims the letters in between and guesses the word ( you’ve seen the tests on social media claiming your a genius if you can read the exact text that’s written in gibberish …..).

So now we’ve established, that your brain if it wore pants they would likely be on fire, as it’s a big fibber, we can look at how this may impact your latest fitness routine or health routine.

It’s not long now till Christmas so you may be embarking on a diet or new exercise routine so that you look great at the office Christmas party, but the likelihood is that unless you’re extremely dedicated then unfortunately you will probably fail. (Not what you want to hear is it?)

You’ll set off with good intentions and if your doing it with out support ie a PT or diet club then you’ll increase your chances of success, but if you go it alone then those chances of success dwindle. This is partly because your brain is a big fibber and it doesn’t like change that much. So after a few weeks (if your lucky ) your brain will start to send you ideas that actually work is really busy and well if you miss one gym session then it’s not the end of the world and you’ll make up for it next time! Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

This is because like I said earlier your brain doesn’t like change, it likes routines and habits (even if they are bad for you).

But don’t be discouraged by your brain and it’s reluctance to help you fit into that little black dress or sharp pair of pants. There is hope in brain re-patterning, habit stacking and group work, where you have some accountability for the efforts you make.

There have been several studies carried out showing the positive effects of supportive accountability for adults with obesity in eating healthily and consistently carrying out an exercise routine (if your interested in the science take a look at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7420735/ ) basically if you are a part of a support group that you need to be accountable to the whether it be for exercise or healthy eating then you will be more successful in achieving your goals and maintaining that success.

As well as finding an accountability group you should look at habit stacking ( there is a great book by James Clear called The Atomic Habits) where simply put you add a new habit ie doing squats while boiling the kettle to the existing habit of a morning cup of tea, (the existing habit is making a morning cup of tea and the new habit is triggered by you putting the kettle on to boil you then do the new healthy habit of doing as many squats as you can while waiting for the kettle to boil. This practice should help you integrate new healthy habits to your existing habits (just do a few to begin with otherwise you’ll be overwhelmed and the new habits won’t stick).

Along with this you need to change the way you think! A big ask in some circumstances. So the way most westerners view food is similar, we eat not just because we are hungry but because it means different things it can be a comfort if you have had a bad day? You may eat because you are bored? Or you may be addicted to certain foods/ drinks ie soda, coffee, sweets…..etc.

You need to adopt a mindfulness when eating, ie ask yourself why you are eating? Ask your self what does the food your eating make you feel? Examine if the food you are eating is good for you…..once you start to do this then your brain may rethink why and what you are eating and make better choices? Keep a journal of your moods and what you eat, ie a stressful day at work may lead you into eating mindlessly to help you feel better, but if you realise that this could be a triggering factor then if you’ve had a stressful day listening to your favourite music or doing some yoga may help you deal with the stress in a healthier way?

If you’ve done the other 2 suggestions the these will help with this as you can vent to your support group of a habit may be going for a walk straight after work to help you de-stress.

Feel free to comment on this post and share any tips you think may be relevant

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