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Overthinking Movement - My Favorite Episode of My Newest Podcast

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I have a close to 45-minute commute to and from work every day. To keep my mind focused and calm I have begun listening to podcasts on my drive home (I listen to WAAF in the morning for a good laugh start to my day). One of the podcasts I listen to is called Feel Good Effect with Robyn Conley Downs.  She posts 30-minute podcasts about deconstructing and simplifying what it means to be healthy. Through her podcasts, she shows her listeners what it means to live a “happy, healthy, authentic, and inspired life.” This week she released her podcast “How to Stop Overthinking MOvement.”  Just from the title, I knew I would enjoy this one immensely and take everything she said to heart. If you want to listen to it, the link to the podcast and her website are below.

Ever since having my daughter in December of 2017 I have been struggling with being healthy, working out and getting back to a weight that I am happy with. I know that a goal weight isn’t the only way a person can be healthy but to me, that is a big part of it. I put on weight after my daughter was born and a part of me hasn’t forgiven myself for it. I had an opportunity to really start eating healthy and working out on a consistent basis and I missed the boat.  Every time that I started to get into the habit of working out or even start a workout I would get anxiety.  No idea why until I listened to this podcast episode.  It described me and my feelings completely.  I have been overthinking movement to the point that I don’t move nearly enough as I should.  I bought a new FitBit thinking this would help me but it didn’t. I bought a new workout outfit hoping that would give me confidence in the gym but it didn’t. I tried many things and nothing seemed to work. I was overthinking movement and working out so much that I eventually went weeks without moving/working out. And my appearance was showing.

Side Note: I know that appearance isn’t the be all and end all of being healthy but when you have been an athlete your whole life and have worked out fairly regularly your whole life to look back on the last year and realize how much time you wasted overthinking everything, body image is a huge factor.

Back to the podcast and overthinking movement.  My overthinking included thoughts like “I didn’t work hard enough because I wasn’t sweating,” “I haven’t worked out at all this week why is this 1 workout this week going to make a difference,” and other negative thoughts about working out. My rational side knows that 1 workout isn't’ going to help me lose 30 pounds but for some reason that was my thinking which would turn into overthinking.

What Robyn describes in this podcast is it is easy to overthink movement and working out. When you have a non-stop life sometimes working out and being healthy take a backseat. But what she emphasizes is what many people have said before - start small. You don’t have to do an hour workout (fi you want to great!). When you overthink movement, it isn’t about how many minutes you move or how many calories burned. It matters that you are doing it. Going for a walk during your 15-minute break. Grabbing a buddy at work and going for a walk on your lunch break. Gorgeous day out? Get outside and be by yourself for 30 minutes. The rest of the world can and will wait.  Self-care is so much more important in the long run.

Robyn summarizes her podcast with 5 ways to help you stop overthinking movement and start moving and I truly believe these ways can help you move especially since the last one takes into account that you might not move every day but that doesn’t mean you have to. It’s OK to miss a day as long as you don’t let the day you miss take over the next day and the day after that. You get to reset your mind every day regardless of what happened the day before. And that is what I have to keep remembering. Life will get in the way of working out. That is a given. What I need to start remembering is a new day brings new opportunity to be better than yesterday.  And I am hoping that this weekend will help me get back into the movement world. With that said, off to hockey!

Feel Good Effect Podcat - https://www.realfoodwholelife.com/blog/introducing-the-feel-good-effect-podcast-how-to-listen-to-podcast

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