Overcoming Barriers to Activity - the Mental Game
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Natalie Stein
CDC Lifestyle Coach, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, and expert in nutrition, public health, and healthy lifestyle choices
In this article:
- Barriers to physical activity can be physical and logistical, such as not having time or experiencing bad weather, but mental barriers can also get in the way.
- To boost motivation, identify your reasons to want to be active.
- To guard against negative effects of low motivation, set up your environment to support physical activity.
- Align your identity with your goals to reduce internal conflict and boost confidence in your actions.
- Keep your exercise goals realistic to prevent injury, burnout, and possible feelings of failure.
- Look at exercise as an opportunity, not a duty, to make it more enjoyable and less burdensome.
- Lark is available 24/7 to support your health and weight loss goals with or without GLP-1 medications so you can establish healthy habits for lifelong change.
Turning your physical activity commitment into a long-term habit is one of the most important ways you can maximize your benefits, but there is a lot that can get in the way! Check Lark’s previous blog for tips on overcoming physical barriers like bad weather, lack of time, and lack of energy. In this blog, let’s look at a different set of challenges: mental barriers to being physically active.
From overcoming lack of motivation to aligning your identity with your goal of being physically active, simple changes in your mindset can lead to a more consistent exercise routine. Here are several ways to shift your thinking to make exercise a lifelong habit.
Remember Your “Why” to Boost Motivation
Why are you physically active or planning to become physically active? Identifying your reasons to want to be active can help you become and stay motivated. Here are some types of reasons and examples of each.
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