Holistic Health: 5 Common Reasons You May Be Struggling to Achieve Your Fitness Goals

People choose to engage in exercise for many different reasons. Making exercise a part of your lifestyle can be challenging at first, but once you develop a routine, it becomes easier to follow. Once you’ve made it a routine, the next step is to not just get it done but to get it done efficiently and in a way that meets your reasons for engaging in an exercise in the first place.

If you’re struggling to achieve your fitness goals, you may be lacking a holistic approach to health. 

What is holistic health?

Holistic health is a multifaceted approach to health that integrates all components of wellness. According to most definitions, holistic health has six components:

• Physical 
• Mental 
• Spiritual
• Intellectual
• Social
• Emotional

If you’re approaching your fitness routine exclusively from the physical component of health, you’re likely struggling to meet your goals. 

Health-related barriers to achieving fitness goals

Some of the most common reasons you may be struggling to achieve your fitness goals include the following five non-physical health-related barriers:

Drug and alcohol misuse

While drug and alcohol abuse affects your physical health, they tend to develop due to deficiencies in the mental, spiritual, intellectual, social, and/or emotional components of holistic health. Substance abuse can affect your fitness performance by impacting your sleep, caloric intake, heart and liver health, and overall energy levels during workouts.

According to drug abuse statistics, substance abuse is more common than you might think. If you’re struggling with substance abuse to the extent that you feel unable to control your use, consider contacting a reputable detoxification center to start getting your health – and life – back on track. 

Mental health issues

So much emphasis is placed on physical health that many people prioritize this over looking after their mental health. Mental health conditions like anxiety and depression can make engaging in regular exercise challenging. 

These mental illnesses can also impact your overall energy levels. Without high energy levels, you may struggle to put in the time required to make healthy meals and push yourself in your workouts. 

Disordered eating habits

A person can have disordered eating habits without having an eating disorder. Disordered eating habits include overly restricting calories, restricting certain food groups, ignoring hunger signals, and overeating. 

Disordered eating habits can impact your metabolism and negatively impact the work you put in at the gym. 

Aesthetics-driven exercise

Everyone knows that exercise benefits mobility, longevity, and overall quality of life. However, exercise is also often engaged in changing the appearance of the body. Both men and women are frequently plagued with images in the media that set a standard for what an attractive person ‘should’ look like. 

If your primary motivation for engaging in exercise is aesthetic-based, you’re likely approaching exercise from a punishment perspective and have an increased risk of injury. 

Poor self-image

Aesthetics-driven exercise is also often caused by a negative self-image. Without believing you’re worth it regardless of the way you look, you’ll struggle to meet your fitness goals. 

To pursue health, you need to believe that you are worthy of health. You also need to recognize that the appearance of your body does not reflect your health status. 

This is a collaborative post.

Melinda