5 Ways to Accept Your Mental Health Struggles And Get Better

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Many people know that looking after number one is a must, but it’s still difficult to do so when you have so many other things to deal with. Whether it’s taking care of the house or doing the job of three people at work, you can’t find the time to focus on yourself, and this can lead to some mental health issues that could affect your home and professional life. If you don’t feel yourself it could be that you’re going through some mental health struggles, but rather than ignore them, you need to accept them and learn how to get better.

Become More Aware 

It’s easy for your mental health issues to cloud your mind. You aren’t thinking like your usual self, so you are unlikely to recognise how your behavior has changed. However, while you haven’t noticed, your loved ones will have done. You need to listen to them when they bring it up and start being more aware of how you feel. When you become more aware, you will find it easier to control your feelings so you don’t take it out on others. 

Develop A Positive Mindset 

Being positive in the face of adversity is not a skill anyone is born with. It’s something you have to learn. But this doesn't mean you are always happy-go-lucky and never feel bad as this can make you miss the big picture. When it comes to your mental well-being, you need to learn how to accept your mental health struggles and use your experiences for good. Perhaps you never considered yourself an advocate before, but now you have experience, you can help others going through the same thing. 

Get Involved With Groups That Promote Acceptance 

Similarly, get involved with groups that promote acceptance and work to eliminate the stigma of mental illness in all environments. You can also learn a lot from these groups when seeking mental health treatment as they have been there and done that. Not only will this benefit others and their understanding of mental illness, but it can also show you better coping techniques, too. 

Take Accountability For Your Behaviour

Although you know you weren’t yourself when struggling with the worst of your mental health, you still need to be responsible for your actions and own up to how you behaved, especially if you have interacted with new people. They don't know who you really are, but being open and apologizing for anything you said or did will go a long way toward them accepting you as you have accepted yourself. 

Do Not Let One Thing Define You 

No one is defined by their mental health struggles. They all have something they love. They all have goals. They all want to be happy. Therefore, acceptance will help you stop making excuses for yourself and start on the road to becoming better, reaching your goals, and being the person you know you want to be. 

Accepted 

It can be difficult to accept your struggles with mental illness, but acceptance is always better than trying to ignore it because things will only get worse. These tips should help you identify your problems and encourage you to fix them to get back to being the person you–and everyone else–adores.

*This is a collaborative post*

Three Truths About Losing Weight and Building Muscle That You Have To Understand

 These days, there’s just so much information about losing weight and building muscle that it can be really confusing to regular people. Some people swear that the courses and lessons they offer will teach them a lot about losing weight, and others suggest that you just look at videos on YouTube to figure out how to lose weight.

But behind all of these strategies and tricks lies a simple truth; it’s all science. So here are three hard truths about losing weight and building muscle that you need to come to grips with.

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Losing weight simply means moving more and eating less

Anyone can keep fit or lose weight by simply walking more and eating a bit less every day. It’s simple math–if you burn more calories in a day than you gain, then you’ll eventually lose weight. It’s really that simple.

However, there is some nuance that you have to understand too. For instance, calories can be considered wasteful or empty, and this is usually the case with processed foods or foods that are high in sugar content. Those foods don’t have much nutritional value, hence they won’t provide your body with anything beneficial. As such, the only additional rule to remember here is that every calorie should be as nutrient-dense as possible.

In short, avoid any empty calories, eat less, and move more, and you’ll eventually lose weight.

Consuming more protein will help you lose body fat

Add more protein into moving more and eating less, and you’ll start to burn more fat. This is because protein boosts your metabolism and helps to regulate your appetite. Additionally, protein digestion takes a lot more effort than other types of foods. This is because proteins are naturally complex, meaning your body needs to work harder in order to break it down. It’s estimated that your body only absorbs about 70% of the calories from protein. This is because the other 30% is used up when trying to digest it.

There are lots of ways to add more protein to your diet. For example, you could buy protein powders and shakes from websites like AthleticStore to supplement your diet. Alternatively, you could simply eat more healthy proteins like chicken and fish. Try to cook them rather plainly so you’re not introducing lots of fat and carbs into your meals, and pair them with other nutrient-dense foods like vegetables to feel more satiated.

Strength training will help you build muscle

So if you eat less, move more, and add more protein to your diet, your body will lose not just weight, but also body fat specifically. But what if you want to actually build muscle?

This is where strength training comes into play. There’s a lot of science behind this, but the general idea is that you work your body until the muscle fibers are damaged, then your body will naturally repair them using new muscle protein strands. This increases the thickness of your muscles, leading to that bulked-up look that people are aiming for.

When you start to incorporate regular strength training into your day to day routine, you may start to notice changes to your body composition in just a few weeks. As well as seeing noticeable results, you may also start to experience delayed onset muscle soreness also known as DOMS. This means that the exercise you’re doing is working, and your body is working hard to repair tiny tears that have occurred during your strength training exercises. Although these pains are completely normal, they can cause discomfort, so you may want to look for natural remedies to alleviate the symptoms. Whether you’re looking into Tens Machines, ice baths or self-applicating muscle relief creams, there are a number of different ways to create a therapeutic effect in the areas of your body that need the most attention.

We hope that these three simple truths will help you simplify your weight loss, fat-burning, and strength-training journey.

* This is a collaborative post*