Mental health > physical health Before we get into it, let’s just address the elephant in the room. Yes- they are both extremely important, and without one, the other will suffer too. BUT, from personal experience, and experience with thousands of people over my career, I can confidently say that if you had to choose one to prioritize, it should be your mental health.
If your mental health is not in a good place, your physical health will also suffer. The reverse is *usually* the case as well, however, in the fitness world for example, there are TONS of individuals who are physically “healthy” but suffering on the inside. When we prioritize physical goals (such as weight loss) over our mental health, that almost always puts us in a pretty bad place eventually.
A little bit about my history. I was always overweight as a child, but when I went to college, I started to lose weight. At first, the absolute truth is that my weight loss started because I had a smaller weekly meal plan, and not much extra money to spend on additional food. I also started going to the fitness center, but at that time, I did not really know what I was doing. The first time I came home for Christmas break, I heard many people say, “oh you’ve lost weight!” … and there was born the start of my eating disorder. From that point on, I put losing weight over everything. I would skip meals, I would go to bed starving, and I would deprive myself of the foods I loved most. I would beat myself up if I missed a day in the gym, and there was rarely a moment I wasn’t thinking about if a certain food would affect my weight.
Did I lose more weight? Yes. Was I healthy? Nope. More importantly, was I happy? Absolutely not.
There’s a lot more to that story that I will save for another day, but the point is that it took me nearly 10 years to finally heal my relationship with food and my body. I am telling you this to say that your physical goals are not worth sacrificing your mental health for. Having physical goals is great; they can help with motivation and discipline, and they can help to improve your overall health, but if you notice your mental health is suffering in response to your goals, that is a huge red flag.
There are absolutely healthy ways to go about achieving those goals, but the very first thing is to realize it is a slow process. If you’re trying to lose 20 pounds in 2 months, and willing to go to any extreme to achieve that, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
One of the main things I have learned through my own health journey is that happiness and internal peace are FAR more important than any number on the scale. Since healing my relationship with food, I have put on weight. The old me would have been mortified. But this “new me” is thrilled because this is the healthiest and happiest version of me that I have ever experienced. I am in love with my body and all it has done for me, and my only goal now is to take care of it.
You can achieve this too. You absolutely can. But it starts with realizing (and acting in accordance with) the fact that your mental health should be your priority. Take the time to get in touch with your inner self, spend time in nature, meditate, journal, and… exercise. But exercise in the name of overall health and happiness, rather than strictly for physical goals, and you will see a whole new version of you emerge- a much happier AND healthier version.
