The 5 Biggest Wellness Mistakes You’re Making (and How to Fix Them)

by Robyn Downs on Aug 29, 2018 (last updated Feb 2, 2022)

Read on for the 5 biggest wellness mistakes you’re making, and to listen to this episode of the Feel Good Effect podcast to learn about how to fix them.

5 Biggest Wellness Mistakes You’re Making (and How to Fix Them)

In this week’s episode of the Feel Good Effect Podcast we talk about the 5 biggest wellness mistakes you’re making and how to fix them.

We discuss how balance, mindset shifts, simplifying food, and self-love can help you achieve overall wellness.

It’s a new season!

The Feel Good Effect took a break so I could incorporate some intentional rest and pause into both my life and business.

Listen to my last solo episode from season 2, Episode 54: 5 Things to do so You Can Actually Take a Break, to hear about how you can too.

There are some amazing interviews coming up this season with guests you’ll be excited to hear from, so make sure to subscribe and come back weekly to hear what they have to share!

This episode is brought to you by my new free resource guide, Simplified Guide to Meal Prep and Planning.

Check out the guide on how to simplify and create easy minimalism around food, and stay tuned for a challenge that I’ll post soon!

Be sure to share if you’re listening on social media, and tag @realfoodwholelife so I can connect with you!

The 5 Wellness Mistakes:

1 | Balancing the 3 M’s (Mindset, Movement, Meals)

The common mistake here is overemphasizing one or two of these and neglecting the remaining one(s).

Is there one area of wellness in your life that you really focus on, at the cost of other two?

Are you so focused on moving and exercising that you forget to eat well?

Or, as occurs so frequently, we get so amped up for wellness and lifestyle change that we forget about mindset.

For more depth on mindset, listen to the Feel Good Effect episode on Unpacking Mindset.

When it comes down to it, mindset describes our thought patterns and the way we think in four stages.

i. Information/Experience

ii. Thought Pattern

iii. Resulting Action/Habit

iv. Result

“The magic really happens when we balance mindset, movement and meals.”

Consider Mindset, Movement, and Meals in your own life– how are you balancing them?

2 | Getting Stuck in Old Thought Patterns

This is the most common mistake!

There are three personality types that face different challenges when it comes to thought patterns:

i. Dynamo: Perfectionism + All-Or-Nothing thinking

Being a Dynamo can be effective in other areas of life, but not so much in wellness.

What to do:

Actively let go of all-or-nothing.
Embrace the idea that something is better than nothing.

Hint: You might be a dynamo if you don’t like hearing me tell you to let go..

Like anything else in life, the only way to get better at letting go of a mindset we’ve become accustomed to is to practice.

ii. Seeker: Comparison + Task Switching

Seeker types worry about what are other people are doing, always looking for a better way and new trends, comparing themselves and others.

They get stuck in a cycle of trying and ditching, rather than sticking with and committing.

What to do:

Hit pause to get quiet.
From there, think about what works for you, versus what you think I should be doing, and stick with it.
Make a commitment rather than dropping for next trend
Unfollow and unsubscribe to focus and eliminate distracting input.

iii. Cultivator: Guilt + Worthiness

Cultivators tend to be challenged by guilt on spending time on self wellness.

What to do:

Momentum building: focusing on small steps.

“Small wins build momentum”

Oxygen mask: help yourself first.

“If you can’t breathe you can’t help anyone else.”

Find out which type you are with the Wellness Personality Quiz.

3 | “Have To” Movement Mentality

We tend to think exercise should be hard, something we have to do, and that we should be suffering or it doesn’t count.

Shift your movement mentality from have to→ movement for ease, joy and elevating experience.

Tip: do an audit- list all the ways you move and rate each one on a scale (1-10) of “Have to” to “Brings you joy”.

4 | Overcomplicating Food

The opposite of overcomplicating is simplifying.

Reduce decision fatigue: stop meal planning, instead, focus on meal mapping (meal types + the essential 6).

Meal Types: Bowl, Taco, Stir-fry, Pasta, Salad, Mason Jar Salad
Essential 6: Sauces, Protein, Cooked Veggies, Raw Veggies, Grains + Bases, Toppings + Extras.

Focus on the essentials and use meal types and the essential 6 to create a capsule, minimalist pantry.

This mindset will help streamline grocery shopping and meal mapping, simplifying food.

5 | Beating Yourself Up

There are so many messages about not getting enough.

But, being hard on yourself doesn’t help make long-term behavior changes.

Gentle is the new perfect.