1. Working out to burn off what you ate

This is a HUGE no no. We do not ever need to be made guilty for enjoying one of life’s many pleasures that is food! Food is fuel and is there to be enjoyed. It brings us together and most importantly gives us energy! Of course it’s important to make smart choices to ensure our bodies are getting all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals to thrive but just because you ate a cookie or wanted another scoop of ice cream does not mean you need to run for an extra hour tomorrow.

2. Calorie Counting

Have you found yourself downloading a calorie tracker app to your phone? I most certainly have in the past and all it lead to was my precious time and energy being devoted to the numbers and overanalysing everything I put in my body. I can’t stress how much more at peace you’ll feel once you ditch the numbers and instead put emphasis on making sure you’re eating a balanced and nutritious diet with a range of protein, carbs and fats and eating more intuitively.

3. Strength is only good if you want to become a body builder

Far too often I hear women saying they avoid strength training for fear it will make them big and bulky and that is most certainly not the case! Not only does the female anatomy not have enough testosterone to grow muscles in the way men do, but unless you’re actively training and eating to increase your muscle mass, strength training is not going to alter your body like that. Strength training is actually so important as it helps to improve our muscles’ strength, reduce our risk of injury and keep our bodies capable to take on our everyday life (the simple task of carrying your groceries will become even easier).

4. It's only a good workout if you sweat excessively

Sweat is not an indicator of a good workout. Let me repeat that, just because you didn’t sweat much it DOES NOT mean you did not have a good workout. Sweat is the body’s response when trying to cool down our core temperature and is also something that is unique to each person. Oh and the weather is also another HUGE factor that will contribute to how much we sweat. An upper body strength workout which may not raise your heart rate and get you sweaty in the way a HIIT workout does does not mean your workout was inadequate – a strength workout is purely a different style of movement focused on developing your muscles as opposed to improving your cardiovascular fitness.

5. Tracking progress on the scales

One of the worst things you can do is let your worth be determined by the scale. Not only is it absolutely irrelevant to who you are as a person but it is something that fluctuates consistently (especially for people who menstruate). So we simply cannot be attaching any value or sense of worth to this number – ever. Most importantly we should move because it makes us feel good and helps us to take care of our physical and mental health. However, if you are looking to track your progress ditch the scales and instead look to track your distances, times, weights, number of sessions or reps instead. You’re worth is so more than any number on the scale.