How to Tap Into a Growth Mindset and Crush Your Goals

Do you love a good challenge or do you actively avoid it? In today’s modern world, there’s no denying that building healthy habits and living a healthy lifestyle can be challenging. And sometimes, it really can feel like the entire world is conspiring to make it harder for you to work on your metabolic health.

Without doubt, those moments where you feel defeated are uncomfortable. However, it's important to remember that they offer valuable opportunities for growth and learning. In this episode, we’re exploring how adopting a growth mindset gives you the resilience to persevere and embrace these lessons, rather than dwelling on the setbacks.

So, let’s skip the pity party and thoughts of giving up! Join me as we explore how to keep moving forward and achieve your goals.


References

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Audio Stamps

00:35 - On your health journey, you'll come to learn that progress takes time, and whatever your goal is, there will likely be some tweaking and troubleshooting along the way.
01:30 - The moments when you feel defeated are the moments when growth is going to occur. Dr. Rentea shares her own, recent example of this with strength training.
06:40 - Hard times are going to teach you things as it brings to the surface what you still need to work on.
09:09 - Staying in a growth mindset is one of the most essential tools that you're going to need for your long term health journey. Dr. Rentea shares a different example related to nutrition.
12:24 - When you're going through hard times, there is always a lesson in there - you're never failing.
15:07 - Don't feel like you need to figure this all out yourself - it’s perfectly fine to seek help in areas where you need it.
16:20 - Dr. Rentea reminds us of the resources she has available to support us when challenges do arise.


Quotes

“What you start to realize when you're doing this work is that it doesn't happen as quickly as you think it will.“ - Matthea Rentea MD

“These moments when you are pushed, this is when growth is going to occur or not.” - Matthea Rentea MD

“We've got the perfect three months here. What's the next step for you?” - Matthea Rentea MD

“I like to experience stepping out of that comfort zone because it really shows me what the next level of work is.” - Matthea Rentea MD

“Hard times are going to teach you things.” - Matthea Rentea MD

“When we stay in the pity party, we do not have clarity. We cannot figure things out. We cannot troubleshoot. We don't figure out what the goal is. We don't see where we want to go.” - Matthea Rentea MD

“It is normal and natural to encounter obstacles and challenges and figuring out what to do with them is the greatest gift you're going to give yourself. It is never just about the scale going down.” - Matthea Rentea MD

“When you're going through hard times, there's a lesson in there. You're not ever failing if you look at what you can learn from it.” - Matthea Rentea MD

All of the information on this podcast is for general informational purposes only. Please talk to your physician and medical team about what is right for you. No medical advice is being on this podcast.

If you live in Indiana or Illinois and want to work with doctor Matthea Rentea, you can find out more on www.RenteaClinic.com

Transcript

0:28

Welcome back to another episode of the podcast. How are you all doing? I cannot believe how fast time is flying at this point. When you hear this episode, it'll be end of March or April at that point. And I do, any of you ever have the thoughts like me where you realize, gosh, I've got to keep going on my goals because time passes so quickly that. I have to take small actions, or even if they're big actions, so that you have something accomplished ever. Because, because I sit there and I think, you know, I, I'm with patients all day long, and patients, I always have the privilege of seeing monthly what their progress is, right? When, when patients first start working with me, we'll have maybe a week follow up, and then maybe every two, three weeks, kind of as we're sort of ramping them up and kind of as they're gaining more knowledge and perspective, but then there does come a point where they're seeing me monthly. Because, What you start to realize when you're doing this work is that it doesn't happen as quick as you think it will. And so the month makes sense because whatever our goal is, it takes you time to kind of troubleshoot it and figure it out. And so I was thinking about when I'm recording this, we're in March, and I had a particular experience this morning that made me think this is exactly what we need to talk about. So, I myself am in this year long exercise program. It's more than exercise, it's really mindset, it's nutrition, it's really all of it. And The program is incredible. It's amazing every week what we're doing. And part of it is several times a week, there are strength training times there's upper body, lower body, full, full body, and then core and floor. So there's a lot that goes into this program. In addition to meditation and different mindset and a lot of things and. So I was sitting there doing this workout. This was the other day. It was Monday. I'm recording this on a Tuesday and I did not feel like doing the workout at all. So you hear me talk a lot about this on the podcast. I get up at 5. 50 in the morning. At least that's, that's been sort of the path for the past year. I get up at 5. 50 by six o'clock. I'm working out by seven o'clock. I take a shower. So normally I do about a 30, 40 minute walk. And then I do anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes of strength training, depending on. What the day is and the Monday is the corn floor usually over anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes. So I I really felt so not amazing on Monday that I decided I'm going to leave off the walk because walking I can kind of get in little chunks throughout the day. But I know that I'm not going to sit there and do a strength training in the middle of the day. I don't like when I'm seeing patients to have sweaty hair or to have that sort of workout look. I don't enjoy that. I knew, okay, and I've not done this in a long time where I've left the walkout. And I said, you know, I'm just really not up to that, but I'm going to get in. The strength training. So I did it. And in the middle of this strength training, there was a part where not just doing regular planks where you have your hands out and you're sort of holding your body up, but I don't know if any of you have done planks to the side where you're on one arm and you're lifting the hip up there. They require a lot of strength. And so there was a lot of different stuff that was done. during this workout. And I just couldn't do some of it. And yes, you can do it modified. And yes, you can push yourself, but it, it, let me tell you the thing about workout, which is why everybody needs to do it. It will bring all of your stuff instantly up to the surface, things that you are able to ignore things that you are able to, let's say you're someone like me. I work with a lot of professional people. You maybe have a tendency to overwork and you can ignore a lot of things because you get a lot of dopamine hits off of overworking. You get a lot of sense of identity and purpose with working and the things you're doing. And the challenge is, and this is the whole topic for today, What can you do in life so that you can bring what these challenges are to the surface so that you can work on them? I know that you've all heard this analogy a lot where you're only seeing the little tip of the iceberg, you're seeing this little triangle that's popping out of the water, and underneath are miles of just ice underneath, this whole other thing that you're not seeing. So you're always thinking, oh, it's this little thing that I'm seeing up top, but actually there's so much more going on. Right? These are the things that, that will sink a ship. Right? And so, what happened there, in the middle of that workout, there were a few minutes where I just could not do the going to the side with the plank on one arm, and then in the middle, and then going the other side. And I just sat there. And I just wanted to go into a complete pity party for myself. And at first I sat there and thought, Oh, this person doesn't understand larger bodies. And, you know, I went into this whole thing. And then I had to stop myself and I had to say, Hey, what do you want to get out of this? What can you do right now? And I said, Okay, I want to three times how many times it was. I want to be able to hold this plank position. And then afterward, I kept reflecting on this as I took a shower and as I got started with my day and the nice thing about being in certain programs, if you're getting the right type of focus, it will have you thinking. the rest of your day about ways that you can improve and work on this. And so I thought to myself, what do I want over the next few months? And this is what I do with all my patients. I remember a day ago, I had this talk with someone. It was March and I said, so what do you want to accomplish by summer? We've got the perfect three months here. What's the next step for you? Cause we want to kind of keep going in a certain direction. It's not, it's not ever just about weight loss. Right. And I thought to myself, I would like to be that person. That can hold that plank for a few minutes and it's no big deal. I would love for me to have had this moment of defeat. And this moment of just bringing all the emotions up and all the defeat and just, again, just all of that. And I would love for summer to roll around and for that to be something that I can do. I would feel amazing with that. Okay, everybody put, put the mark in the sand right now. These are the moments that matter. These are the moments when you can't do things, when you're feeling defeated, when you're feeling like I can't do this or all of that. These moments when you are pushed, this is when growth is going to occur or not. So are you going to at that moment say well, this isn't for me. This program isn't for me. I can't do this I'm never gonna be able to do this. Are you gonna do that or are you gonna say? How is it possible for me to get to that finish line? What do I want to do? I talk to friends actually, one of them I love. So Chris Berlingeri, right? We've had her on the podcast. She's my friend that, she's a dermatopathologist. She's done the weight loss coach trainings like me. She's done the obesity medicine board certification with me. And I talk with her and my coach Amanda Sabacher. The three of us are friends. And we just, every day we talk on Marco Polo, right? I want to throw Daisy into there too. These are, these are the OG friends. And I talked to her about this moment and she said, Hey, listen, do you know, at the gym, a trainer talked about this very specific type of modification. She sent me a little picture. Guys, it takes a village. It takes a village. And in that you need to be rooted in what are my values? What's important to me? What am I working toward? The goal for me is never, Oh, I lose this weight and I keep the weight off. The goal for me is growth in some capacity. The goal for me is I can walk faster. I can walk longer. I can walk further. I now can do things strength wise. I'm however many months into this program. I mean, technically we could say start in January, but really it was already in, in December I was doing things. So I'm about four or five months into this and. It's incredible the things I can do, but there's always like the next level, there's always the next thing I want to accomplish and do. And the way that these things come up is that you have challenging moments. So these challenges will bring to the surface what you still need to work on. So here's the thing I want to bring up. Have you had these challenge moments recently? If you have not, chances are you're not growing very much. And there's nothing wrong with that, deciding, I don't like to get pushed. I don't like to sort of experience what that barrier is and kind of break through it. There's nothing wrong with that. Comfort is totally fine. Comfort is the inner circle. A little bit when you get into discomfort. There's, there's something good about that. We don't want to get into the panic zone, where we're shut down and we don't do anything. But to me, I like to experience stepping out of that comfort zone some because it really shows me what the next level work is. And when these moments happen, I always first go to the pity party. That is my initial response. But the opportunity here for growth is what is in this for me to learn? Do I want to accept this challenge? How do I want to modify this? What do I actually want to achieve? And the lesson here is this, is that hard times are going to teach you things. So I'm going to give you another example. If you're someone that experiences a lot of hunger, let's say that you started the anti obesity medications, you're rocking it out, you're doing all the things, and then You, five, six months of being on the max dose, you're noticing I have more urges and cravings. I have more hunger. Okay, instead of saying, well everything has gone wrong and see there's never, it's never gonna work out. That is the first pity party moment. Okay, honor that, accept that, that's okay. But, but now, can we then, when we've neutralized that a little bit more, can we go to what now is possible for me? Could I modify my nutrition in XYZ ways? If you guys knew how often I change the way in which I eat and what I do, it would shock you because I feel that there are some people like me where I've just got to every three, four weeks, change it up a little bit. So I nowadays, I, and I have to laugh because I used to be someone years ago. I never used to like to cook or bake or like experiment with anything. And nowadays, because I want to fit certain nutrition requirements, I want to get that protein in. I want things to not taste horrible. Right. So, this little girl has figured out how to get in the kitchen, just a little bit, not a lot, just a little, right? And I want you to see what is the next thing that's required of me. So for me, as a vegetarian, and I tried to fit the meat in, I just don't like it, and I'm not doing it, okay? I don't like it. I tried. I tried shrimp. I tried rotisserie chicken. Like, oh my gosh, I did it all. It's just, it's not me. And so I realized, okay, we don't need to fit into that. that meat category. We don't need to make it happen. We can figure this out in other ways. And I really feel I am figuring things out. So it required me to mix up my nutrition a little. I started to get more creative. I am always trying to think of does a bigger meal serve me or do smaller meals more often? Or how can I do this? How can I do that? If hunger is really up, I'm trying to figure out, okay, is this a protein problem? Is it a fiber? Is it a fat? I'm staying open and curious. I want to figure this out. And I know that we talk about this so often on the podcast because staying in a growth mindset, which means you're willing to figure it out, you're willing to troubleshoot it, problems are just opportunities for you, meaning like, let me figure this out. We talk about it so often because that is like, honestly, it's one of the most essential tools that you're going to need for this long term. That is the tool you're going to need. And those same challenges, by the way, they present themselves in every single other area of your life. So think about if any of you are parents out there, you are getting challenged all day long by your kids, right? I can't be the only one. All day long, I talk with all my friends if they have kids as well, that maybe it's a temper tantrum stage you're going through or maybe they now are in the teenage years and now they're actually trying to pull away and that feels so painful. It's just, it's endless. The boundaries that are getting pushed, the things that are getting asked of you. So you're doing this growth in all these other areas of your life at your job. Maybe there's actually lots of change going on often and you don't like it because you think, well, they forced it upon me and this organization doesn't care about me. That's the initial pity party moment. It doesn't mean that you're not going to go into your full authority and see, do I want to stay here? And is this fit right for me? All those things. I hate using this term victim mentality, but when we stay in the pity party, We do not have clarity. We cannot figure things out. We cannot troubleshoot. We don't figure out what the goal is. We don't see where we want to go. We do first need to even know that we're doing it. So we need that awareness. But then from that, is there a growth opportunity here? What is in this for me? What can I do differently? Why is this challenging right now? What is going on for me? Because what I realize, whenever I can't do something with exercise, it taps on the nerve that I've always had where, I don't ever feel that my body has been truly capable in the sense of, I'm just going to say some things, you're going to be like, what? But, I'll give you an example, like, can I climb a rock wall right now? I don't think so. And honestly, those are the kind of things I want to do. This is a whole new Matea that didn't exist before, right? Like, this did not exist walking around, doing strength training, wanting to Do more physical things. I was listening to a podcast the other day and this military guy has these fun obstacle courses. It's a once a year sort of race thing, if you would. And it's sort of, it's like, think of it as like a fun obstacle course, but at the same time people get timed. And I thought that would be so amazing in the coming years to do something like that. Okay, these things are able to pop up. Because I keep challenging myself and because I keep thinking the direction that I want to go. I'm not saying that that's what everyone wants to do. Not everyone wants to run a marathon, do an obstacle course, climb a wall. I mean, a lot of this stuff sounds honestly funny when I talk about it too. Because it's not real to me yet, right? Me having these moments. brings up to me. Oh, you have doubts about your body. You don't have confidence that your body can do all these things. You have not worked with your body in those ways for so long. You didn't trust that you could give it the right nutrition. I mean, it goes deep. It goes deep depending on how long or not you've done this work. But no, when you're going through hard times, there's a lesson in there. There is a teaching in there. You're not ever failing if you look at what is here. What can I learn from it? What can I next time do differently? What is in this for me? And you're going to do it again and again and again. And you're going to be happy when these things come up. Because when they come to the surface and when we have that clarity, that is when we can take some different action on it. So this is not a failing every time it comes up. And why does it keep coming up? Well, it's there because there's something to learn from it. There is some reason that that thing keeps popping up and are we gonna listen to it? Are we gonna get some learning from it? Are we gonna go down that road? Are we gonna let it keep defeating us? So today I just wanted to bring that up that if there's these moments that feel really hard If we can pause for a second and see, is there a lesson here? Is there something, is there a different way I need to approach this? Sometimes we need a coach, a doctor, we need someone to help us work through it. Because I will tell you all the time, I mention this a lot, but I have so many people on my team that help me out. I've got a coach, I've got a doctor, I've got nutrition help, right? Movement help. I mean, there's no area that I have not opened up to the fact that someone else might know a better way to do it than me. And I love learning. I love being open. I love asking them. I remember I said to my coach the other day, I'm like, Oh, I feel bad that I'm even coming with this again. And she said, why are you saying that? It's different every time, every angle, right? She gave me this different perspective. So don't feel like you need to figure this all out yourself. None of us are that enlightened where we just can completely understand every angle and figure it all out ourselves. So if you need to get help, that's fine, but I just wanted to bring up here. That it is normal and natural to encounter obstacles and challenges and you figuring out what to do with them That is the greatest gift. You're gonna give yourself. It is never just about the scale going down. Okay, I want to leave it there I'm gonna remind you if you're someone that's not on our email list So you can get on that by going to rentiaclinic. com forward slash blog right on the right hand side We have subscribe to the obesity guide podcast newsletter, and we send you out one email. It's Monday morning They're pretty darn amazing. I love what we say in them. There'll always be a quote from the episode. You can see if you'd want to listen or not that week. And we don't spam you with a bunch of stuff. So that's also the best way to know if, you know, every so often I'll have a new course, things like that. Oh, the last thing I wanted to say is if you're someone that you have not joined us in that optimizing fat loss and maintaining muscle when you're on a GLP 1, friendly reminder, you do not, because sometimes people ask, you do not need to be on an anti obesity medication. to still benefit from the course. But the one cool thing is from the time when you join, we monthly, I do a question and answer in there. And so we, we send out an email the week before we say, Hey, do you have any questions? You can ask those if you can't make it to that time. And then we get the replay up after if you can't make it to the call live. But this is really a good way. If you're someone that's out there that you've been listening to this podcast, maybe you have. your own obesity medicine doctor, but you have questions about different things. It's always so great to see the variety of questions that we get monthly. This is a really good way that it's not just like a one time purchase where, yes, you're going to go through the material. My whole goal in that course is to make it really Quick the amount of information that you get they're all 10 minutes or less the videos you can speed up the pace But then when you get through that course know that I add stuff periodically to it based on what people are asking and then also we get Those replays once a month. So I just wanted to reiterate if you're not in there I am loving the community in there that has developed. I love the questions that get asked. It is just, it's amazing. So just know, that there are resources out there that people like me have made with seeing the struggles that particular people are going through. And if that's something that's interesting to you, again, if you go on my website, rentiaclinic. com, if you go under the product library, we have that as a course option. So if you have questions, again, I always am happy to answer them. I love. when you all bring up what you want to hear about and then we can kind of focus in on that. Hopefully today was helpful and I hope you all have a great rest of the week.