The struggle to start and maintain a health and fitness program is VERY real! How many times have you known that you had a training session scheduled and all day tried to think of something or some way to get you out of it? No matter what goes on or to what level you are successful it will always be a struggle of YOU vs. YOU. It’s too hot, it’s too cold, I’m too tired and may more goal killing excuses will dance through your pretty little head trying to sabotage your next training session or planned meal. So how do you get out of your own way you ask?
First, starting and maintaining a health and fitness program starts from the inside out and your mind will either be your best friend or worst enemy. We humans are amazing creatures and we can talk ourselves into and out of just about everything! We can talk ourselves out of a great opportunity or into the best shape that we’ve ever been in. But this all starts with REALISTIC expectations for the goals that we have in mind. You cannot expect to not have trained in 10 years, start working out and eating better for 2 weeks and drop 10 pounds. Possible, yes, but not likely based on having to change your behavior so much which isn’t likely in such a short period of time.
Once you’ve made up your mind to get started your journey has only just begun. You will be tested on a daily basis and often multiple times a day to stay on task and make good decisions. The battle between what you want right now and what you want in the long term will never stop but establishing long lasting positive habits is crucial. You have to set yourself up by having goals both short and long term that keep you motivated and pushing forward. When your goals begin to seem out of reach is when you will be most vulnerable to quitting.
The unfortunate part of this whole process is the fact that we are conditioned to look at the outside first and how we think that we are perceived when goal setting. It is certainly understandable that we all want to look good and looking good is presented to the outside world so it is usually given the most importance. How else can you explain women wearing suffocating Spanx or men getting hair follicles sewn into their scalp? We can hide the pain but we can’t always hide the body parts that we don’t want the world to see.
But all is not lost if you want to use outward looks as a measure of health. You can easily do so by using how your clothes fit and feel to better measure your progress. Along with that I would suggest that you focus on a health measure like body fat percentage. Something like body fat percentage tells a much more accurate story of your health than what you weigh on a scale and it is much more objective than how your clothes fit. And don’t forget about how you FEEL. The best of both worlds!
