Finding the
Motivation to Embrace Fitness
Well, the Olympia (the “Olympics” of the fitness industry!)
is the event of the weekend, and a great time to find the motivation to
continue to work hard toward your fitness goals, or kick-start a new plan!
Someone asked me a question today that was actually a major “aha”
moment. The question was, “Wendy, I have
gotten to the point where I am not happy with my weight, and the way that I
look, but feel that I am caring less and less about it. It worries me, because I used to care so much
if I gained weight. How do I change
that?”
I thought about this for a moment, because I have learned
from myself and from our clients that staying in shape is a full-time job in
itself. You can’t “take time off” so to
speak from caring about your fitness.
You can’t get in the shape you’ve always dreamed of, and then maintain
it without continuing to work on it. But
that draws a bit of frustration for people, because then when do we get a
break? Why does it have to be so
hard? At times, it is almost frustrating
to witness the bliss of the fitness ignorant – the people who don’t care, and
have never cared about being in shape or healthy.
I’m not going to lie, you DO need to think about it always,
but it can be very fun and super rewarding.
For example, think about how such a little can go a long way. If you wake up earlier, and go for a 30
minute jog, skip the latte and opt for a regular coffee, choose an apple
instead of a muffin, and eat a chicken breast with rice and veggies instead of
a sandwich with ham and cheese… You can
STILL majorly enjoy your life, and you get to enjoy the body you live in. Extra bonus!
We had a client one time tell us, “I am so jealous of my
friend. She goes out and drinks when she
wants, she eats whatever she wants, and she skips exercise if she wants. She just does whatever she wants without the
strain of thinking about being fit and healthy all the time. I just feel like I have to think about it constantly,
and it is so tiring!” Do you know what
we told her?... We said, “Yes, well it LOOKS like you care, and it LOOKS like
your friend doesn’t.” Just that alone
was a reality check for her. “yes, I
guess you’re right!” See, if you focus
on the things you do get to enjoy with a healthy lifestyle, instead of focusing
on the things that you must give up to be healthy, you will be so happy! You get to live in a house – your body – that
you cannot step out of!
It is good, in my opinion, to look at the extreme version of
fitness to dig for motivation to continue with your fitness program. This is why I say that following the top
athletes at the Olympia this weekend is a great way to get this
motivation. Instead of viewing the
extreme as “ridiculous, unhealthy, unattainable, not desirable”, think about
where those thoughts stem from. Are you
mentally forcing yourself to remove this level of fitness from your mind as
something you want, so that you don’t have to be so strained with thoughts of
achieving it? Many people do this, it is
okay! Heck, I’ve done it before, and
then realized that it was because I didn’t want to push myself to get there! Instead, I think, “How on earth did she get
her butt to look like that?” – or – “What do I need to add in my program to
achieve that level of conditioning in my legs?”
And NO, this is not shallow. We
decide that it is shallow to desire looking the best we can, because it is hard
to do.
I will tell you that I live fitness every day. I maintain it every day. When I was younger, it was easy for people to
say, “You are still young, and your metabolism is fast, just wait until you’re
older! It will eventually catch up to
you!” What will catch up to me? I’m about to turn 31 years old, and I refuse
to let it “catch up” to me. My husband,
Matt, is 36 years old – and he refuses to let it catch up to him. We just made up our minds to stay healthy and
fit.
You can put yourself first on the priority list, and decide
to be the best version of yourself TODAY.
No more excuses or reasons to not do this. At the beginning, you will have more bad days
than good days. But when it becomes your
lifestyle, you will have more good days than bad days. I am telling you it is okay to fight through
the bad days – you NEED to fight through those bad days, even if you or someone
else tells you that you need to give it a rest and let loose. Yes, let loose, but the only way to do it in
style is by achieving and maintaining the best “you” possible!