I was just talking to a friend yesterday and he told me he’s at his heaviest weight in his life. He went on to tell me what that he wanted to lose weight and get back in shape (which I heard a couple times in the last year) and then told me the things he needs to do to accomplish this. The problem is that he is not doing the things he told me he needed to do. This is a very common story I hear when I talk with people about creating a healthy lifestyle. Why is this?
The truth is that it’s hard to START exercising and eating healthy! I don’t say this to discourage you, but to allow you to set the proper mindset and have reasonable expectations for starting a healthy lifestyle. Your mindset in my opinion is the most import part to being successful! This is my biggest focus when I start a personal training program with my Schertz/Cibolo Personal Training Clients.
What’s the solution? Take action… It creates motion!
I want to give you an analogy. I want you to picture a large heavy ball that’s taller and weights 50 pound more than you. Now think how hard it is to get the ball to move. It takes a lot of effort, right? Once you get the ball to move and it starts rolling, it gets easier and easier to move. If you let the ball come to a stop, it will require the same amount of effort it originally took.
Starting a healthy lifestyle is no different. It’s very hard to get started but after you do, it get easier and easier to keep the ball moving. This doesn’t mean there wont be little hills that challenge you along the way, but my point here is the effort it takes to start something. Every time you stop, it’s always hard to get started again.
Just think if you stop as your pushing the ball up a hill… The ball’s either going to roll back down the hill and you have to start over or you’ll have to get it moving uphill. The lesson here don’t stop when your in a challenging situation because it’s not going to be easy getting that ball moving up hill or you have to start over at the bottom of the hill. The hill not going to move, you have to work hard to get over it!
I can tell you as a professional who lives a healthy lifestyle that’s it challenging for me as well getting started after a vacation or weekend of making poor choices (drinking or eating junk). It’s always challenging to get the ball rolling, but I always do because it’s important to me to be healthy and get the benefits that come form it. (Energy, feeling good, thinking clear, positive attitude etc….)
Always remember to keep the ball rolling when you start an exercise program or eating healthy.
Take Action… It will create motion! And don’t stop, because the motion will create results. Keep the ball rolling!
Chris Chouteau