This is a defeatist attitude and one I am familiar with. At one point in time, I was slim, trim and in great shape. I did nothing to maintain it – or at least I thought I didn’t – but what I had was a really active lifestyle. I was always on the go. I was rarely sitting in front of a computer for hours. I went dancing a lot and in a nutshell, my life was my exercise.
I’ve mentioned the severe weight I gained with my pregnancy and the fact that I went from a size 10 to a size 24. It was discouraging, to say the least. I was always tired, I hated the way I looked and I’d try diets, I’d try exercise, but they were always half-hearted attempts because I loathe dieting with a passion.
Yep, that’s me. I hate diets. I hate them because you deprive yourself, you’re hungry and you don’t get fast results. Even Atkins, the exalted diet that can trim weight off the sedentary – I hated it more than I hated most other diets. Dieting doesn’t work for me. Even when I stick to them like glue, obeying each and every letter and spirit of the rules, my weight looks at my diet and laughs itself silly.
When I stopped looking at the scale and the dress size for results, but just went after what made me feel better mentally – that’s when I started seeing results. I believe in mind over matter. I believe that if you believe you can do something, if you know you will FEEL better – then you’re going to keep doing it.
Why do we eat ice cream? Because it tastes good.
Why do we watch television programs? Because we like them.
Why do we spend money when we shouldn’t have? Because we wanted something.
Why do we exercise? If you don’t answer because I feel better or because it makes me feel good about myself or I enjoy myself – then you aren’t going to stick to it. You aren’t going to see the results you want and you’re going to set yourself up for failure.
Now before someone blasts me and says they got results, even doing something they hated – I know that some people can do things they don’t like and still get results. I get clean dishes and let me tell you how much I hate doing the dishes.
But the point of fitness is about mind, body and soul. If you really hate what you’re doing, that is going to affect you on some level. Whether it makes you more likely to drop a program after you get a desired result or skip out on it because you aren’t seeing it – fitness should be a way of life.
I know I feel better after I exercise. So whether I see dress size or weight results, I don’t care. I feel better internally and that shows externally. When I miss my exercise sessions or fail to work out – I pay the price in how I feel.
So if you think exercise and fitness aren’t working out for you – or nothing you do ever works – look at WHY you’re doing it. Maybe if you change the why – you’ll discover better a better way to success that you enjoy and stick with. The only why you’ll be asking then is why didn’t I do this sooner?