Hello world! Are you still out there? I know I’ve been gone for some days, but if you remember from a previous post, I had a son get married this past week and I gained a new daughter in law.
To say my four day weekend was a little busy is an understatement. However, the wedding happened, it looked beautiful, and they are now married. The most important part, right?
To say I was proud watching my oldest get married, to see his petite bride taking his arm with a smiling face and eyes only for him, yeah ok I was proud.
So now here I am, a week later trying to sit myself down and share something with you so you know I’m still alive and kicking.
So, on to todays program! As many of my posts are, they get generated through conversations with people, or sometimes a quote I see, or whatever current hype I want to address.
I recently saw a post on social media about “getting started again”. There was discouragement this person had gotten off track with their fitness goals and were attempting to get back heading the right direction again.
It really is so easy to do, to get discouraged and throw in the towel.
We forget it takes some time and perseverance to make progress! We tend not to chart our progress when we gain weight or skip workouts ( who wants to remind themselves they aren’t working out or eating right?)
Yet when we are wanting to lose weight or get more physically fit, we get frustrated with ourselves. We want quick results and almost instant change. We look in the mirror for visible results. We put clothes on expecting them to be magically bigger.
When it doesn’t happen, we just quit. Maybe we quit because for awhile, our old habits are just easy to fall back into. Like our fav pair of jeans or sloppy shoes.
It feels comfortable to us.
Those new changes feel uncomfortable and when we don’t get quick results it’s easy to think “why bother”?
We may look at the scale and see numbers that are seemingly so far away and getting to that goal feels overwhelming.
Maybe it’s lab results at the doctor that give a more in depth look of your health and those numbers aren’t so good.
Perhaps that walk you took off on has reminded you that, yeah, your cardio health, it’s as out of shape as the outside body you can see.
It’s not comfortable to move into a zone of “discomfort”. And yeah, there is a certain level of discomfort that comes from moving ourselves into new habits and behaviors.
Change just won’t come unless we’re willing to accept and embrace it.
Our focus needs adjusted…
When we focus on how far we need to go to get to whatever goals we’ve set for ourselves it really hinders our progress. Not only that, it’s just not fair to yourself.
If you’re working daily to make changes ( even if you might not feel you always nail them) you aren’t being fair to yourself to consider all the work you’ve invested into the process of a lifestyle change.
I think, talking with people, this has to be one of the single most important thing to consider and remember. I try and remind them of where they’ve come from, Whether it’s a new mentality about food, learning to listen to their bodies more about how to eat and when to eat, learning to exercise,or thinking in more positive ways about themselves. Maybe they had a better report at the doctor or they have been able to do more physically with greater ease.
A lifestyle change is a slow, daily, determined process. Don’t believe that those small changes don’t matter, they do! And in time those small things will lead to that greater weight loss you want or being able to take on a physical activity you previously thought you couldn’t.
I’m no different. True, my goals and perspectives have changed for myself since I started my health journey. I’m no longer focused on weight or trying to lose it. But I still feel that way when I’m pushing myself to get faster on the bike, running, or lifting something heavier.
I remind myself how far I’ve come and that this is indeed, a daily journey and I need to keep my focus on how far I’ve come and not the road in front of me I’m still traveling.
Same for you. It’s much more enjoyable when you focus on what you’ve accomplished than what you still need to do.
Celebrate your victories, don’t be to harsh on yourself if a day doesn’t go as planned, and learn to enjoy your journey and all you will learn about yourself.
Are you in a place of discouragement or have you quit again? Have you done it before but now are on the right track again? What has helped you stick with it?
sassyfitnesschick 