Tag: discipline

I was updating my Instagram account recently and after I had finished was just randomly scrolling through different accounts. I follow so many people who are strong and active. They are amazing athletes and their physical bodies are carved from the work they invest to their sport.  They do big things that encourage and remind me I can keep on shooting for the stars when it comes to pursuing bigger goals.

Then there are the accounts that are almost **yawn** same old, same old,  women posed into a mirror, butts popped out ( the bigger the better now days, right?), tight shirts with artificial breasts spilling out, zero body fat, lean abs, plenty of makeup…. you may have seen pages like that. Many proclaim to be fitness trainers, personal trainers etc

I’m not like, being critical here, I’m just saying my goals and efforts are aimed in a different direction. What I choose to follow reflects my pursuits.

I want to be out working hard and looking like a hot mess with no make up, sweat flying every where as I crush another workout…or it crushes me… haha

As I glanced at one of these accounts one of the captions jumped out at me.  I’ve seen it before in various places…

“Contact me to help get your dream body today!”

Listen, the amount of fitness “coaches” on IG is as plentiful as flies at a summer picnic on the potato salad.

Some are most likely legit, others, well the jury might still be out.

That being said, no one will help you get your dream body but you and few will achieve it.

Ok, so why won’t they?

When I got my Charger R/T Max 2 years ago, I was a happy camper. ( I still am) Aside from looking like it can eat your lunch, I can hit it on the highway in mere seconds to head spinning speeds ( hubby loves it when I tell him that…. haha… not.)

Not to mention it has tons of other super cool features too it but this isn’t a car and road post so I won’t bore you 😉

The car I would’ve LOVED to have scooped up if ya know, the money thing wasn’t an issue, would’ve been the Charger SRT Hellcat.

Hello 0-60 mph in 3.4 seconds which makes my 0-60 in 8 seem…slow….

There are limited editions made each year and they also go to people who bust their butts and work for them. The people who own them have had to invest a lot to get that amazing car. They don’t have it without putting in the work for it.

You following me here?

People who have amazing bodies or maybe their “dream” body, have had to bust their butt and work for it. And they have to work hard.

Well what does that look like, the illusive dream body?

Well, that of course could vary person to person. So many women today seem to want what’s pushed on them through social media or what they see in magazines.  I guess it would be a similar thing for guys too.

I mean really, when I started on my journey 8 years ago if you’d asked me I would’ve said my dream body would be strong, functional and most of all healthy. It’s still at the top of my list now, even more so.

I’m not overly hung up on having my body try and look certain ways.

Abs though… ok… well maybe those are up there… 😉

There’s just something about those lines and ripples that I kinda dig. And being that I’m getting closer and closer to my Senior citizen discount breakfast, I consider it a victory of sorts.

But that doesn’t come without work and effort. And sometimes I’m more cut depending on my training and how lean I’m getting. It’s a process I’ve learned to roll with

Really though, my goals are to keep my body strong and healthy so I can do life and do my athletic stuff for a long time. I don’t need to try and shape myself into the current “trend”. I have though, been shaped by the very activities I enjoy doing so it’s almost a side effect, my changing body composition, to what I do.

It’s ok though to have your own personal goals or perhaps “image” of what you want to strive for. In fact, it would be helpful pursuing it if you did know what you wanted.

Maybe your ultimate dream body would be losing weight and being 50 pounds less.

Perhaps you want to strive for a weight you were when you were younger ( not always the best sometimes) the weight you were when you were younger might not be as suited for you being older when 5 or 10 lbs would be more flattering

You may want to have a body with more visible muscle or maybe you want a body that can go run a 5k. Maybe you haven’t been able to run and it’s a dream of yours.

But for the illusive body of strong muscled proportions with low body fat and seemingly perfect appearance, like the Hellcat, most will not invest what’s required to make it happen to own it.

It’s that discipline thing

We aren’t given things in life, for most of us, we have to work for them. The same goes for our bodies.

When I see someone who’s really fit, and yeah they stand out, it’s hard for me to not admire them. And I don’t mean in a weird way, I admire them for what I know it took them to get there, I admire the discipline I know is a part of their life because that’s the major thing to starting towards any goal.

It takes discipline to get out the door, to the gym, to run, to cycle to intentionally go lift really heavy things. It takes discipline to go to Crossfit or those nightly classes for strength. It takes discipline to eat well and past on foods or drinks that don’t support those goals.

But we want the easy way sometimes, right?

Nothing makes me feel more sad than to see smart people commenting on weight loss posts clamoring at the latest “miracle” that will quickly help them lose weight and get their dream body. The sad fact is, all they will lose is their money and even if it did work, it certainly wouldn’t teach them the discipline and drive needed to be successful at it, and keep at it.

The bottom line is, people just don’t realize how hard it will be.

All the other factors

there are so many other things that will hinder someone from the pursuit of their “dream” body.

• Procrastination. Stop putting it off till “Monday” or after a “holiday” or whatever, just start. Procrastination is the killer of dreams.
• It’s hard! Understand changing your body won’t be easy and but when you get that, you’ll be in the right frame of mind.
• No room for error is allowed. There will be a day you just want a cookie, or two. This is not a reason to throw in towel and go on an all out binge or think you’ve failed. . Those cookies won’t take down your hard work, but a food binge will make you feel bad physically and mentally.  Eat it and move on.
• You’re hungry. Eat adequate food, enough but not to much and make sure each meal has plenty of protein, that’s your friend to keep you from getting hungry.
• You workout hard, but eat harder. Don’t use your workouts to justify eating more food.
• You drink a lot of calories. Seriously, all those sugary drinks whether coffees or sodas, smoothies, shakes, all those calories add up and liquid calories also leave you hungry sooner. Watch your consumption of those things.
• You over complicate things. Really, losing weight is a pretty straightforward process. If you want to lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit. If you want to gain some muscle, eat more and lift heavier weights. Don’t get caught up in all the trends… “don’t eat dairy or grains or whatever”, “don’t eat after 7″ ,”eat 6 meals a day” “eat all the fat!” etc etc. Don’t complicate the system.
• Understand friends or family won’t always cheer you or support your efforts. Focus on you and don’t worry about the rest.
• Calories matter. I’m not a calorie counter but I do understand my body has a specific amount it can operate on to support my life and activities, more than that I gain weight, less I’ll lose. Same for you. Know what you need and learn to operate in that zone.
• You aren’t motivated enough. We all have our “thing” that can drive us. Find what motivates you to chase after your goals.  Without motivation, you aren’t going anywhere.
• You only think in short term limits.  30 days out, 60 days out. Most “plans” only make you think that far like you aren’t going to want to keep going or need direction past that. You need long term goals as well. Your body goals won’t be accomplished in a matter of weeks or a couple months. Where will you be in a year or two?
• You weight yourself to much. Really, stay off the damn scale! It will only side track you and make you feel like a loser on some days when you don’t need to feel that way. The scale doesn’t measure you’re overall “worth”, those numbers don’t define you or make you a better person. AND it certainly isn’t an indicator of your total health. If you absolutely must, once a week is adequate. ( find my posts on the scale here….) https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2017/03/29/why-ive-given-up-on-the-scale/   https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2015/08/27/the-scale-experiment/    https://sassyfitnesschick.com/2015/03/12/that-stupid-scale/
• You are always comparing yourself to others or worse, Hollywood stars or your more fit friend.  Stop it. You are you. You won’t look like them or be shaped like them. You have a different muscle structure and body size.  Learn to appreciate every single inch of who you are. Looking at others and comparing will only make you feel bad about yourself.
• Don’t let someone tell you that you look “okay”. Really. Why would anyone ever discourage someone from improving themselves by saying they look “okay”? That’s a key word for just stay as you are.
• You don’t even have a solid idea of what your “dream” body is. Without some concrete ideas, you will be spinning your wheels. Have ideas of what you’d like to work towards or achieve, it will help move you to your goals and know how you need to plan.
• You haven’t visualized how awesome it will feel to have your body the way you want it.  Like anything that takes hard work and discipline, building your body or changing it will take a lot of work but it’s totally possible when you make a commitment to it and discipline yourself to do the things that will get you there.

That discipline word…

I enjoy helping and encouraging others on their health and fitness journeys. I’m certainly not an “expert” but I’ve learned a lot over the past few years. The biggest thing I had to remind a young woman of the other day is that right now, where she’s at, she is building the discipline of taking herself out each day for her exercise.

Discipline is crucial for her long term success.

It’s great to think you’ll always be motivated with the idea of pursuing your dream body, your goal weight or your muscled arms. The reality is you won’t, I won’t ,no one will always be motivated to get up and do the work required.

When you’ve been consistent and have built daily discipline through your fitness routines, you will fall into that when motivation is lagging.

There are days it is purely my discipline that gets me out on the road. I know that once I’m out there, I will then do what I’m there to do. Some days might be stronger or faster than others but the fact remains, I got out there. I didn’t make an excuse to not go get it done.

Our goals are often lost in our excuses of reasons why we “can’t” do something.

Know what you want and go for it.

Understand that having a different body will require work, effort, and a ton of self discipline to build it. No one will do it for you. No one will be pushing you ( unless you get a tough personal trainer) but at the end of the day it will come down to the effort you put into your eating and exercise.

Get real with your ideas and goals, determine what you need to do, don’t procrastinate and start taking steps to making it happen.

Do you have an ideal “dream” body? Do you have goals you want for yourself? How attainable do they feel to you?