A lot of people this time of year plan to exercise and change their dietary habits. The problem is 92% of them will be sitting here next year with the same thought. “this year, I’m serious, I’m going to join xyz shiny new gym and kill it” The focus on making changes to your health and weight is placed solely on whoever’s fitness marketing efforts are the most enticing. Your brain doesn’t separate what it’s really going to be like versus the idyllic picture painted in the ad.The problem is xyz shiny new gym is fun for a minute then it starts to wear off the first night you don’t get enough sleep or you step on the scale and it hasn’t moved the amount you wanted it to. And this is the start of why your workout results suck.
The start of the problem
We have all seen them. The new workout place that’s lit up like the sun, full of great looking perfectly fit people smiling because they just super enjoyed sweating their clothes to wringing wet. They’re so happy and fit! This is the way the ad portrays it. Here’s the real pic. You wake up at whatever time and your face and the pillow are one. You’re pretty tired because you were working late or your kids came in 17x just asking for the basics in life (water, food, protection), so you can’t deny them. So you drag yourself to the gym in the pitch dark. As you’re going in you see people coming out and you’re asking yourself “what time do these no-lifers get up to be out of here by 5a?” You walk into the class you signed up for. It’s so crowded you can smell the deodorant of your neighbor because she bumped into your shoulder with her arms up. Wait, were your arms down when hers were up? You must be out of sync with the group. You finish your workout, finally! It was grueling. Why did the ads show this total party of perfect smiling people enjoying the crap out of the workout? That’s not what it was like at all. You’ve been doing this now for a couple of weeks and step on the scale for the good news. But the scale hasn’t moved. You think to yourself I have busted my butt now for 2 weeks for what. Eventually, this routine will wear you out and you quit. So your workout results sucked, right?
The Real Problem
Well, not necessarily. it’s your expectations and attitude. Boo000 hiss! I know, that’s not what people want to hear but it’s the truth. You have to view exercising with a long-term mentality. There will certainly be short goals in between but we always tend to look at 1 week or 6 or 12. It’s kind of like investing. Would you put money in the stock market and go back to check on it the next week and be like” I’m taking my money out of this toilet, it hasn’t even doubled yet!”? How about this analogy? (By the way– I’m world famous for my analogies just ask my kids) You’re walking to your car at lunch and you slip and fall. Do you decide “you know what, if this is the way this day’s going to go, I’m just going to lay here in the parking lot…. for the rest of my life.”? Kind of ridiculous but that’s how we treat exercise. I guarantee, if you will exercise consistently and make some dietary modifications, you will get there. The key to remember is that if you want to stay trim and healthy, you have to stay exercising. No one brushes their teeth one day and never has to do it again.
The Solutions
I will say this though. A–You need to change your attitude towards exercise if you’re going to be successful. B– you need to try different things out. If you go to a spin class and come out thinking ” I’m pretty sure that will be what goes on in hell eternally except with waaay more heat and complaining” then you need to try something else. The fact is our bodies are meant for activity. So, you need to find something you don’t find horrendous. And yes, this is possible. I have people telling me daily they didn’t want to exercise today but ENJOYED the workout.
It is possible though to exercise and make changes to your diet and seemingly get nowhere. In that case, you do need to enlist the help of an expert. Everybody’s body responds differently. So for some, it’s as easy as moving more and eating less and for others it requires more calculation than that. In my teen years, I lifted weights and drank “weight gainer 5000” shakes trying to put on muscle. You might be thinking, must be nice to have to try hard to gain weight. It wasn’t. Drinking bad chalky cake batter, AKA “weight gainer 5000”, out of a blender and my little sister’s friend was still stronger than me was pretty discouraging. My friend drank milk out of the carton, did no weight training and would grow muscles overnight. So for me, I had to figure out what worked for my body. Those that tell you genetics are an excuse probably didn’t have that bad of genes. Regardless, you can make lots of progress once you figure out how to do it but you will never turn an elephant into a giraffe. (I know, there I go again with those pesky analogies) While those are both animals, they have different builds and God didn’t intend for them to look the same. Your goal should be to be the fittest and healthiest you can be for your body type.
If you’re interested in finding an enjoyable workout or need help figuring out what works for you, contact me. I will do a free consultation to see if we can help you find something you can latch onto.
