Somewhat ironically, four times in the past three days I’ve spoken with two family members, a friend, and an acquaintance/prospective coaching client, all at their request, about some of the more approachable lifestyle and food plan changes they might implement to increase their capacity for life activities they enjoy, improve their fitness, refine their approach to food, and not surprisingly (in this day and age in America) – drop excess pounds that have accumulated over time.
Somewhat ironically again, all four shared several features in common.
For example, they’re all above what we used to call in medicine their “ideal body weight”; two within 15 or 20% of where they’d like to be, two more than 35% above their desirable weight range.
They’ve all tried various diet plans over a number of years, yo-yo’d up and down again, never finding a way of relating to food that provided the critical combination of good taste, appealing variety, broadly-based nutrient density, and sustainability over the long haul (the longest successful “diet” of the four lasted roughly five months).
They’re all fairly intellectually inquisitive (a powerful personality feature that often contributes to long term success) and familiar with current terminology and trends in both ancestral and traditional health and wellness circles; for example, all had researched nutritional ketosis but found much of the information available online to be intimidating if not confusing and at times contradictory in terms of approaches, compatible foods, etc.
They’re all for the most part fairly sedentary, three of the four working in office settings, with consistent focused movement or exercise of any sort a very low priority, save for an occasional round of golf, social tennis, and the rare weekend-warrior team sport activity.
They’ve all been motivated by someone they know or know of who has experienced a major health transformation in the past year or two. I happened to serve as the example for the two family members, the others had seen individuals in their work arenas drop significant weight (by report one inspired woman lost 104 pounds in 12 months – Atta’ girl.) and watched their attitudes and approaches to life change.
The “I’ll Do It When…” Diversion
Finally, and perhaps most impressively, each person used (more or less) the same terminology in explaining why they hadn’t set off on their own health improvement journey – the “I’ll do it when…” mantra that fosters, for many, an open-ended delay loop that can be darned difficult to close.
I’ll do it when I have more time, when it’s not so hot, when my husband/wife is more supportive, when my work schedule lets up a bit, when I feel more motivated, when I have more energy, when I feel like cooking more, and on and on and on. (You’ve heard it before, as have I, and we’ve both very probably throw a few “I’ll do it when’s” of our own out there.)
The Empowering Value of Simply Getting Started
My encouragement to each one in turn was identical – it’s time to make the choice to simply get started.
That choice to get started is fundamentally a very simple one. I reminded each one that making a choice to live a fuller, more active, more functional life by optimizing the foods they eat, their approach(es) to exercise, sleep, stress, relationships, and work simply signifies they’re willing to begin a journey to learn new approaches to old challenges, listen to their bodies, move more, and (eventually) move away from old habits that harm to new ones that heal and restore.
One of the challenges I often issue to people when they first make the decision to reshape their health is this: you don’t have to plot out the entire journey from start to finish (in fact, pending your body’s response, that pathway will likely be revised more than once along the way). You simply need to decide to approach every meal and every opportunity to move (you could of course throw in more formal workouts and exercise in the mix as well) with the intent of making the best choices you can right then.
If you make great choices today, that’s wonderful, put a notch in your metaphorical belt, and be empowered to face tomorrow. Didn’t make great choices with a meal (or meals) today? Life happens, tomorrow (or the next workout or meal) brings another set of opportunities to succeed and take a step, even if a tiny one, toward your eventual goals.
Part of what makes this health and wellness game so interesting is that tiny little successes, accumulating over time, lead to big changes.
Making good choices, like many challenging workouts, gets easier with repetition, and brings richer results with a bit of sweat and persistence. Some folks have an iron will, that, once set and striving toward a goal, pushes them down the path of eventual success, with little waver or distraction along the way (admittedly, a rarity these days). Others need a mentor or helping hand (I sure did); that’s where a successful friend or a perhaps even a coach comes into play.
Read. Explore. Ask questions. Find a mentor or coach (we can help you here at Older Bolder Fitness). Then git ‘er done.
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