My training partner Bre and I had a conversation the other day that I thought was worth sharing. My entire adult life has been a rollercoaster of eating poorly, partying too much, getting frustrated and fat, swinging to the other extreme, and then dieting and exercising like a crazy person. The entire time I would diet I felt like there would eventually be an 'end'; once I reached my goal weight, once I fit into a particular size, then I would stop dieting and go back to my old habits. We all know the drill. Obviously, the problem with this logic is that as soon as you stop dieting you put the weight back on and you're also faced with a tremendous amount of guilt when you fall off the bandwagon.
The beauty of what we're doing this time around is that it really, truly has become a lifestyle. I know we hear that time and time again, weight loss is about a lifestyle change, and I guess until I experienced it for myself I really didn't know what that meant. The key to this philosophy has been making changes that you can maintain for the rest of your life. If you think eating 800 calories a day of salad and chicken breast is maintainable you are absolutely kidding yourself. If you think forcing yourself to stick to an incredibly strict diet with no room for error or for cheat meals you are setting yourself up for failure. The most important lesson I've taken away from this is that you need to plan for imperfection. Give yourself the opportunity to take a few days off. Allow yourself that cheeseburger or ice cream once in awhile. This isn't about perfection, it's about consistency. As long as you're on plan 80% of the time you will be successful. Once you plan your cheats an incredible thing happens; instead of guilt during and after your meal you feel pleasure! Instead of beating yourself up the entire time you eat you enjoy every single bite.
You need to stick to a plan long enough to adapt it to your lifestyle and to get a rhythm going. If you're not a morning person don't plan your workouts for 5am and expect to be able to do it with any level of consistency. Incorporate workouts that you LIKE doing. There is no one way to get in shape, there are millions of them and you just need to persevere and experiment until you find the right program for you. I promise you, you will reach your stride and find a balance, and once you do it becomes harder to quit than it is to keep going.
If you hate your program, if you detest your diet, you may see short term success but you won't make the changes you need to make significant improvements. Your brain is also a muscle, and it's health and well being are every bit as important as your physical body. If you're suffering through workouts and through your diet regime you aren't on the right plan, take it easy on yourself and love your mind enough to be kind to it. Get yourself on the right program and go after it with all the focus and intensity you are capable of, but remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
You CAN do this. It make take months or even years but don't rush it, enjoy the process and experiencing those little successes every day. I can't even begin to tell you what it feels like to jump out of bed in the morning to check myself out in the mirror and to see what muscle I can start to see that day. The rush and the confidence you get from seeing your goals to fruition is like nothing I've ever felt before. I intensely want and hope that each and every one of you get to experience this feeling, and I promise you, with the right attitude and the right program, you are unstoppable.
Meg
xoxo
