Lifestyle change: buzz word or buy-in?
If you’re like most people, you’ve tried to change your health habits before. You’ve started and stopped diets and exercise plans at least once, if not many times in your life. You start each new plan or program with renewed zeal. You start out strong. You eat only 1200 calories per day (or less), you track your food, and/or you workout 5-6 days every week, just like that website, book, or friend told you to. You follow your plan diligently for a couple weeks or even a few months. And then it happens: you get tired, bored, hungry, injured, or frustrated that you’re not seeing the results you were promised. Your motivation wanes, life gets busy, and suddenly you’ve “fallen off the wagon.”
If this sounds at all familiar, you’re not alone and you’re in the right place.
Truth is, there isn’t one plan that works for everyone. What worked for your best friend may not work for you. One of the reasons I truly enjoy working with Marilyn – and one of the reasons I believe she has been so successful – is that she wasn’t afraid to blaze her own path and find her own way to wellness.
“Lifestyle change” has become a catch-all buzz word. While we generally know what it means, we don’t understand what it means to do it day in and day out. If you aren’t prepared for the obstacles, challenges and setbacks you’ll face, how can you tackle them head-on?
Here are 5 things we tell our clients at Performance Colorado who are interested in lifestyle change:
- This is a journey, a process – there is no “end.”
- Be prepared to be brutally honest with yourself.
- You will have setbacks (yes, plural) – the work lies in finding ways through, over, around, under, or past those setbacks…and carrying on.
- It will not be easy or fast (and don’t trust anyone who says it will be).
- Success lies in finding what works for you – your body, your mind, your family, your job, your life.
For lifestyle change to really stick, it has to be more than a buzz word. You must have buy-in. That is, you must believe at your core that you are worth the time and effort that are required to change.
Now, go get your sweat on!
-Taryn
