You don’t start with the marathon

This is #2 of the “top 10 lessons that becoming an athlete have taught me about weight loss” that appeared in the “Building Sweat Equity” blog.

In my mind, “you don’t start with the marathon” means that you don’t start at the end-point of a goal. You must start at the beginning and progress incrementally.

Even though it’s critically important to have a vision of where you want to be, there are thousands of tiny steps that you must take along the way.

And just like you don’t head out the door – never having run before – and expect to run a marathon, you don’t start a weight loss journey and expect to do it all in one great effort.

Permanent lifestyle change works best when you progress slowly; begin thinking about why you want to do this. Create a vision for how you want to feel and what your goals are. Then, start to implement changes: eat more produce, cut out pasta, rethink dairy. Whatever those changes might be for you. Let them build on each other as you gain momentum.

Those changes are cumulative and self-reinforcing, but they may come slowly. That’s okay! We’re in this for the long haul, and I’m right here running along side you.

C’mon, we got this!

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