Get Your Head On Straight
The weather’s getting warmer, the days are getting longer and we’re all itching to get outside! With more daylight in the evenings, it’s more likely that we’ll get out after dinner for a walk or a bike ride.
It’s a great time to talk about exercise and the key role that it plays in weight loss.
Throughout the month of April I’m going to examine many aspects of fitness: cardio workouts, strength training, stretching/rest/recovery, but also proper nutrition for fitness, equipment, motivation, and health benefits.
You can’t exercise yourself thin, but exercise is absolutely critical to weight loss.
That’s why you’ll find what I call “Success In Motion.”
Maybe you watched the first video I did called “The Physicality Principle.” It’s about how exercise breaks the vicious cycle of overeating, feeling bloated and uncomfortable, consequently skipping your workout, then feeling guilty and overeating again.
When you insert exercise into the equation it breaks the vicious cycle and begins to establish a “virtuous cycle” instead.
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In the virtuous cycle you workout, which makes you feel good so you make good food choices; those good choices boost your confidence in your ability to stick to a healthy living plan, making it more likely you’ll do it again tomorrow.
Creating a habit of working out (nearly) every day is kind of a mental game. You gotta get your head on straight about this stuff. If you see it as drudgery, as something you “should” do, or something your doctor (or spouse, or kids) says you “must” do, then you will resent it. You may do it for a while, but you will not stick with it for the long haul.
Making exercise a part of your daily life for the long haul is critical to weight loss success.
In Thursday’s blog I’m going to explore this idea of making exercise fun. No seriously, I’m not joking!
I wouldn’t have believed it either 120 lbs. ago, but I love to exercise now. As much as my physical body made me uncomfortable when I was obese, the sensations of my muscles when they are working and then at rest now gives me a sense of satisfaction and pleasure I had never experienced before.
I have confidence, about the way my body looks, but more importantly how it can perform. Each and every day I prove to myself that I am strong, physically and mentally. I am resilient and tenacious. I am tough.
Sometimes I hear myself saying, “If I can do this really tough workout… making good food choices seems easy by comparison!”
You may not be able to exercise yourself thin, but you can definitely exercise yourself happy. And hopeful. And optimistic. And confident.
All of those things help tremendously when losing weight.
So do it for the calorie burn, do it because your doctor’s pestering you to, do it because you love your kids and wanna be around for those grandchildren someday. But mostly, do it for yourself. You deserve to be happy. Exercise is how you get that.
Losing weight is hard, but it gets so much easier when you find a passion for exercise. And you’re so damn worth it!
Let’s go get it!