By Pete Ryan
We’ve all see older guys and gals, they often used to be fit
or were in incredible shape, even just a few years ago. These people ‘achieved
fitness’, they may have even reached amazing heights. The trouble is that
fitness should not be thought of as a goal you achieve, fitness is process you
move towards or away from on a daily basis. While one day may not make a
difference, you may only move an inch in either direction, the process
continues every day, and it is the summation of these days added together that
give you the result. Worse than that, if we think of training as a bank account
that you save into, or draw upon, then older savings are worth less and less as
time goes on. This can be negative if
you used to be fitter, but it could be good if you used to be very unfit. It is also more like rent, you need to make
regular ‘payments’ or you lose the right to own fitness, most days you should
try to move towards fitness.
We all have celebrations or special days when we
forget about fitness and enjoy an event, but generally we should try to make
choices that move us towards fitness and health, and we need to do this
regularly to achieve our goal. This does not mean take a 30 day challenge,
fitness is not a 30 challenge, it is a lifelong challenge and one we need to
grasp firmly and decide we are going to battle for every day. These battles
need not be excessive, it may be walking up the stairs and not using the lift,
getting to the gym once or twice a week, it may be not adding high calorie
dressing to your meal. Whatever the battle, however small the victory, it
inches you closer towards fitness.
Remember you do not ‘achieve’ fitness, you move towards or away from the
goal in an undulating pattern throughout your life. At some points you may get
very fit, while at other times, you may have moved some distance from fitness.
It is virtually always possible to regain lost fitness, it is also very easy to
let fitness slip through your fingers. It is time to forget about the goal of
fitness and look at the process of fitness, it should be a goal to maintain fitness
in the on-going journey through life, not to simply achieve it, then move onto
the next challenge.
How to plan for success
The first idea you should get away from are the ‘challenge’
style of dieting, or short term dietary fixes. These ideas may be ok to kick
start a lifestyle change, but your aim needs to be to make lifestyle changes
that you can live with, but still move you towards fitness. I suggest making
small manageable changes. Add more greens into your diet, eat fruits and
vegetables every day, drink more water, buy a smaller plate (so you can fit less
food on it) if you need to lose fat. Make one or two changes every few weeks.
Each change will take a while to become a habit, but if the changes are small,
then they should not be so hard that you cannot maintain them. The good thing is these small additions and
subtractions can accumulate over time. First you can add more greens, this will
fill you up more, so you eat less, so your fat levels will drop. A few weeks
later you could increase your intake of water, this will full you further and
so more fat is lost, it will also hydrate you, so your body starts to function
better and your skin looks healthier…The process continues, and if you do not
back slide, before too long you will move towards fitness and health. The secret is to constantly maintain the
habits you add, if you can keep the exercise you introduced and the dietary
changes these will keep you on the right track, even if you fail to add more
things you think you need for a while, still hold onto the things you have
already started to do. There is always
time later to add more things, but never drop a fitness improving facet of your
life as long as increasing fitness is your goal. Obviously there are special occasions or
events that mean plans must change, but generally try to keep those actions as habits
that are a normal part of your life.
If you always remember that you do not ‘achieve fitness’,
that it is rented, and every month you need to tally up your ‘rent’ and see if
you have earned enough to have it, or if you are drifting away and need to work
more on it. Hopefully, if you can stay consistent you will maintain a fit,
healthy body throughout your life.
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