It has been a little over 30 days now, and you’re not going to the gym as much. What happened? It was your New Years’ resolution to lose that weight and get healthier. But what was five days a week at the gym has turned into once every two weeks, or you’re just not going. You dropped about $600 on the membership you’re not using and another $200 on gym clothes. That’s $800 you wasted, but, no, you’ll get back to the gym next week. Well, it is next week, and you still have not gone, WHY?
The first question you should ask is: why do you want to lose weight, get in shape? Is it for you or others? Is it because of pressure from a loved one, friends at work, a contest? Your success or failure has a lot to do with your reasons. Suppose you go into the doctor’s office, and he tells you that if you don’t lose 25 lbs of fat, you’re going to get diabetes. You nod your head saying ok. Once you get home you think, well, it’s type II. It can be managed with pills. I’m already taking pills for my high blood pressure, cholesterol, and depression; what is one more pill? That one more pill is a continuing sign that you’re not healthy. Pills are not going to make you better; they help manage your diseases, but you don’t do what is necessary to cure them.
You jumped into the New Year with the best of intentions, but you fell short of your expectations. It’s ok, you can start up again with a few easy steps.
1. Set up your goals. How much weight do you want to lose? Saying you want to be healthy is not a concrete goal. Start small; your first goal could be losing 10 lbs in two weeks. And start eating breakfast. As these goals are met, make new ones. We know your long term goal is to be healthy, but what DO you think is healthy?
2. What is going on in your life? You could be dealing with a death in the family, a divorce, a move, or unemployment. With all that stress you may not be able to deal with another life change.
One of the biggest reasons people fail is because they are not ready. People really do have too much going on in life and use the weight loss goal as a way to avoid the other problems. STOP. You need to get your life in order and focus on healthier living not just replace one stress with another.
Remember, start with smaller goals that help lead you to the bigger goal.
