Being healthy and active is a lifestyle which can have its highs and lows. A lot of people start out on their journey to becoming more fit and healthy with great intentions; but even more fall off the bandwagon and get discouraged if they are not ‘perfect’. It makes me feel so sad to hear people who feel discouraged and who blame themselves for not making the ‘healthy’ choice or for not working out. 

So why do so many people beat themselves up when they feel like they have done something ‘wrong’?

The main reason this tends to happen is because

a) People go on diets which were not meant to last long-term
b) People have unrealistic expectations (think along the lines of ‘lost 10 pounds in 10 days!’ mentality)
c) People do not account for slip ups along their journey
d) People aren’t real with themselves about their goals

So, how can we remedy these?

 a) Realize that being healthy and active is something that is for life! It is not something you ‘do’ for a month or two. Find something that works FOR YOU (and not for your favorite celebrity) and stick with it.
Furthermore, although many diets do work in the short-term, they simply were not meant to be long-term and in the long run you could end up gaining the weight back and more. What I hated the most about dieting was that I didn’t know what it meant to eat at a maintenance level. I was eating a diet so low in carbs that I would gain weight the second I ate a normal amount of carbs. This took a long time to fix and now I eat a variety of carbs, proteins and fats … no restrictions!

b) Ahh, this is a huge one! There are SO many quick fix products on the market which capitalize on people’s desire to see results fast. But you know what? Slow and steady wins the race. Every time. I am sorry, but going into this lifestyle with the expectation of seeing abs overnight and losing tons of weight is extremely unrealistic and will only set you up for failure. Many of the people you look up to with great bodies have taken years to get to that point and have learned that consistency and hard work is key. Not a ‘magic’ or ‘miracle’ pill (absolutely detest when people use terms like that).

c) As with any lifelong journey, you are bound to make mistakes at some point; you are only human! And no, you are not setting yourself up for failure if you take this into account. You are simply being realistic. If you indulge a bit too much, no problem. Just get right back on track the next day and perhaps have some more veggies to compensate. Missed a week’s worth of workouts? Life happens; schedule in next week’s workouts and get a friend to go with you so you are both accountable for each other.

d) People aren’t real with themselves about their goals. What do I mean by this? What I mean is that most people are not truthful with themselves about how much they want their goal. Sure, in theory everyone wants a fit and toned body right? But what if that isn’t the most important goal in your life right now? What if the goal you actually want to achieve most is getting a promotion, getting into graduate school and etc? Chances are, you will not commit to your goal of being fit and healthy and will bypass it to achieve what you truly want. Which is fine; everyone is different. And you know what? You can have both too, if you really try hard enough and plan accordingly. But please, get real with yourself. 

Get Real With Yourself

Phew, that was a long post! I hope you enjoyed this post; I know it is something a little different but I wanted to give you guys some food for thought. Honestly Fitness gives you all the tools you need to be the healthiest and fittest version of you, but none of that matters if you don’t take into account the 4 main reasons why people tend to fall off the health and fitness bandwagon.

Please share your thoughts with me 🙂

Good luck in your goals for 2015!

Honestly yours,
Alice

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