Many different topics have crept in and out of my mind recently. I’m not going to get into many of them (at least yet), but the one that seems to enter my mind more and more is how resistant we can be to change. Let me explain (this is a long winded explanation so bear with me). I am the kind of person that if I don’t know the answer to something I will attempt to find the answer/solution to the problem. I understand that every problem is not meant to be solved and some if not most problems are more complex than they seem. But, pursuing a solution for me is a step in the right direction and is better than just accepting defeat or not looking for a solution. Now what does this have to do with change? Well specifically I will get on the topic of health and nutrition.
For most of my life I have been athlete. I played sports all throughout school and ran track for three years in college, although all three of those years I was injured or ineligible. I won’t get into that story. Anyway, from my years of athletic experience I have learned a lot about how to exercise my body, weight training, and nutrition. After my track years I decided (subconsciously) that I wasn’t going to consistently workout or take care of my body and I began my slow decline as far as health and weight gain. I went from a lean and healthy track weight of about 165-170 pounds to (at my highest) 210 pounds. For my frame 210 pounds (unless it is ALL muscle) is far from ideal LOL. Now it took me about 4-5 years to get to that point because I was still young and relatively active, therefore, I was able to slow the decline slightly. But as I have gotten older I had realized that I was going to need to change something or I would balloon out of control (literally).
I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to train with a certified personal trainer which was an eye opening experience for me. I learned a lot about different methods of training my body and reaching my goals quicker, more efficiently, and preventing injury. Some of these methods the trainer introduced to me were new and I had never been introduced to them before even though I had been an athlete for many years and trained by my father, who was a professional athlete. While training with this trainer I was able to improve my health and strength and was able to get down to 195-200 pounds. I wasn’t at the point yet where I was willing to sacrifice my diet. But I was willing to torture my body in the gym. I believe this is why I didn’t get better results at that time. I followed all of my trainers advice in the gym. But I would routinely eat fast food and large portions during meals which I’m sure almost negated all my work in the gym :-/ Needless to say, I stuck with that for quite a while and maintain that weight. But, I slowly decreased my training session in lieu of golf. It is time consuming to weight train and also play golf (excuses…I’ll talk more about this later), at least that is what I told myself, and I transition from working out 5 times a week to playing golf more and more and working out less and less. Now I LOVED playing golf more often, but after a few months the weight slowly came back, my strength decline, and my golf game was not getting better. Soon, life happened and I stopped playing golf as much and I was back towards my highest weight. I knew that I wasn’t taking care of my body by not working out consistently or eating semi healthy. Yet, I was back in that cycle I was before where I was working out sporadically not having a work out plan, still eating fast food, and not controlling my portions. I slept like crap. I didn’t have much energy during the day and my “boobs” would jiggle when I ran up stairs. I knew I had to make a change.
So the turning point was after I pulled my hamstring (flashback to college injuries) playing flag football probably because I was overweight and out of shape. My father made a challenge to me that at the time I thought was EXTTEMELY unrealistic. He challenged me to get down to 180 pounds. At the time I was anywhere between 205 and 210 pounds and I had no intention of even trying to lose 30+ pounds. I knew that it would require an effort and consistency that I hadn’t applied in a long time maybe not ever. There was never a point in my life where I dedicated myself to my health both in my diet and exercise. It was always just exercise and I ate whatever I wanted. So after a pep talk from my physical therapist I decided to accept my father’s challenge. Beginning august 2010 I set a realistic goal of losing one pound week. I researched more information about weight training and nutrition and created a workout plan that changed monthly and a realistic nutrition plan that was hard at first but allowed a little flexibility. I used the information that I learn from my trainer in combination with the many things that I had absorbed over the years and was able to create what I considered a solid plan. Fast forward to today and I am past my goal weight and am now 173 pounds and feeling better than I have in a very long time. I was resistant to the change that I knew I had to make in order to get to this weight. But, after I made the decision to do it I was able to achieve my goals. It was not easy. But, once I got the ball rolling I was able to accomplish the small goals I set for myself along the way and this gave me the confidence to continue my journey towards a healthier lifestyle.
The weight that I am at now is closer to my “natural” weight and is a lot lower than I thought before. When I was 200+ pounds I said things like “I have a muscular frame”, “I have big legs”, “I wear my weight well”…no I had a man boobs and was on my way to nice big gut and I couldn’t accept that for myself. Now that I am past my goal I am in what I call my maintenance faze. I relaxed a little on my diet, but I still workout 5 times a week because I enjoy it and to me it is part of my lifestyle now. I may miss a day or two here and there, but for now working out will be part of my routine just as brushing my teeth is.
It amuses me how resistant I was to do what I know I had to do in order to get to this point. Yet, now I see the same resistance in people when I tell them my “story” and how I got to the point I am today. We find any excuse not to things that we know we should do. Why not start finding excuses to do things that we know we should do. I have a low tolerance for excuses and I learned to shut my mouth quickly once I realize that people really don’t want my help. They just want to put on a show. “What did you do”, “Can you help me”…then after I start to tell them my plan and how they can tailor a plan for themselves its…”Well I don’t have time”, “I enjoying eating ****”, “Well I’ll start out doing a little bit” , and this is when I shut my mouth. We get so comfortable doing many things and we forget to do the things that should be a higher priority in our lives like taking care of our bodies. We only have one body people and it does have an expiration date. Now don’t think that I mean we all have to look like the men or woman on the front of men’s/woman’s fitness magazine. But, it’s about being healthier and taking care of ourselves.
No change is easy. But, change is necessary in order to improve yourself no matter what goal you would like to achieve in life. Stop making excuses not to make those changes and instead embrace them and make them part of your lifestyle and therefore a priority in your life.
Fred
posted at My Blog
