Being Honest With Yourself
The best way to create change, is being honest with yourself. Whether it is dieting, attitude, or anything in between, you need to be honest with yourself in all aspects. There is no way to make any improvements or adjustments if everyone and everything else is the problem. Realistically, the problem is you. The magic here is to find a balance between knowing that you’re the problem, but you are also the solution. Everything you do is a decision made by you, and what you are willing to sacrifice to succeed. Below, I am going to break down a few different situations, and how I have helped change my perspective regarding each concept.
Working Out
Dieting
Being Consistent
Working Out:
I am someone who generally likes to work out, so it may be easier for me than others who do not find joy or pleasure in workouts. But going to the gym and sticking to a workout plan can be stressful and overwhelming for anybody. What has worked for me, is to be less strict, and more general with my plans. Instead of saying I have to do biceps and back on Mondays, 27 min of running and swimming on Tuesdays, chest and legs, Thursdays, etc. I simply set daily goals. Simply, “go to the gym for 40 minutes" or “lift weights for 30 min 5 days per week.” This makes it easier to show up and not feel as discouraged when you stray a little bit off path. Now, if you’re a body builder, maybe you need a more strict schedule. But the everyday person does not need an exact 7 day workout plan to see results. More importantly, you should focus on your dieting.
Dieting:
This is definitely the hardest part for me. Maybe it’s part of being from a Jewish family, but I was raised that “food is love.” Food is comfort in many situations. This leads to terrible eating habits, which become harder and harder to break the deeper you get. My trick is to separate “eating for fuel” and “eating for pleasure.” Many people that start dieting, preach to just eat for fuel, and to stop enjoying your food. While I partially agree with this, I also like to eat for pleasure and enjoy my meals, even if it means eating an extra slice or 2 of pizza when I’m full because it’s just that good. Some days breakfast and lunch are purely for fueling, then I eat a dinner that is “less healthy” where I sit down and truly enjoy the meal I am eating as opposed to just shoving nutrients down the gullet to get by. Sometimes I will focus on going 3 or 4 days eating purely for fuel, and then plan and look forward to an “enjoy yourself” meal later in the week.
Being Consistent:
Once you learn to incorporate the above 2 into your everyday lives, the next challenge is consistency. This is really where the being honest with yourself comes into play. You need to find a good balance of being strict and harsh on yourself, without being so hard that you convince yourself to give up. Take some time to reflect on how you feel when a decision is made, both positive and negative. How did you feel during your decision? What were the effects felt days and weeks after this decision? Did you find yourself regretting this decision, but then going and making the same decision again? Once you can pinpoint your feelings to your decisions, you start to take your decisions more seriously. If I workout for 3 days, eat healthy, and feel great. Then eat Mcdonald’s and skip a workout, then feel like shit the next day. It should be obvious that the play is to keep eating healthy and working out. Yet our bodies convince ourselves otherwise, and keep making the bad decisions to receive some short term satisfaction. Once you are willing to trade short term satisfaction for your long terms goals, your world will change forever.