Hi everybody, I’m Kris Stokes from Custom Fitness Personal Training Studio where your health comes first. It’s time to draw a line in the sand. If you have any questions about today’s blog, then please give us a call at (806)-322-3188.
We have too many people that are being wishy washy on what they’re doing. They sign up for these programs, or they go out and buy these containers for meal prep, or they get this whole thing set up in their house and their calendar, they plan it all out, they take the first step and then they walk backwards. They decide they’re not going to do it.
I can’t tell you how many people I meet with that constantly tell me they’ve bought meal prep containers for this specific program to be able to divide their foods up, and they haven’t even opened them, and that was six to eight months ago. I’ve got other people who tell me that they own all this fitness equipment, but they never do anything with it.
So, what’s the deal? Why are we doing this? Well, part of it is ignorance, part of it is self-sabotage, and part of it is we just don’t know what we’re doing.
On the ignorant side, it’s just that we think that we’re going to do this and we think that by having things, we’ll be more likely to do it.
I will never forget I had a woman come in to a consultation years ago, and we have a merchandise wall of things that we have available for clients to make life a little easier. She sat down for the consultation hadn’t even signed up for training yet, and she tried to buy pretty much one of everything. I was quick to explain to her that I’d be happy to help her with the things that she needed after I found out what she actually needed because I wasn’t going to sell her a bunch of crap that was going to go sit in her house and just take up space.
Because, owning equipment never motivated us to do it. It’s psychology. We have to actually understand that our mindset is a huge part of this and if we’re not mentally ready to flip that switch and make a change, then it’s not going to happen. If we’re dreaming of this idea and we think it sounds nice, but we’re not really ready to take the steps to do it, don’t waste your time or money. I’m one who wants everyone to be healthy and happy and all those good things. So, it’s not that I don’t want you to take that step, but I need you to understand that I can’t go out on the street and find just anybody and pull them in and say, hey, this is what you’re going to do now, right? They have to be mentally at a place where they’re ready to accept that.
When we’re looking at drawing the line in the sand, it comes in no matter where you’re at in this phase of health and fitness.
If you’ve already chosen to do something or whether you haven’t, often times I meet with clients on nutrition who just aren’t willing to follow any type of plan. They know that they need it. They know that they want to, but as you start to decide what that action plans going to be, remember we customize that to each client. So, we sit down for a session and decide exactly how we’re going to follow through with nutrition, what better choices we can make, and often times I’ll get people’s food logs back and it’s still eating cookies and McDonald’s all day long. They just don’t see that that’s a problem.
Well, there’s always a place where you either are going to be very strict with nutrition and exercise to reach your goals or your goals are going to have to shift some to match where you feel your lifestyle needs to be with exercise and nutrition.
So, if you’re not exercising or not eating well, then you’re going to have to shift your goals and understand that weight loss may not be a part of that. But if you’re willing to change some of your habits, they can meet in the middle instead of having to be a drastic turn either way.
A good example are those crash diets. That’s where a train track goes 90 degrees, right? Doesn’t end up well. Usually falls off the track. Instead, we want it to gradually meet in the middle and that’s where we get what we want. We build better health, we build a better body, but we do that through gradual changes and habits that we’ve been consistently practicing.
Too often I’ll have people come in and tell me that they eat organic, so it’s okay and they’re eating organic cookies all the time, and having organic treats all the time, and having granola bars all the time, and things like that. It just doesn’t help them to get to their goals.
They’re not understanding how much sugar is in those things and how that’s still a cookie, that’s still a granola bar, that’s still extra things that your body doesn’t necessarily need.
I know. I’m sounding like I’m bursting a whole bunch of people’s bubbles because they really want to believe that they can eat what they want to eat. Hopefully, that’s not you, but if it is, then you have to understand that there’s some changes that we have to make. We can still eat things that we enjoy every now and then, but we just can’t make it an everyday thing.
I’ve done this recently with my children. They kind of got in some bad habits like we all do, right, and started eating too much of the wrong things all the time. It got to where it was being expected. It was just every day that was what they expected to have as a snack or as a dessert or as a surprise or whatever. There should have been a treat every day. Mentally, physically, psychologically, they started believing that. And so, we stripped those things away and boy, that was hard, right.
For the first few weeks, they had a hard time, but after the first few weeks, what we were able to do was start to reintroduce those things slowly a little at a time. And so, we took it out of being a daily habit and now, it’s become this special treat.
It’s something that they actually savor, something they enjoy having that makes them feel like they’re eating something special. I mean, how many things in your life have you done that with? Perhaps with sodas. Perhaps with ice cream or yogurt. Perhaps with maybe it is cookies. Maybe it’s chocolate. I know a lot of women that stash chocolate different places and go crazy with that. We just kind of feel like it’s our right to have these things.
Well, the sad truth is that the majority- Out of the top 10 killers in the U.S., like disease that can take us out, nine of them are preventable by nutrition and exercise. Even the tenth one is possibly preventable by nutrition and exercise. There’s so much that can be changed in our lives if we would allow our lives to change, but if we don’t allow that change, then we end up in a world of hurt.
I have several people that I know right now, acquaintances and friends, that are going through some big health struggles that truly, honestly probably could’ve been avoided by eating a better diet, but they were to point their life where they felt entitled to eat whatever they wanted to whenever they wanted to. They felt like they would dabble in exercise, but not really get too deep into it. They just didn’t quite understand it.
So, don’t wait for the diagnosis. Don’t wait for somebody else to determine that it’s time to draw that line in the sand. Instead, you take control of the reigns today and say, this is my line and this is where I’m going to be at.
For me recently, I’ve been going through some health issues as well. Praise to God they’re not as big as some of my friends are going through, but I do believe that Gods put this in my life for a reason to be able to help educate others a little bit better and to experiment with some things that maybe I’ve gotten out of control on. And so, through these health struggles, I’ve been able to kind of reevaluate, not only nutrition, exercise, but really life in general, how things go together, and what I should be looking for, and how to dig deeper into certain areas.
For me, my line in the sand was a long time ago that I chose this lifestyle, that I chose to move forward towards better health, and it’s not just for weight loss, it’s not just for building muscle, but it’s truly for health and longevity of life. And so, if you haven’t yet made that decision, but you’ve been dabbling in these things, you may find that you’ve wasted a lot of time and money on things that really haven’t been beneficial to you.
If you’re looking for benefit, then we want to really start to focus in on what exactly is it that we need, what exactly is it that we want, and how are we going to get there? Then, surround yourself with some professionals who can help you in whatever realm that may be in. But, do remember that this battle of where you’re at on determining whether or not to draw that line in the sand and when to step over it, that is not only a physical determination, that’s also a psychological determination. Your brain has a lot to do with that and it can’t just be words coming out saying, yes, I’m ready to do this. It has to actually be a commitment to yourself and to your health, and there’s going to be days that you don’t want to do it.
I always tell new clients to make sure and check in with our success journal plan that we have to make sure that they’re getting a success each day, that they’re seeing those successes I should say more clearly because we all succeed every day. It’s just a matter of whether or not we look at it. And so, I encourage them to do that because I always tell them that in a few weeks, they’re going to be shaking their head wondering why they started to make changes because change is hard. As humans, we really don’t like change.
Instead of turning around at that point and giving up, we have these successes to stand on to say, you know what? I am making progress and I do understand that this is a journey that’s going to take time. If you haven’t made that decision, that’s something to think about. Are you ready for that journey? Are you ready to take that on and understand that we can’t just take the unhealthy things that we love and transition them to organic or to whatever it may be to a healthier version if you will. We really have to start to understand that some things we do need to let go of, and some things we do need to moderate a little more, and some things we just need to change. It’s not always easy, but it is necessary.
I, personally, would rather do that now, then after receiving a major diagnosis that causes me to be forced in that direction where I’m still not mentally ready. I have the choice to change right now and so do you. We have an entire team of dedicated professionals to help you with your health and fitness goals. To get your consultation set up, give us a call at 806-322-3188 or email us at info@customfitness.biz. At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day.