How many times have you tried to "lose weight" or "get in shape"? You find a picture in a magazine or have an image in your head of what you should or want to look like, and you hit the weights or treadmill in hopes of achieving the knock-out body. As we all know, this is usually a losing battle and after a few months, you get discouraged and less motivated and end up slipping away from your exercise regimen.
The problem with this cycle of going from really wanting to get into shape and being consistent with an exercise program to losing motivation and being less active is that you have missed the big picture of why you should exercise in the first place, and the "yo-yoing" has probably led to a few extra pounds. Of course, the physical appearance benefits of exercise are very important to most all people, and these benefits should not be ignored. However, we must remember that the most important reason for maintaining an active lifestyle is to achieve and maintain optimal physical and mental health. Exercising on a regular basis is related to decreases in numerous health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, depression, and anxiety. With that said and known, it is crucially important that we create exercise programs that we will stick will and succeed at for the long-term.
Therefore, your overall general goal should always be to maintain a consistent program of regular physical activity. With this said, the fact of the matter is that as a society, we are still losing motivation at the gym and end up quitting our regular programs. So what's the problem? One of the biggest mistakes we make when starting a fitness program is that we set unrealistic goals. In every magazine we open and on every television station, we are inundated by images of beautiful people with "perfect" bodies. We think we should or can achieve this same type of physique and set this as our goal. Maybe you even go so far as to cut out a picture and hang it on your fridge to remind you what you are working toward. Like most people, you probably continually compare your body to those of your friends, coworkers, etc...
So here's the problem: all of us were born with a unique body type, size, and shape and 99% of will never look like these magazine shots and when we try to, we are setting ourselves up for failure. All this type of goal setting does is lead you to not sticking with your regular exercise. It is time to get realistic and to focus on you! If you want to make a change in your behavior and in your body and health, you have to learn to set yourself up for success. That means you have to throw out the misconceptions of what you want your body to look like and get real about changing your body and most importantly your health. Don't worry about what your neighbor or best friend is doing or looks like, instead turn your attention to the one person who matters most: YOU! Realistically, what is your ideal body?
What is your capability to commit to an exercise program? How much time do you have? What types of things do you enjoy doing? When you start focusing on your own needs and identify things that you want, you will be able to put together a program that will lead to success. The first thing you need to do is set some new fitness and health goals. Start with the ones you have (i.e., losing a certain number of pounds) and make them relevant and realistic to your life and body. Keep in mind that your weight loss goals should not exceed two pounds per week. Your goals must be clear and focused ideas of what you want to achieve, and having effective goals is truly the first step in developing a solid mindset for success. This means that you shouldn't just say "I want to get in shape".
This type of goal is too vague and there is no way to measure your progress and success. Start an exercise/health journal and use this as a place to write, track, and modify your goals. Writing down your goals and keeping a fitness journal will decrease the ambiguity in your daily regimen and will help keep you focused on your activities. This is extremely important because when we feel uncertain about why we are doing something or if we can accomplish something, we wind up feeling anxious, stressed, and lost. This is what leads us to withdrawal from the activity. Your exercise goals must be short and long term. It is a common mistake to say "I want to lose 30 pounds this year." This seems like, and is, such a big goal that we lose focus and get discouraged along the way. We do, however, need those long term goals, but if you want to succeed, you have to set short term goals to keep you on task. These should be as short term as daily and weekly goals, and should focus on the activity itself, not on the outcome. In other words, what do you need to do each day to maintain your program? At the start of each week, take a few minutes to plan out your activity for the coming days.
Remember, you don't have to do the same thing everyday and you don't have to kill yourself trying to get fit. In general, you should be shooting for at least 30 minutes of exercise on most if not all days of the week. On some days, this might mean going to the gym and lifting weights, on other days it may mean a hike on the mountain, and on other days it may only mean taking the stairs and work and parking in the back of parking lots. By focusing on the activity itself and not the outcome, we end up enjoying what we are doing and achieving results at the same time. This leads to better adherence, more satisfaction with our involvement, and a true sense of accomplishment. Of course, our physique and health get the best end of the deal! The bottom line is that your success is in your own hands. Stopping trying to attain an unrealistic body shape and just focus on one workout at a time...before you know it, you will like the body you see in the mirror!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Tracie_Rogers/266955
Blogger Comment
Facebook Comment