Slow and Steady Does It
Let’s say you resolve to improve your fitness level and lose 10 pounds. The thought of this may be daunting, but you’ve been on this train going nowhere fast for awhile, and you’re ready to turn the train around! Your tendency is to go to the gym and hit it hard! But in the past, you got really sore, and after a few weeks, getting up early enough to get to the gym started to wear on you. Pretty soon, you quit going at all. So this time, you decide to take it slow.
Start with some small action you may take on a daily basis. Choose something where you KNOW you can claim a success. Since diet is a huge part of health, begin by just cutting out one high sugar snack that is mindlessly eaten at night while watching movies. Maybe change the ice cream in for a bowl of blueberries. Then, because movement is important, start walking for 20 minutes daily. As time goes on, 20 minutes turns into ½ hour, and between cutting the late night sugar and the daily walking, you start seeing results.
The main point here is to make it simple and easy. Immediately changing your whole life will most likely end in frustration! In fact, you will find success with slow, consistent changes.
Take time to build some good habits. If you do this, you will find that gradually, without it being such a major upheaval, your lifestyle will evolve into something that supports your health instead of hindering it! Slow, consistent, steady change is what is needed to implement real results.
It is worth mentioning here that support is key. Having friends who you walk with, or a husband who wants to eat healthy along with you, or family that is also interested in being active will make the journey easier. Sometimes, though, you may have to go it alone. And in that case, this is where the Hero within comes into play. Go deep, because the support for your own success is within you. If your Hero has been buried for awhile, you may have to make tiny changes before you will start to feel your inner strength. If you keep going, you will start to develop a mental toughness; immediate gratification becomes less important than the goal, and you can withstand the discomfort of behavioral change. Don’t give up! And make slow, simple changes so success is imminent!
Michelle Le Comte is a Certified Personal Trainer. She is certified by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and has been since 1994. She is also certified by National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) as a Corrective Exercise Specialist. Her experience includes owning her own Jazzercise Franchise and enjoying the privilege of working with many clients who enlisted her help to improve their fitness and health.