weight loss new years resolution... you might not be ready

So here we are another new year upon us. Of course this is a good time to bring to mind the happenings of the past year. The year of 2020 was monumental in many ways... many not so great ways, but this is the time to let the ghosts of yesterday die! 

As a coach and a trainer this can be a very busy time of year. Perhaps the restriction on gyms will hamper this... perhaps not. I have no doubt that weight loss will continue to be at the top of many peoples minds regardless of whether they seek a trainer, a diet, or some sort of life style change. So before you feel this obligation to jump off into a fitness journey. Ask yourself... are you ready?

You might NOT be ready if:

• You know this is something you've been putting off, and you feel obligated to do it because it is New Years... the time of year is not important... the right time is when you feel some measure of resolve, a deep seated need, a deep desire that burns in you for change.
• If you're still looking at this change as "losing weight", and have not given any thought to what you'll be doing after you hit your goal. If you undertake a diet you can not maintain, or think of exercise as that thing you're doing to lose weight, understand that when the exercise stops, and you go back to eating how you did before the resolution, you'll put all that weight back on. That's heart breaking... don't do that to yourself. Identify what changes you're willing to make permanently, and what balance you're willing to make. If you don't truly know what it'll take contact a professional, such as myself or other properly qualified professional.
•  You think it'll be easy. There is not such thing as an easy transformation. Despite the thousands of commercials and claims you can lose weight easily, and manage to keep it off this is just not true. You need to become comfortable with the idea that you're going to have to be uncomfortable sometimes. This is no different than many other things in life. Sometimes getting up for work in the morning is uncomfortable but we still do it. Sometimes paying our bills, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, walking our dog.... are uncomfortable but we do those things. Taking care of ourselves is no different.

If you've identified you want to make a change but are not ready, you're half way there! Now you just have to get yourself ready. We in the health and wellness industry refer to this as the preparation phase and this should not take much time at all. It could take a few days, weeks, or a couple of months... but not years! So this is where you do your research and speak to professionals. Just remember on the flip side of not actually being ready as noted above, some people wait and wait, and ultimately either they're not ready because they just don't want it bad enough yet, or they don't act out of some sort of fear. Here are common "i'm not ready" procrastinations that indicate you're ready but that fear is getting in the way:

• I need to lose some weight before I start (fear of judgement, being starred at, not being fit enough)
• I'm too out of shape, my heart rate gets too high, I have aches and pains (these are all common when getting started)
• If I start now I'll fail, so I wanna wait until I feel more confident (this usually goes on for years... it is nearly impossible to improve confidence without taking some sort of action... you need a professional to support you and move slowly with you)
• Afraid of failure... I don't want to fail again (certainly everyone has this fear, and if you don't start you can't fail... however failure is necessary for success. You are going to fail, but as long as you don't fail to keep trying you will succeed)
• I don't want to lose my butt, boobs etc (this is usually just an excuse, a fear of being real with yourself, that you may not look or feel how you want... it's denial)
• My man likes me big (that may be true, but I'm sure he likes you healthy and alive also... it is not always about getting skinny, sometimes it's about not developing chronic conditions, and staying healthy. Waiting to get healthy after you have a chronic condition so much harder than doing it now. For example 7 out of 10 diabetic die of heart disease... not of diabetes. This is largely due to a lack of physical activity.)
• I don't have the money. (certainly money plays an issue, but is it true? Do you have cable TV, go out to eat, go to the movies, do fun recreational things? If yes, then you have the money, you just may need to reallocate some of it.
• I don't have the time... (this excuse is an easy cop out... but come on, we all know this is not true. If you're telling someone that, understand that they don't believe you... the average American watches something like 30-40 hours of tv a week) You have time, you may not want to get up early, or stay up late, or miss a show... but that is about priorities, not about time.

I hope this has helped you in some some small way. Thank you for reading my rant. I wish you a happy and prosperous 2021, 

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