Is it Worth Changing my Eating and Exercise Habits?

This was going to be the shortest article I’ve ever written. The answer to the question “Is doing (fill in the blank) worth it to me?” in a nutshell, is: Are you already doing it?

Ouch.

But maybe you have had obstacles outside your control intervene. Maybe you have only recently become physically capable of working out and taking a hard look at your eating habits. But now you’re ready. Or are you?

It’s a brutally self-defeating loop we get caught up in when we insist our goals and objectives are different than the actions we take (or don’t take) in their regard. Want to be a good parent? How much time do you spend with your kids? Want a calm, peaceful frame of mind? How frequently do you engage in stress-reducing, mindful disciplines? Want a killer bod? Ask yourself if the work outweighs the benefits (it does, for most of us).

But how about just feeling better and being able to do more, do it more easily, have more energy, fewer physical challenges and, perhaps look and feel better in your suit (business, bathing or birthday)?

If exercising regularly and eating lean are worth it to you at this moment, you’re either already doing both or you’re looking for the right options for yourself in order to do them very soon. But then you should feel strongly that you want to achieve the condition that those efforts will yield. You need to want to see yourself as someone who integrates those qualities into your sense of identity. You have to want that more than you want to succumb to the inaction that got you away from that ideal. The idea of being fit, vital, strong and lean has to burn in your belly. It has to become part of you.

So, the journey may be scary. The work may seem daunting. You’ve read all the articles that tell you to break it into manageable little steps. I agree. But deep in your heart, it has to move from “I should probably…” to “this is how I see myself, so this is what I do”.

Are you ready to do that?

If you are, this is your time.

So claim it.

Dan Taylor, ACE, NASM-CPT, is owner and head trainer at Pleasanton-based Tri Valley Trainer. They offer personal training and small group fitness solutions and an innovative, medically endorsed web-based group healthy eating coaching program.