I’m going to tell you something that you may already inherently know, but maybe don’t enjoy admitting:
You are the only person that can truly control your journey with fitness/nutrition. You and you only.
While I would hope that you can read that statement and hold it high in confidence, I know that there are some, myself included, who might find themself quickly spiraling into shame and negative self-talk.
“Why must I always make these lofty goals and never can follow through with them?”
“If only I had more discipline, I would have achieved my goals years ago.”
“I’ve been grinding for weeks and I’m not seeing any progress. What’s the point of all this?”
If you find yourself venturing down this path, Stop. Take a breath, and hear this:
You don’t have to do it all.
In fact, you shouldn’t be trying to do it all. Going from one workout to five workouts a week, giving up all processed sugars, and shifting from vegetables being the enemy to consuming 5 cups of them a day is far from being the path to success. You are much closer to guaranteed failure. To be concise, the “all or nothing” mentality rarely gets us ”all” and is more likely to get us “nothing”.
Everything written above is true but only half the story. Instead of all or nothing, always think of something. Instead of thinking of your fitness and nutrition efforts as having an “on and off” switch, think of them as a dial.
During different times of the year or seasons of your life, your effort can be dialed up or dialed down. The key is to never turn it off completely. Here are some examples of how this could play out:
- You and your spouse just moved into a new home and are spending all your free time remodeling. Because you can’t do your normal 5 days/week at the gym, you dial your fitness down and commit to 3-30 min workouts/week and a few extra walks with your kids.
- You’re on vacation with your family and can’t meal prep like you normally do. You dial your nutrition down and commit to having lean protein with each meal and veggies with at least 2 meals/day.
- You’re traveling for work, have long hours, and can’t control what food you are being given. You dial down your fitness and commit to a 10-minute workout in your hotel room each night.
- Your city is under mandatory quarantine and you can’t get to the gym or get all the food you need for meal prep. You can dial down both notches and commit to moving around and make what you can with what you have, as well as keep your water intake high.
Get the picture? Perfection is not a normal part of life. Stuff will always happen and get in the way. Waiting for the “perfect time” to start to restart nutrition and fitness journeys will likely lead to forever being in a holding pattern.
You have to do the best you can with what you have, whatever that may be. You are a real human being living a messy human life - that’s what we all are working with. So don't worry about doing it all, but definitely do something.
