Let’s be honest... A new look at taking baby steps.

Like Martha Stewart, if I did everything I asked others to do I would need hundreds of hours in a day just to finish it all.  I would also be the healthiest man alive and be in the best shape of my life!

So let’s be honest.  I am…

1)      40 years old

2)      330 lbs. give or take

3)      Not exercising as much as I used to

4)      Eating better than I ever have but not good enough yet.

5)      I am 40 years old. 

Yes, I did say 40 twice because I am also noticing that what I have been told all my life really is coming true.  It’s just not as easy to stay healthy the older I get, and when I do injure myself or get sick I do not heal as quickly as I used to.  As you can see, it’s not a pretty picture.

Now the question is what to do about my health.  Well, here is what I am doing to solve this lifelong problem.

The answer is baby steps.

As an example, every year I strike out on a New Year’s resolution on how I am going to succeed at losing all the weight I need and losing it all by the end of the year.  I would have an exercise plan beautifully laid out and designed on a calendar.  I would have an eating plan painstakingly written out for each day and a journal to track it all with.  Then I would have an herbal or supplement plan with a checklist so I knew exactly when and how often to take each pill. 

Yep, I would have it ALL planned out.

All this would be waiting for me January 1^st, the big day of my transformation into the man I see myself becoming. Yet by the end of the first day I would have filled out most of it, by the end of day two some of it and by the end of day three I would have more excuses as to why I did not fill everything out than things to fill out.  By the end of the first week I would have stopped and probably have started on another plan to get my butt in gear since well… the last one did not work right?

This year though is different.  This year I took some of my own advice.  The same advice I have given so often to my own clients.  This year I began slowly, only a few changes each week, only a few changes each month or in other words, baby steps.  This has allowed me to slowly transition each new phase into my daily and weekly life.  Slowly adding changes has allowed me to make time for each phase and actually stick to them this time.  Some of the changes I have made have actually not only saved me time but also saved me money, a wonderful bonus that was not even planned for.

So, let’s be honest with ourselves.  Just making a great plan will not help us stick to a change unless we can make this change FIT into our daily lives.  Changes to better ourselves need to be done in a smooth gradual enjoyable way.  These changes need to become a part of who we are, not something we “HAVE” to do but something we “WANT” to do! 

I began this year with the goal to eat more vegetarian meals, to eat less meat on a whole and to exercise my body more. 

So again; let’s be honest

1)      The eating is going great, I am about 50% vegetarian and loving it.

2)      Exercise though…well that will be my next slow add.

This time though, the changes I have made seem simple because they are the only big changes I need to make right now and frankly, I am enjoying cooking again, or not cooking depending on the recipe.  So this change will stick!

I leave you with this quote from Bob Harper of the Biggest Loser. It’s a quote I use each day to remind myself that these changes in health are steps to a better me and in the long run will be just another part of who I am and what I do.  Baby steps are just a simpler way to how we can live a healthier longer life.

"There's no finish line. That's a big pill for people to swallow. Every single day for the rest of your life, you are going to have to make better food choices and move around a little more."

-Bob Harper