Before I started this fitness journey, I was the master of yo-yo working out. What I mean by that is I would workout semi-consistently 2-3 times a week for about a month, then find some sort of an excuse and stop for a month or so and then start back up again. I never dedicated myself or pushed myself beyond that. During my yo-yo times, I would watch what I eat more carefully and then not so much.
I've been wondering lately why I could never seem to stick with eating right and working out consistently, and I think I've figured out a few reasons for my past failures.
One of the reasons that I never thought to start and stick with working out continually is that I always had a good metabolism. I was that kid who was always pretty lean and could eat whatever I wanted. I was decently active for most of my life so I figured that my metabolism would always carry me over. It wasn't until I moved out on my own and didn't change my eating habits, that I started to gain weight. I never gained enough that I was overweight or risking my health; but my pants didn't fit right, my shirts were too tight. This started around the age of 21. I never really realized it though until last Christmas that I needed to make a change.
Another reason for my past fitness failures is that I never set any goals for myself. I always thought I wanted to "look toned" but I never really put forth the real effort that it took to get that. I never laid myself out a plan and we all know that if you don't plan, then plan to fail. I would get discouraged from not seeing results right away and my discouragement would take part in my failure to succeed. I never really forced myself to plan and commit to a change. I know it sounds very school yard corny, but to be able to succeed, a person needs a plan of attack and to set out goals. Which leads me to my main point.
The biggest reason for my previous failures is that I had a serious lack of knowledge. I didn't take the time to research the best ways to get healthy and become fit. I didn't know about weight lifting, I just assumed that if I started weight lifting that I would get too muscular. Instead, I would do mostly cardio thinking that it was enough of a leg workout and do only ab workouts thinking that it would build the cheese grater abs I desired. I had no clue what it took to actually get the results I wanted. It makes sense now why I never saw any real changes from working out because I wasn't weight lifting and building muscles to force them to change. It wasn't until I started to read fitness articles and really look into weight lifting that it clicked with me what I had to do. I started slowly and I still have a lot to learn, but I feel like I'm finally on the right track.
As much as I didn't know about what to do for working out, I was clueless as well about nutrition and diet. Like I said before, I always had a pretty good metabolism and I ate decently healthy. When I moved out on my own I enjoyed learning more about cooking. I ate a lot of pasta, breads, etc. I stuck to whole wheat which is better than just plain white pasta and breads but I was simply eating too much of it and not enough vegetables. I would also eat one or two granola bars each day which they have a lot of sugar in them so that did not make any changes. I would have drinks anywhere from 3-5 nights a week which we all know the empty calorie content of alcohol. I never changed my diet so I never saw any real results. I always thought I would need to practically starve myself to lose weight. I would try to eat super healthy and then get bored or frustrated and go back to regular habits. I've written before about how changing my diet made the biggest difference. I played with my diet until I found what works well for me and then I started to see real results!
Looking back, I still wish that I would have put in the time and energy to really force myself to make a change. However, maybe its a good thing that I failed several times before because I have now proved to myself that it is possible to change and it is possible to motivate and dedicate yourself to being fit. It doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out how to eat properly and workout; but it does take some serious will and maybe a bit of stubbornness to put your mind to it. Now that I am on my fitness journey, I am more focused on long term goals that the short term issues don't bother me as much. I still get discouraged from time to time, but I have changed my mentality that I know if I keep persisting that I will eventually get to where I want to go.
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