Fitness, Why Do You Evade Me Again?

Most of us have the means and skills to stay healthy. Indeed, most people in western countries have access to plenty of food
to establish healthy meals. The fact that we might end up eating more takeaway pizzas and fried food than we should can
only be blamed on our motivation. We know what healthy eating looks like. But we choose to ignore it to satisfy our unhealthy
cravings. Who wouldn’t switch a green salad against a slice of cake if they had the choice?

The same argument can be made about physical exercise. Sure enough, we understand that staying healthy also involves
staying active. Physical exercise can help to tackle many health conditions, without mentioning the fact that it strengthens
our immune system. But somehow, knowledge doesn’t replace motivation. Exercise, why do you keep evading us?


Your workout lacks diversity
There’s an interesting dilemma about fitness. On the one hand, you want to embrace it as a habit as you should exercise
regularly. However, you need to diversify your routine, which ultimately goes against the definition of a habit. But, bear with
us on this; introducing variety to your workout makes it less dull and helps your body to benefit from it in the long term.
For instance, if you could try out some new moves, such as learning the fall yoga poses or changing your Zumba
choreography to a new song. It doesn’t matter what you choose as long as you make things a little different. 

You expect immediate results
So, you’ve been exercising for a couple of weeks, and you still haven’t noticed any results yet. Here’s the sad truth
about it: It’s normal. Depending on what you want to achieve, it can take several weeks or months for visible results to show.
If you’re trying to lose weight, you need at least eight weeks of regular practise to spot a difference. Additionally, you will also
need to build a healthy calorie-deficit diet to help your weight-loss objective. 
Alternatively, if you’re trying to build up muscles, it can take up to three months to feel a difference, including a dedicated
fitness diet. In short, lower your expectations. You’ll achieve your goals in the long term, not overnight. 

No, writing it on the calendar doesn’t make it a habit
Habits are easy to follow. It’s an automatic behaviour that you’ve trained yourself to apply, such as brushing your teeth before
going to bed. You don’t even need to think about it. It simply happens. Exercising, on the other hand, should be a habit.
But, as with most things, habits don’t appear out of the blue. They need time and repetitions to develop. According to
Dr Maxwell Maltz, it takes 21 days to adjust to a new situation. In reality, you will need over two months
to make working out a habit. In other words, you will have to force yourself to exercise for up to 66 days before your brain
accepts it as your new reality. 

Why can’t you get motivated to stick to your fitness routine? The answer is simple. You don’t need motivation. There are
many things you do every day that don’t require motivation, such as getting to work rather than staying in bed, for instance.
But you do them because you understand the benefits of your actions. As such, understanding that fitness is good for you is
the first step. Then you can make it easy to practise through diversity, realistic expectations and repetitions. 


- this is a collaborative post

No comments

Post a Comment

I appreciate every comment left on this site.
I do kindly ask no advertising brand websites. If you would like to know more about working together or just a friendly chat, please email me:
bethmiaelliw@outlook.com
Thank you