Finish Strong: Celebrate Imperfect Progress & Be Kind to Yourself

As I reflect back on the past 2 years of my Fitness Journey,  I have a tendency to focus on the negative or growth opportunities as we call them at my faith community.

The negatives are of course: Not doing the Figure Competition and  Gaining 20 pounds from that experience

But when I look at what I actually got out of it such as

• Finally pinpointing that the real issue was the war on myself about not ever feeling as if I were enough
• Being motivated to learn about why women and diets don't mesh well together
• Learning more about weight training and bodybuilding to help me and my clients live better
• Becoming passionate about taking on the body fascists and body image
• Meeting some cool new people who I've actually hung out with

The good things far outweigh the negative.  That's how it is when you set Big Hairy Audacious Goals.  You may not hit your target but you certainly get way more out of the experience than had you stayed complacent.

The speaker on Sunday talked about one of his own BHAG's which was to cycle up Mt Diablo in a certain amount of time.  After he retired he decided to take on the challenge.  He told us it took him 3 years to finally do it and when he did, he was excited that he was passing people half his age.

He said the first 3 times he was disappointed but then he thought: "Hey wait a minute! I'm a retiree and I'm up here getting angry because I didn't make it in the time limit?  How many guys my age can even do this!  I wasn't even able to do this a few years ago. This is definitely worth celebrating!"

Hitting a moving Target and Never Being  Enough

I believe one of the main reasons people continue to fail on their attempts to get healthier is because they are convinced that they are never enough, it's always a fail, and therefore they are a failure.  Even if they try it is never enough and this promotes self loathing which is when the "Why Bother" attitude takes over and you give up  

I have said on this blog before that I really do not think it's healthy for people to use cosmetics as their sole metric of success because it's like constantly trying to hit a moving target.  If you lose 10 pounds, then you'll be mad you didn't lose 15 pounds.  It just turns into a cycle of never  believing that you are enough and convincing yourself that you deserve the story of self loathing.

You may be asking what does this have to do with health and fitness?  I will tell you that it has everything to do with health and fitness.

You will never be successful with your fitness goals as long as you are coming from a place of self loathing, you believe that YOU are not enough, and you're unkind to yourself.

If I have learned anything in 2015, it is that it's not about the food and it's not about the exercise.  It's about what's eating you and what's holding YOU back from getting healthier.

Celebrate Imperfect Progress and Be Kind to Yourself

Last I checked I was 21 pounds heavier than when I started this journey 2 years ago and many of my clothes don't fit. HOWEVER that doesn't bother me as much as it would have 2 years ago and I am not running around trying to find the next ANSWER to fix myself This is what I would call Imperfect Progress.  

I've vowed to move forward and that's what I'm doing.  For the past 5 months or so, I have been consciously eating more carbohydrates and following a (mostly) self designed training program designed to improve my lean body mess and rebuild what I lost during the extended dieting period.

As I have continued to study the "Stimulate Don't Annihilate" principle of training, one thing that stood out to me was taking breaks in order to rest your joints and nervous system.   This of course is frowned upon in the extremist current fitness crowd, but who cares?  I believe this is one of the keys to longevity.

Lee Haney had it right back in the 1980's and that's why he is able to still move, jog, and exercise in his 50's 

In my case, I believe in using this time to work on my flexibility, mobility,core strength, and conditioning.  So for the month of December that will be my focus.  If I am in this for the long haul then I have to be kind to my body and not try to beat it into submission because I'm unhappy that it's not doing what I want it to do.

This month I want to encourage you to become aware of how you are treating yourself.  Are you treating yourself well or are you listening to the ridiculous taunts of advertisers telling you that you aren't good enough and need to be fixed by buying whatever they are peddling.  I couldn't believe all of the detoxes, plans, and gimmicks I saw last week along with practically telling people they were going to Hell and committing an unforgivable sin of eating Thanksgiving Dinner.  I was glad several of my industry colleagues spoke out against this nonsense.

I have to tell you guys, the more I look at so many of these advertisements and posts from the fitness industry, the more it makes sense that obesity rates are rising and the long term success rate for traditional models of dieting is 5%.

So I'm challenging you to get real with yourself: Become aware of your own self talk and In 2016, do not be afraid to go after a BHAG whether it is health related or not.  Even if it doesn't turn out how you think it will, you will be better off than if you had just done nothing at all.

I ended the war on myself this year and it has been amazing to be free enough to explore so many different opportunities. This sums it up right here!

Here's to a great December!  Finish Strong!