You only have enough energy for one choice

Often I see new clients at a crossroad. Out of trepidation they stand with one foot firmly in the past and the other in their future. These two choices present two possible outcomes that require all your energy, time and resources. I don't mean your financial or material resources but your inner resources. Undertaking personal change, self-improvement or self-evolution demands much, deserves much. No matter the goal whether it is healthy eating or improved fitness, meeting a physical challenge of any kind requires something no one really discusses. It requires brass, chutzpah. You need to boldly turn away from your former self and embrace the new you that has not yet materialized. You only have enough energy for one choice.

Make that decision and own it. Be a lazy person that sleeps in and shuns physical exercise. BE that if your choice is to skip training sessions, fail to complete the homework or neglect to bring 100% of your effort each and every time you train. Be overweight, plump, big-boned whatever you want to refer to yourself as if you choose to over-indulge in food, soda pop or what have you. If you are truly a foodie and as a result eat more than your person can utilize then the outcome is weight gain. Without compensating for the input with output you have made the choice silently. If you choose to eat and not work out be happy with what you have, the choice, after all, is yours.

These choices I refer to are more than temporary ideals, fancy ways to spend 12 weeks then revert back to your old ways. What I am really asking of you is to dig deeper. Consider that your personal values those core beliefs you espouse to follow are what drive your daily choices. Therefore, rather than state you will lose weight through exercise check your values. Do you value your health and the way you represent yourself in life? Are you affronted by others that do not care for themselves yet feel you are immune? Do you value a balanced life that embraces great food and a great health? Are you proud of how you look and feel?

If you quietly assess your true motivation your honest goals you will find that the choices are simple. Do what you must to up hold your values. If you have been lax in the physical fitness department and gotten a little soft admit it, accept it, forgive yourself and get back to your beliefs. The guilt people complain about feeling when they gain weight or give up a hobby is not necessarily about the physical results but the emotional and self-conceptual ones. You just don't like yourself that much when you offend your own value system. You let yourself down.

The best thing about this soul-searching and value defining exercise is that it is much more motivating than all the other empty things we do in order to "change". Without thinking about your value position looking for the best workouts, buying new workout gear, new gym memberships, fitness magazines... and on and on is window dressing and not life changing. We find we have all the intrinsic motivation we need when we calibrate our life with our values. Motivation begets desire and desire begets action which leads to results and it self-perpetuates. You only have enough energy for one choice. Either make a change that reflects who you really are or don't and live that life instead. Standing with one foot in the lazy life and one foot in the active life will lead nowhere you want to be and you will be drained when you get there. Choose wisely.

Beverly Wudrich, Personal Trainer.