THE BEST WAY TO BALANCE FITNESS AND FUN
While most fitness coaches and personal trainers choose to live in the gym, never get out of their peak condition and stick to a super-strict diet all year round. I choose to do fitness a bit differently, not to be different or cool, but because I can’t help not honoring my craving to live intensely. By this I mean that I never choose the comfy way of doing things if it means that I get to experience another aspect of life which I couldn’t before.
When I was young, I partied really hard, got fat. Then I studied law, graduated. Then I put my ego aside and chased my fulfillment. I opened my own fitness coaching business and went to town with that, I also got in amazing shape. Needless to say, even then I felt I had more to do. Well, this is not leading to some smart ‘aha-moment’, but rather to point out that the nature of life is change. Without being adaptable, we can only enjoy one aspect of living, we won’t be able to deal with whatever life throws at us and we’ll be stuck in the ‘I almost got in shape that time’ mindset.
Why have an amazing body, if you can’t go on vacation, lose a bit of your peak shape, but still fall in love with fitness when you’re back? How can you come back to fitness after a layoff because of a real life injury or illness? You sure will not come back to it if you think of it as the thing that made you ‘miss nights out with friends’ or ‘skip on the wine’ every single time you where at an event!
To fall in love with fitness for life you must be able to set it free, realize you love being in shape and come back to it – time and time again. Being in shape is not like being in a boring relationship. It is more like renewing your wedding vows once or twice a year. About proving to yourself that you’re still worth it. Through a couple of hiccups while traveling through the US, Europe and Asia, various forms of illnesses and surgeries – I feel like I have a thing or two to say about having a kickass lifestyle and staying in shape.
Here are some tips:
(1) Don’t go hard or go home! Out of all the mindsets I hate for working out and dieting is the all or nothing mindset. While this is commonly given as advice by the hard working, but most importantly genetically elite athletic trainers who know of no other aspect of life outside of fitness. Ok I’ll give it to them, some do excellent office work with that too! But never got so shit-faced that they didn’t remember the night, never travelled once outside their continent and never, ever had problems being a genetically inferior fat slob with weak and fragile joints either. Well they get out of training and dieting what they put in. They DO work hard, but for these people, it’s totally more worth it than for everyone else. Admiration for their own results is what keeps them going, but their bodies can take it, if you’re reading this, or you’re like me, chances are yours can’t! Six months of dieting, and two hours in the gym seven days a week but you don’t compete in a sport professionally? No I don’t think so.
My point is do what you can. Given your current situation. It only gets better once you get in the gym, start following your diet but not obsessing over losing some gains or some fitness once in a while. We all enjoy holidays and we all get the flu. Sometimes, going hard is the last thing you need. The rest is up to you.
(2) Don’t kid yourself. You know when you’re not losing weight, that you shouldn’t wonder why your diet is not working when you’re snacking on ‘some peanuts” instead of following your precise plan. I’m not saying you have to be perfect. Just don’t tell yourself you are when you’re at 40%. This creates a bad state of mind, one where you do not trust your own decisions. You will not trust yourself to get back in shape because you had too much fun on the beach and overloaded on beer and ice-cream. Coz the last time you did that you kept the weight on! So automatically, beer and ice-cream are off limits for you. But not if you’re honest and you’re like “look here; these two weeks, fitness can go to hell, I’ll try working out but it’s August and I love ice-cream too much.” That way, you’ll know that you CAN be much more accountable once you’re back at it. You will stop at NOTHING.
(3) Have regular planned breaks. Sometimes all you need is one meal a week and a couple of days outside of the gym to feel excited to be in the gym and eating those damn veggies. Other times. You’ll need months. I’m not joking. People are always less motivated to stay in shape when they have been close to their peak fitness, but then start enjoying life and get off the “fit” roller-coaster. This happens right in the middle of summer, right before Christmas, and also right after personal bests. There’s no problem with getting a bit out of shape, just don’t overdo it! You owe your body health, wellness and self-confidence, but you also owe yourself the world. And you can’t have all that if you’re rockin’ your dumbbells and tupperware container on the daily.