Motivational Monday

‘Go’ gets stronger the more you use it.

Healthy habits are like muscles, they grow stronger with use. Practice really does make perfect, especially with respect to healthy lifestyle choices. Unfortunately, healthy habits also atrophy with lack of use. One wrong turn leads to another, to put it another way.

Sticking to your diet and exercise program requires constant decision making. Each time you make an exception your chance of success goes down. In contrast, the more you opt to stick with the program, the easier it gets to stick with the program. The fact is, your choices today influence your actions tomorrow.

Everyone can be tempted by their weaknesses (such as dining out, sleeping in or working long hours). Most of us have fallen into the trap of skipping a workout or having dessert and writing it off as ‘no big deal‘. It can’t be too bad if I give in ‘just this once‘. But the true cost of that decision is more than the calories consumed or not burned. Slacking off delays progress and interrupts motivation, neither of which is easy to come by.

When you consistently make the tough choices to stay on track, you get the benefit of results. Even if you don’t lose weight in a few days, you will notice that you feel good. This physical and mental boost becomes a source of motivation that drives further success.

There will inevitably be times when you miss a workout or eat too many calories. You don’t have to be perfect to get results. But you do need to establish a consistent pattern of smart choices. If you’re making excuses every other day, even your good decisions won’t add up to much. Give yourself 1 free pass a week. A single missed workout -or- one blown meal won’t cost you results in the long run, and it won’t lead you astray as multiple mistakes can.

If you’re starting (or restarting) a diet and exercise routine, make a promise to yourself to stick with it. Use the power of “No” and “Go” to resist temptations. When you are about to falter, take a moment and weigh the true cost of your action.

Happy Monday

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