Body4Me

Ahh… the start of a New Year. New promises, new hopes, new dreams and countless new ads on the TV telling us we should lose some weight and that their product is the best one yet. In the course of two ad breaks yesterday, I think I saw three or four different gyms, pills, readymade meals and home exercise products. Now, obviously, these ads work because otherwise they wouldn’t be putting them on.

Now, what makes us think that an arbitrary change of date will suddenly make us change our eating and exercise habits when nothing else in the previous year did ? Let me assure you… nothing will change. I know that sounds pessimistic, but come on. We’ve all been there. Goodness knows I have. Yes, the first week will be great, the second not quite as good, the third ok and by the end of January, the only thing that’ll remember about the resolution is the monthly membership fee from the gym you joined up to on a 12 month contract.

So, what will make a difference ? Not calling it a New Year’s Resolution for one! This has got nothing to do with the new year. It has everything to do with you and your reasons. And no, “Because it’s the new year” is not a valid reason! Ask yourself… Why are you embarking on this journey ? Why are you doing this ? Who is it for ? These are the important questions and these are the ones that make it stick. It was only when I got it clear in my head why I was doing this that it had any real impact on me. I looked at my life and where I was going to be in 10 years time if I didn’t do something right now. I saw myself as a 40 something overweight work-a-holic couldn’t muster the energy to play ball with his kids. Someone who was probably going to have a heart attack in their mid-fifties and finished their life on a series of life-sucking drugs.
That sort of painful future wasn’t something I could live with. And that was my reason why something had to happen. And, more importantly, that was something I could take with me to the gym in week three and four of January when things became hard. This is something you can do right now to give yourself some leverage over your will power. Create yourself that mental image of what will happen in your life if you chose not to make a difference right now. Use it every day to push yourself to be better, stronger, fitter healthier than you were before. I know you can do it. I did.

Our reasons why we do something is far more important than how we do them. Chose your reasons carefully.