Quit Treating Fitness Like a One-Night Stand

 If you treat fitness like a one-night stand you will fail. However, if you treat it like a life-long commitment, you and fitness will live happily ever after.

In many ways, fitness is like dating. Success requires “playing the field” so to speak, and many many dates. You can’t just make one attempt and give up, but people give up on fitness every single day.

Think about it. We date many people until we find that special someone. And, we’re not surprised when we find out our ex walked the aisle with someone else. We know good and well that relationships are complicated and that, just because someone was’t right for you, doesn’t mean they aren’t perfect for someone else. So, we just keep searching for our perfect mate – and we search and search until we find what we are looking for. If only we had that kind of dedication when it came to fitness!

Diet and fitness is also complicated, and a lot is required to find our perfect match. If you treat fitness like a one-night stand you will fail. However, if you treat it like a life-long commitment, you will live happily ever after.

Healthy living is like a healthy relationship:

1. It requires research. Most people don’t just dive into just any relationship without knowing something about that person. There is a certain level of research most people do to find out if a date is someone they might like and trust. Research is also suggested with fitness. Whether you ask mutual friends, or look at product reviews, it’s good to do a little research before you try anything new.

2. It requires fun. One of the first things my mom would ask me after a date was “did you have fun”? Fitness also should be fun. A long-term fitness relationship must be centered on things you enjoy. Whether that means enjoying the results, or the actual activity itself, your relationship with fitness can’t be miserable or it won’t last.

3. It requires time. Once I found a guy worth investing in, I knew it would take some time to get to know each other – and the same goes with fitness. Just like some guys surprised me, some workouts and healthy foods have surprised me too. It’s super important to give fitness a good solid chance and invest quality time in your fitness plan.

4. It requires money. Every guy knows dating cost money. When Steve was young, he knew exactly how many hours he’d have to work to afford to take a girl out on a date. Each date was valuable to him – and you should know how valuable you are, and know you too are worth the investment. Don’t be stingy with spending money on your health. Instead, be stingy with throwing money away on things that can prevent good health. Although fitness doesn’t have to be expensive, it’s worth investing in.

5. It requires honesty. We’ve probably all had dates we weren’t completely honest with. How unfair is that?! If you are going to give something a solid try, you need to be honest to yourself and everyone involved. Lying to your trainer doesn’t help anything, and lying to yourself just pushes your goal further away.

6. It requires change. Even the best relationships require change. You can’t expect to get married and go on living life like you’re single, no more than you can expect to live your new healthy life like you were when you were fat and out of shape. Going back to your old ways is not an option. If you want to succeed you have to be willing to make some permanent changes.

7. It requires perseverance. You have a choice to give up on anything you do. You can give up on your loved one, your job, your finances, and most definitely your health. Like a marriage, some things are worth fighting for. Great things rarely come easy. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you’ll be on the path to victory.

Be a Fighter

I can tell you that marriage requires a lot more work than any diet and exercise program. Sometimes it’s just so tempting to give up, but I’m SO glad I never allowed myself to give up on Steve – or myself. We are far from perfect, but all that hard work does pays off and I promise all your hard work trying to live healthy will pay off too. Plus, it’s not like you can divorce yourself. You are stuck with your body until “death do you part”. 🙂  – B –