Be Honest With Yourself
Honesty with ourselves is, in my opinion, the hardest part of the health and fitness journey. It’s something that I struggled with big time and continue to struggle with every day.
Flashback to me when I weighed 250 pounds. I was eating whatever I wanted without paying attention to amounts/portions, working out 4-5 days a week, and drinking multiple beers every night (multiple 6 packs each weekend).
“I’m healthy. I workout often and have a lot of muscle. I can eat whatever I want. I earned this food.”
Truth is I was lying to myself everyday (and I had not earned anything). I wasn’t healthy. I was obese.
Seriously. My BMI was 31.7. I was an obese trainer. Woof.
I think back to the thousands of classes I coached while being an obese trainer… not exactly a good example for my clients, eh?
Sure, I carried the weight ok, but that didn’t mean I was healthy. I was actually pretty miserable. I didn’t sleep well. I couldn’t push hard in workouts. I wasn’t productive at work. I dreaded working out with others because I was embarrassed at my level of fitness.
It wasn’t until I started being honest with myself that real changes started to happen. I had to stop justifying my poor relationship with food and alcohol if I wanted to get healthier.
I started tracking my food intake that would yield fat loss.
I disciplined myself to workout a minimum 3x a week.
I stopped having beer in the house (because if it’s there, I’m going to drink it).
I had to take Papa Johns out of my contact list (not a joke).
I had to make some serious changes.
Present day: body weight is 195 and BMI is 24.6 (normal). Sleep great. Workout hard. Feel awesome in my own skin. Proud of myself.
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So my challenge to you for the remainder of this week and weekend: be honest with yourself. If you have goals you’re working towards… are you really doing what you need to do to get there? Are you making it to the gym? Are you tracking your food intake? Are you staying hydrated? Are you sleeping enough?
Be honest.
It’s an uncomfortable conversation to have with yourself, but the value of this conversation is life enhancing.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed or intimidated, but remember there are plenty of people just like you and me who have made these changes. You can do this. You can make those changes. Start with something small. Let that victory build some momentum, and then make another change.
Make it happen.
“Nothing changes if nothing changes.”
-Clark Hibbs
