5 Things To Remember About Fitness

It is that time of year where the excitement about improving fitness, losing weight, and getting healthier has faded for many. Your big plans for working out and eating right have been derailed by taking care of the kids, extra hours at the office, or an illness has crushed your motivation. Remember this: it's never too late to take care of your health.

1. Give yourself a break! So you fell off the wagon...it happens. Forgive yourself and move on. Too many times I see others have a setback and take that as a complete disaster and then completely give up. So you had a bad week. Sometimes we get a cold, get stuck working long hours, or don't have a sitter. It happens. Loosen up and don't get trapped in the all-or-nothing approach.

2. Don't be TOO forgiving, though! Be dedicated without being too liberal in your excuses. We are all busy. We all have many commitments. Don't let the kids, dog, long hours, spouse, or cold be your convenient excuse to slack off. If you came on too strong with your expectations then do a reset. Again, avoid that all-or-nothing approach.

3. No time like the present. After having a setback it can be too easy to set a new time in the future to start back up. What are you waiting for? It's popular start back up on Monday, next week, next month, next year...any time but now. Why wait? In those days or weeks before you get back on your plan it's too tempting to give yourself license to be really bad. I watch my hubby do it ALL the time. "I'm gonna eat what I want today because I'm starting my new eating plan tomorrow." The thing is that tomorrow never comes. Whenever you realize you fell off, get back on. There is no law that says you can't restart in the middle of a day, week, or month. Don't fall into the timing trap!

4. Stay positive! Just because you slipped it does not make you a failure. Seriously, your entire self-worth should not be based on your ability to stick to a particular fitness plan. Perhaps you were too aggressive. In fact, you might not have been aggressive enough and got bored.

5. Nobody said it would be easy, but you can do it. Seriously, drop the excuses. I always hear people (including hubby) convince themselves that they have a unique set of circumstances that prevents them from succeeding. They get caught up in the "if only" and "if I had a" way of thinking. Trust me, if you even take an extra 30 minutes in your day for yourself it will make a huge difference. I mean really, is watching some show or movie on television that important? Think about all the time you waste "unwinding" by watching television. Surely you can carve out some time to exercise or spread it out to make healthier food choices then. Heck, get on the treadmill, elliptical, or stationary bike while you watch. Don't you want to be there in the future for the kids, family, career, etc?

P.S. I've had about a two-week period of illness and a quick outpatient procedure that derailed my endurance training but have otherwise kept to my TTUC eating plan. There's no reason to throw the whole thing out just because of a little cold and sports med treatment.