When I was overweight and out of shape, I thought humanity was divided into two groups: People who are hard-wired for fitness & People who simply aren’t.
I didn’t give my fit friends much credit. ‘They’re jocks. I’m just not that. I’m different.’
Failure to give credit where credit was due was just another way of letting myself off the hook. I assumed that for them it was somehow easier. It was natural. It wasn’t the struggle that it was for me.
I didn’t realize that the gym rats look strong because they choose their physical fitness every day.
Barring illness or injury we are all physical manifestations of our *consistent* lifestyle choices.
Will you keep your food clean? Or are you fine with the drive-through?
Is hitting the gym or going for a run a mandatory part of your daily rhythm? Or will you shuffle from bed to desk to couch to bed again?
I’m a big fan of Jim Gaffigan, but the quote above makes me a little twitchy, because it’s just wrong. It perpetuates dangerous Diet Culture Mentality – The mythical existence of a finish line.
Your hard work is doomed to fail if your day-by-day relationship with wellness is ever ‘done’.
My fitness begins to slip away as soon as I give up on my choices and opt for comfort over wellness. When I phone it in, sip my wine, lounge around, and eat that slice of cake, my hard-won form begins to weaken.
But when I choose well, when I eat clean and train mean, I can slay dragons.
You can be whoever you want to be, but you have to choose well. You have to be consistent. You have to earn it.
Yes, it’s work. But it’s so worth it
