I don’t care who you are, the reason you want to get in better shape is for more happiness. I’m correct, Yes?
Following something you cannot sustain will NOT promote happiness no matter how good the short term results are.
Let me tell you a story about two individuals, one person got knocked over by a car, was paralysed from the waist down and was forced to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life and there was another person who won the lottery. After 6 months who do you think was the happiest? You would think the individual who won the lottery wouldn’t you, but the individual who won the lottery, spent his winnings unwisely, went back to his previous financial status within 6 months and now is very disappointed with the life he once enjoyed, the individual who got knocked over by the car, was devastated initially but grew to enjoy the life he could live and was thankful for what he still had.
Getting results in the gym will only promote unhappiness if you cannot maintain them. Following a sustainable approach is the only way that will allow you to become truly happy about the way you look and feel.
Don’t feel that you need to make huge changes to the way you live, if there are aspects of your life that you enjoy, why remove them for a short duration of time when you know you will reintroduce them very soon but you will also make up for lost time and overdo these.
Moderation of all things is never going to be a problem, yes if you want to be a bodybuilder sacrifices will have to be made, but for the average person who is just wanting to achieve a physical appearance that makes them feel happier, following an approach that is possibly slower in the beginning but facilities long term positive change will always be better.
As a human we have a few needs when it comes to feeling happy, we need to feel that we are growing as an individual, this is why the fast result is always appealing, but we also must ensure we never feel that we are regressing as an individual which is why a sustainable approach is a better approach. We must feel certain about aspects of our lives, knowing that the approach we are taking is easily maintainable and continually allows us to see improvement this will make us feel certain that the future will only get better. We also need uncertainty basically we need to live a spontaneous life, we don’t want to be locked into a very rigid way of living as this will create boredom but also a huge amount of stress if everything does not go perfectly to plan.
Dieting and training excessively followed by a rebound because you cannot maintain the actions that you have set if repeated again and again will lead to far more fat gain over your lifetime than if you just followed a sustainable moderation for all approach.
I would guess that 80-90 % of all fat loss attempts are unsuccessful because the approaches taken and advised by most are not sustainable and all improvements are soon lost.
I know all about this from personal experience, In the past I have spent years living a life where I was far too hard on myself, I don’t regret it because I learnt a huge amount from the experience about myself but I did stop my self from doing certain things that in hindsight I probably should have done.
Please don’t start any training program or eating plan that you cannot sustain. Follow a plan that you can still see yourself still following in 5/10 years from now. I personally rarely train more than 4 times a week, I don’t follow eating plans that entail me thinking anymore than, am I hungry, am I full, is this a good food choice. I believe in following something that continually allows me and my clients to improve but is also relatively easy to follow, does not cause unnecessary stress and promotes long term happiness.
Always start with the end in mind, where are you going / where would like to go? If you decide to take an approach that allows you to keep all the results you achieve by following something that you can follow for a lifetime I promise you your happiness will be massively improved.
You only live once, live it the way you want to.
To your happiness.
Harry