Sunday, March 2, 2008

What's the trick?

So, I have been thinking about some stuff today... and I want to try to blog about it...hopefully this will make sense.
As most of you know, besides being a physical therapist, I spend 2 days per week on setting clients up on the Therafit program that my business partner and I designed about a year ago. Things have gone well with the program and people have had some incredible results. On Sunday, most of my clients will send me their information of their weekly workouts via e-mail, and I usually spend a few hours reviewing the information as it comes in throughout the day. Today I got an email from one of my clients stating the following,
"Greg
I am working hard. I feel so good. People are starting to tell me they see a difference. I feel such a difference."
This is from someone who has been on the program for only 1 month, but the ironic part about this, is that about 1 month ago, I blogged about consistency and I talked about one of my potential clients I met with that day, who happened to be the same person that just sent me the e-mail I received today. At that time, she was not on the program, but I think that part of the reason she has done so well is because I was truthful with how hard it is to lose weight the "right way". You see the truth is that I have lost 40 lbs over the last 2 years, but I think the best way to lose weight is to not think about losing weight. I started running because of health issues, but I wasn't going on the scale every day to see what my progress was.. because it would probably have depressed me. I mean if you think about it, 40 lbs is a lot of weight, but over a span of 2 years, it probably averages out to like 1 1/2 lbs per month... not too fast, huh? This hasn't been hard for me, because participating in running events took my mind off of weight loss. I started to just focus on initially completing the races, then on completing the races in particular times. I started to focus on training for these races, and participating in training regimens that would give me the best opportunity to achieve my goals for that race. In other words, weight loss hasn't even been a goal or an issue for me for probably about 22 of the last 24 months that I have really taken care of myself from a health standpoint. I think that is a better way of doing it, IMO. As I started to focus on my running goals, I realized... maybe I shouldn't eat that at 9:00 pm, or let me not have that fattening piece of pork, or let me hold off on that McDonald's apple pie.... (they are so good, though!!!) You see, if you can just find a way to participate in a healthy lifestyle through exercise and healthy eating habits that makes you happy on a daily basis and brings you benefits that get you to the point that you start to look forward to your routines each week.... well that's when you have hit the jackpot!!!! Learn to love your exercise routine... if you don't???? Find an exercise routine that you can learn to love. Running is not for all of us... trust me I know that, but it might be Zumba, or biking, swimming, walking, circuit training, going to the gym, spinning classes... whatever... just find something that you can train yourself to love to do. Remember it shouldn't be a chore... it should be fun!!!
Well I did run this weekend... and it was fun (even though it was at 6:45 am)!!
Ivy Lake/Suncoast Long Run