Physical Fitness for Life: Diet
Monday, March 3rd, 2008Back when I was in college I took a ‘gym’ class called “Physical Fitness for Life”. Half the time we stretched in a small gym, and the other half we lifted weights and did cardio in an exercise room. After this class I would go to my gym and work out again. I was 20 years old and life was good.
The whole concept of the class was to build routines that kept physical activity a part of your life after college so that you could enjoy life and reduce risks of disease. While the concept is genius, in practice it is very tough.
Building habits are very tough. It always take time, and focus. The truth is if you build good habits, then Physical fitness for life is relatively easy. Whenever you encounter a stressful situation, or you have to make a last second choice your instinct is often formed by your mental habits.
For our purposes the lifestyle habits that are essential are: Diet and Exercise.
Diet: This is the toughest one for me. I have never been a “proper” eater. My diet has always been full of sugar, fats, fast food, etc. These habits have made me develop a sort of addiction to the taste of these foods. The salt, the sugar, the fat, the cholesterol. Do you have the same situation?
Steps for Change:
1. Make a strong mental decision to change the way you eat.
2. Reinforce that decision every time you find yourself eating the things you want to eat less of. ex: At Burger king, tell yourself how bad the food is, and how you don’t need it.
3. Slowly begin to phase out the bad foods in your diet. Be slow, and be successful. Going cold turkey is reserved for the hard core and those with the plan to fail.
4. As you start putting healthier foods into your diet, reinforce this decision by telling yourself how good things taste or how much better you feel. You have to be real with yourself.
5. Keep phasing good food in, and bad food out and soon enough you will be in the Top 20% of the people in the country.
Now: Did you notice something? Out of 5 total steps 3 of those steps were only mental decisions. The first two steps were initiated before any changes were actually made. I feel this is CRITICAL. For diet, and for life in order to make sweeping changes and become ultra successful at something you try it requires mental dedication and re-dedication.
If you take away one lesson from this post it should be: Always commit yourself mentally before changing your actions, and if at all possible, commit yourself at least twice over. The more positive, committed self-talk you have, the more successful you will be.
Stay tuned for the 2nd part: Exercise.
A.D.