September is almost gone (?!). With the possibility that you’ve come into a groove with your schedule and have decided to start figuring out your own fitness goals, and desires, today I come to you with the first of a 3-part series diving into some thoughts in relation to your goals and challenging your mindset as you restart your fitness journey.
Strap in - it’s going to be fun.
First up, I want you to answer the following questions.
#1: Why do you want to be active?
#2 : What do you want to achieve for your fitness?
#3: If you said anything to do with your weight, why do you think that is?
I’m about to be very honest and open with you.
You do not need to lose those 5lbs.
Nope.
You don’t.
Unless you have health conditions, you really don’t.
However, I can understand why you may feel like you do. Heck, there’s days I do too.
Have you ever thought about why it is that anytime you think about a goal for your fitness, that your weight comes into mind first and foremost?
I’m here to offer some insight so follow along with a real life story.
First let me preface this with the fact that everyone in my family knows what I do as work, however not many actually know why I do what I do, or how I do it. As with anyone, when I tell people that I’m a trainer, there’s a preconceived notion that I help people lose weight.
So when I was speaking with someone close to me recently, the conversation moved to her asking me if I knew of any exercises to get rid of her belly. By no means is this the first time that I’ve had this conversation with those around me and as much as I could have appeased her and just said “you can’t spot reduce but try this…” that’s not me so I dove the conversation a little deeper.
I asked her why she felt that way. She, and even everyone around, said that it’s because they’re told by society that they’re not supposed to have bellies that look that way.
Oof! That hit me in the feels.
As we moved through the conversation, we dove deeper, asking the hard questions, and coming up with the answer that what she really wants is to not be decrepit as she ages. She used to walk and be strong, but now she feels weak and out of shape. She doesn’t want to be stuck, unable to move around as she ages and unable to run around after her grandkids.
Now you may be wondering what this story has to do with you.
If you struggle with the thought that you have to lose the mommy tummy, bounce back to how you looked before, and look a certain way in general, this story is to show you that although you’ve been trained to believe that aesthetics are the only goal that you should strive towards, it is the deeper reasons that will get you started on your forever fitness journey.
As a trainer, I’m able to do so much more for you than to help you lose weight. Similar to the idea that how I look is the most uninteresting thing about me, weight loss is the most uninteresting goal in fitness. Everyone, seemingly, has it.
What comes up to you as you read this?
Does it feel wrong?
Foreign?
Let me know what you think as we begin this mindset journey.
Up next time, a challenge.