Lifestyle, fitness, diet – what is the key to all this?
Uh oh, another rant.
Sorry, I can’t stop.
But this is different. (Honest). This isn’t a ‘be like me’ rant or anything. This is, IMHO, how to live a better lifestyle for everyone. A universal truth. (If that doesn’t make you afraid or laugh, well, here we go…)
What’s the key to all this diet, exercise, lifestyle? Right here: Common sense, moderation in all things and planning what you do instead of just acting on impulse are the keys.
That’s pretty simple, probably too simple, but it’s all there. I recognize most folks won’t work out as hard or frequently as I do. I recognize that there are VERY many factors that relate to one’s weight and diet lifestyle, many beyond their control.
But all the things I passionately push as keys – being active, eating right, etc – are in that one bold sentence.
Common sense is a bit scary because it assumes a certain knowledge. If you grew up not knowing how to eat or why, or have emotional issues that have manifested themselves in eating wrong, not exercising, or living healthy… that’s an issue. The goal of going to school isn’t to learn things taught to you. The goal is to learn to teach yourself. To me, that’s the mark of someone that’s matured into an adult; they don’t leave their knowledge and life to other’s choices and instead take charge of their life (and by extension ‘lifestyle’) through researching and learning on their own. With the Internet, this is easier than ever. You need a good BS filter with the Internet, but again, with maturity comes wisdom.
Moderation in all things. Portion control falls in here. Exercise falls in here. Most anything you do, anything, needs to be in balance with everything else you do. This goes far beyond just exercise and diet into your life, but I’ll stop there.
The last part is what trips up most folks. You need to plan what you do instead of just operating your life from impulse. For instance, if you have children and ask them what they want to do and eat everyday, they cannot and will not make good choices most of the time. They need guidance and direction to do so. As an adult, young or old, you don’t have that sort of guidance or direction coming at you from anyone… it’s up to you. The entire fast food, comfort food, ‘quickie’ food and everyone’s consistent ‘lack of time’ for anything (meal planning, exercise, quality time with others) is what happens. Like ships without rudders, we instead get so busy with daily life and ‘putting out fires’ that we lose sight of the important things in life. Like making time to plan meals, eat right, exercise, spend time with folks that matter, etc.. We pull up to the drive-thru at McDonalds, order a super size meal and eat it on the way to wherever we are late getting to. It’s just easier to do; we tell ourselves it’s okay and we are just being efficient with our time (“Just this once, it won’t kill me….”).
Not so.
I’ve found as I reinvented my life and ‘grew up’ in my late 30′s and got serious about how: I live my life, I allocate my time and efforts in all things, and I approached living… that some forethought and planning. That is how I ‘found the time’ and started living within my means, got my diet straight and ‘made’ that time for exercise. I also applied this to my work life and personal life beyond diet and exercise; but that’s not the aim of this rant.
What I’d say to those that have looked for ways to combat things that suck their life and energy away without giving you anything back is to step back, reassess and pre-plan some essential things so your entire life can much more positive on all levels.
Too many folks talk the talk, but cannot put good intentions to action. In the hyper world we all live in, it’s just so easy to get caught up and spun so many ways we can’t seemingly control it. You cannot plan for everything; and you have to allow for things to go wrong, days to be lost to emergencies and things beyond our control. But those are bumps in the road if we have an overall plan, goals we can achieve and use moderation, common sense and pre-planning in regards to our lifestyle and how we want to live our lives.
I am not better than anyone else. I am not some shining example of anything. I don’t know more than anyone else. I am not holding myself up as any sort of role model. I am sharing my experience, my thoughts as they relate to my life and hoping that it helps someone else out there to ‘turn on the light’ and take charge of their lifestyle and live a more healthy way. For your sake, for your loved one’s sake, for your children’s sake. Your children need an example and model of how to live life, not just exist and ‘get by’.
/rant