I just recently started to diet and exercise again. It’s so funny how you can’t tell how much freaking weight you’ve gained until you want to lose it. I mean, I knew that I definitely wasn’t in tip-top shape anymore. But I definitely didn’t realize that I’d become so chubby. I guess one warning should have been the fact that I cannot fit into most of my skinny jeans anymore, and even if I do, they pretty much suffocate me throughout the day.
I was looking at myself in the mirror this morning, shirtless, and there were a couple things that I thought. First, I realized that my tan line is absolutely disgusting, and I need to stand out in the sun more without a shirt. I mean, my chest is SUPER PALE while any part of my body that has been exposed to the sun is super dark. Pretty gross. Second, I couldn’t help but wonder “how sexy would I look if I had kept up the diet and exercise I started a while ago?”
The problem with me is that I keep going in and out of “diet and exercise” stage. I’m sure many of you guys can relate. I think every year my body weight swings by at least 20 pounds. Last year, for instance, I went from 158 lbs to 142. Right now I’m at a STARTLING (I was so scared to step on a weight scale because of this) 164 LBS. This is ridiculous because at my height, my “ideal” weight is somewhere around 140 lbs. I weigh just as much as my friend who’s about 4 inches taller than I am. I’m aiming to drop my weight down to around 140 lbs. This has GOT to be bad for my body somehow.
And yet, the nagging question is persistently chirping in the back of my head: “what if you had stayed consistent…” I’m pretty sure I would have a six pack by now. I should have just listened to Michael Liu’s article, “How to Stay Fit as a Postgrad.” FREAK.
I share this little tidbit to reiterate a cliche: consistency is key. As hackneyed as this phrase is, and as many times as we hear it over and over again, the truth and weight of the statement doesn’t really hit home for a lot of us. We all expect results instantly. One of the reasons why I stopped dieting and exercising is because I wanted to get a six pack. I tried extremely hard for 2 months, and when I didn’t see the results that I had been hoping for, I became discouraged and stopped trying.
So many of us are working jobs we don’t necessarily like, or constantly switching back and forth between a million different decisions because we all want to see success NOW. We’re unhappy with the uncertainty, and once we hit a wall that we just can’t seem to get past, instead of pushing through and staying consistent, we become discouraged and try something else. But what if you just KEPT pursuing this one path, and fought through the walls with determination? What if you stayed consistent? Where would you be today?
Anytime you want to pursue anything in life, there’s always going to be reasons why you shouldn’t do it. Instead of creating reasons for why you should give up and do something else, sometimes you just got to make the decision to stick with the plan, and see it through till the end. I woke up this morning, and my body was incredibly sore from the past two days of exercising. The last thing I want to do is exercise again, and I hate Tony Horton with a passion. However, I’m beginning to realize more and more that pushing through the days when you really just don’t want to do it is the key to success. If you want to see the success in life you’ve always longed for, or want to be fit and healthy…the only way you’re going to do that is with a lot of consistency. Or, you could win the lottery. Frankly, I’m kind of hoping for the latter – but working towards the former.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
We could definitely use some consistency in the posting
no doubt mang.