About a year ago I came to a frustrating conclusion: Work is designed to make you fat.
Before you accuse me of making excuses, the concept is actually proven by science. When I was at Men's Health, we wrote an article about how sitting in a chair is literally killing your body?regardless of your level of activity. Quite simply, your job forces you to move less and oftentimes eat worse.
Fortunately, you don't' need to throw in the towel. I'm here to tell you that accepting the reality of your job is the first step in shifting the battle of the bulge. You see, just because work makes it harder to stay in shape doesn't mean long hours must sabotage your healthy living goals. That's the type of excuse that isn't acceptable. But it's human. So much so that I have a confession to make:
I let my job get the best of me.
I'm not sure when or how it happened, but the truth was written all over my body. I was lethargic, lacking energy and not sleeping well?this despite the fact that I was still hitting the gym four days a week. I share my story to remind you that every stumble is another opportunity to pick yourself back up. And that failure and mistakes are only as permanent as you make them.
My problem was my diet, as it is for most people. More specifically, I stopped paying attention to what I ate. I had so much confidence that I knew what it meant to be healthy that I went on autopilot and figured I didn't need a helping hand. I stopped tracking my food. I starting snacking more at work (even healthy snacks become unhealthy in large amount) and I tricked myself into believing that everything was good.
But good should never be a substitute for great, especially when it comes to your body. It doesn't matter what your goal is, but your expectation should always be to push the limits of your potential, which is why I'm reaching out and recommitting to my healthy eating goals and continuing to educate myself on healthy foods. It will be more work on my end, but it will help me recapture my body, my energy and create the life I want to live.
I suggest you do the same. Look in the mirror and ask yourself: Are you eating the way you should? Have you stopped pushing yourself to become better? I don't have the solutions, and I'm not telling you how to eat. But I do know that asking the question is necessary to finding the answer. And the quest to become better will ensure that your next step brings you closer to the person you want to be.
Re: a great editor's letter from livestrong on fitness
Shmel's Blog
I like this article, too. I notice so much that no matter how much I work out, if I'm not eating right my body won't look right. Period. No exceptions!!! As I've mentioned before, working out for me is more of a way to keep myself toned and in the right proportions, but not for weightloss. Food does this for me.
That said, I think it's important not to totally kill yourself. We only go around this place once, right? I'm not going to give up chocolate and wine just because it's not perfect for me. I am a firm believer in moderation -- making smart and healthy choices most of the time, but allowing yourself the flexibility to still be happy. If this means 3 or 4 extra pounds, well, so be it.
I'm going to have to share this with DH. He has some clients that no matter what he tells them, they are not transfering the lessons in the gym to everyday life (there are two clients that complain that they are not lossing weight, but they have really improved their strength and duration of the activies). This might help motivate those few to look at the whole picture and make the few extra adjustments to drop the weight they want.