Fit to drop

It's not easy being fit, it's even harder to stay fit once you've gotten there. Being fit is not something you can do once and hope that you will stay that way forever. Like most things it can't be bottled and saved for a later date. You either have it or you don't.
 
So how do you get it?
 
Unless you are a complete couch potato who's only exercise is to get off your butt to walk to the fridge, I would hazard a guess that most of you reading this would do some kind of exercise during a typical day. Walking to and around the shops does count - if that's all the exercise you get, but if you want to do more each day then you are going to have to become fit in both body and mind.
 
Why do we need to have a fit mind? Well when the body really doesn't want to do something it is the mind that makes the real decisions for it. You can set the alarm a half hour earlier so that you can go for a walk before breakfast, but it is your mind that prompts you to reach over and hit the snooze button.
 
So in order to get fit, first you need to reducate the mind:

• Why are you doing this?
• What are your reasons?
• How many reasons do you have? You will be able to stick to your plan far easier if you have lots of reasons as to why you want to do something (and that goes for anything you want out of life, not just being fit).
• Another major point - if you are trying to get fit because someone thinks you should, then you will find all sorts of excuses and reasons why you're not going to. If you are serious about changing your life, then you will do whatever it takes - yes even on those bad days.

So what can you do when you are not feeling up to the mark?

• Start slowly. If you haven't used your muscles in a while, then too much exercise too soon will hurt.
• Learn how to stretch properly. If you don't know how to stretch find someone to show you. You will hurt if you exercise and fail to stretch the muscles afterwards.
• Exercise with a friend. But make sure you choose one who has a good self-motivation ethic, otherwise you will both make the excuse why you can't do something.
• Go to a gym who offers a two week free trial period. Check them out and see if you can use their expertise to get you started. A good gym will give you an exercise program, or you if you can't self motivate to go to the gym, then pay for a personal trainer a couple of times a week....believe me you will go if you've paid for the sessions.
• Bear in mind that you will only sustain something if you have neough reasons. Those reasons will keep you going through bad weather and illness. If you don't have enough reasons you will be like the rest of the population, in which case I'll give you about three months. Usually because at the three month mark, the obvious changes have been made, and now the tiny changes each time you exercise don't show as much. As you exercise you build muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you are charting your progress solely on the scale alone, then you will start to feel discouraged. I know I do and I know all this. For those people just starting out it can sound the death knell of any self-development programme. So choose an outfit you haven't worn in a while and hang it up where you can see it every day and make that your goal rather than the weight factor. Because as you burn body fat, build muscle, you may weigh more than you expect but you will look fantastic.

Most diets are based solely on calorie restriction - when they advise you not to exercise for the duration you know they are working on the principle that all you will be really doing is losing a lot of water in the first instance...Lose 10lbs in 2 days...As your body cannot sustain severe calorie restriction for a long period of time, you will soon go back to eating the same way you've always done and bang the weight comes straight back - usually with a bit more. The dieting industry is banking on you trying and failing - that's why they're in business...if they succeeded in helping EVERYONE to lose weight and keep it off they'd be out of business in 6 months.
 
Think of your body fat as a storehouse of energy. Energy that needs to be used and you will understand how much exercise you need to do.