Life can be a ‘bitch’ sometimes. As someone who has suffered numerous issues like most of us have and gone through life changes that many will also associate with, I wanted to do this article and try to bring some reality into what it is to being human and getting things done with regards staying on plan with a healthy lifestyle.
As much as I have written this website with the purpose of getting people to improve their health, appearance and maybe even their lifestyle, the one thing that I’m not necessarily suggesting is changing you, the person inside. We are all unique and that is what makes the world an interesting and diverse place. No one is perfect, no one should be looked upon as being perfect. And as such we should learn to understand that we can still be great as a human with our imperfections and inadequacies and also accept that many of us have weaknesses that we must learn to accept and/or work around.
I’m not however going to be talking about the issues in our lives, we all have them. What I am going to try to talk about is I guess life as a human, the imperfections associated with that and trying to maintain and sustain a healthy life. It’s not all going to be bad news though, I will also like to touch on some positives of being human and our potential to succeed at something we thought impossible.
This is a down to earth article and written simply as I type it out, so forgive me if it sounds like I’m rambling on.
What can stop us getting on with our plans
Although I’d like to describe what weakness humans tend to have that can stop them from moving forward with their lives or make a complete lifestyle change, it seems easier to be honest and talk about my weaknesses in the hope that you may familiarise with much of it and also understand that I too despite my knowledge and understanding and enthusiasm for exercise and health also find it difficult to sustain my own plan and as such am exactly that, a human being with my own imperfections and weaknesses and I’m fine with that.
Being human is a constant battle between your wants and desires and your ability to make them happen. Some of it will be down to you and some of it won’t.
Things often get in the way and sometimes they come one after the other, stopping you from getting on with your plans. Sometimes these things can go on for long periods of time and even years pass by before you realise it. You end up procrastinating and wasting time. This is a very unfortunate human trait.
Trying to maintain my momentum
Let’s talk a bit about how some of the issues of being human can affect your plans for getting fit and healthy. I’ll take some of the problems arising from my own experience and suggest some of the ways I have tried to help counter them.
Firstly it is always easy to give advice and it is always easy to say what you want to do than actually doing it. Such as, if I told you that by giving 100% effort towards your workout and nutrition plan, it will give you 100% return on your effort (all things being equal), then that statement would be true. The reality is that no one can give 100%, we all fall off the wagon, have small cheats/treats during the week with our diets, miss workouts and generally waste our time dong many non productive activities. But that is what us humans do, even some of the most dedicated.
With that said, I’m not writing this as an excuse for you to not put effort into your plans, no I’m only telling you that it doesn’t have to always be ‘100% or nothing’. 99% would be awesome, 95% great, 70-90% possibly doable for most people.
So, here are a few things that catch most of us out that cause us to fall at the hurdle and stop our progress.
Food and nutrition
The first bit I want to talk about is eating the right foods. Having a plan is key here. However despite our complex brains, us humans are very prone to the weakness of temptation and cheating. Oh yes this is a huge problem for many. The urge and desire to eat unhealthy food can be quite strong. Very often stronger than your willpower to resist it. I am also guilty of this. The best advice I can give you is to shop only for what you have in your nutrition plan. Therefore if it isn’t in the house, you won’t be able to have it. The only problem is many of us live with others who are not on the same journey/path as us. The only other alternative then is to have timed treats. I tend to allow myself a piece of dark chocolate after my workouts and also allow a much more loose eating day one day in the week (see my personal nutrition plan).
I realise for many that managing your meal times is hard especially when you become busy and your schedule gets out of sync, it is easy to just grab food that is convenient. I do this more times than I realise also. If this is what you do also, the best way around it is to be prepared for it in advance. i.e. prepare food to eat for the day ahead or even the next 2 days. This then allows you to grab the right type of food when you need it in a hurry.
Working out
Getting off our lazy a###. Some people like working out, others find it a real chore. For me once I’m working out I actually enjoy it. The problem is my schedule often gets interrupted or I become too busy or even lazy to have my planned workout. We all live busy lives and this is why my workout routines are split in such a way that I can still miss a workout here and there and not miss out too much. i.e. I do full body or upper/lower routines that I can easily carry on with if I miss a day.
Other common issues include, being too tired, procrastination, being too lazy, having a bad night’s sleep. It is easy to want to take the easy way out and follow the path of least resistance (another well known trait of us humans). I too am guilty of this. However I have found that preparing for your workout, even when you don’t feel like it, is a great way to actually eventually doing the workout. The process of preparation is simple and not a hard task, but the thought of doing a workout when you least want to can be hard, so by the time you are prepared, you can often have created an environment for your brain to accept the forth coming workout.
Another thing that I often do when either pushed for time or don’t feel like doing my regular workout, is to do an abbreviated and simple version of my workout. By doing exercises I like the most, or at least starting an abbreviated workout, I often actually become motivated to go full bore into a great workout. Just the starting of a task is enough to have you end up excelling at it when you thought it would be an otherwise waste of time.
Something I don’t do, but could help you, is working out with others. This creates a commitment and you are more than likely going to keep that appointment with your workout schedule. Having a workout partner/company or working in a team can for many be a great way to get you motivated.
The mind
Finally in this being human and healthy equation is your mind. I touched a bit on it with regards being lazy and procrastination above and missing workouts. But I want to dig a little deeper about it here as it is probably one of the main causes of us not getting things done.
Let’s start by talking about willpower. I have talked about this in my motivation article (please see here). Willpower is one of those issues that for many people is the most difficult. Some of the causes can be emotional and when that happens the ability to overcome your willpower is tenfold. Ask anyone that is trying to lose weight and who suffer from disruptive emotions and they will have a hard time breaking away from their urge to eat junk food or get going with any active activity. If you are not strong willed then it is very easy to not just quit, but often not even start your plan.
Stress can make us give up and say sod it, anger has the same effect. I often do however attempt to turn any anger I suffer from and try to turn it around into a good workout. However both stress and emotional situations can drain you both mentally and physically leaving you unable to think positively and follow your nutrition and workout plan.
The trick is to try to get back straight into it as soon as you can. I know it’s easier said than done, but the most difficult bit is the re- starting of your plan. When I am having difficulty after a break or a busy period that has stopped my workout or even my diet plan, I try to just try to get that one starter workout in, that one step just to restart the process and not think of the whole plan.
One last issue for many, can be that trying to follow a healthy plan or even getting anything done in life can be quite overwhelming and hard to organise. One way around this is to write everything down that you need to get done. I use notepad on my computer and have a list from Monday to Sunday of things I would like to do on each day. Then a section underneath for anything that needs to be done/appointments/more long term tasks. Now I don’t forget or have to think about anything that needs doing.
Some positives about being human
Us humans are very adaptive creatures, we also often have the option to make our own decisions in life and the ability to change how we go about our lives. We can learn and practise to become very good at various tasks. Some of the things I like to do to create an environment that motivates me is listen to certain music or watch a great movie. Fantasy and passion can often be a great way to visualise all types of possibilities.
There is one other thing that many of us can do…….strive to be better, no matter what level you are at. As humans we have the ability to be able to push beyond what we thought was out of reach to us. Without this ability we wouldn’t have the technology we live with today or the success that many have achieved. Have your weaknesses, be human, but if you aim high in life you never know you may just hit the mark and achieve what you thought couldn’t be done, this is a very human natural trait that we all have in us, you just need to dig it out.
Summary
While it seems counter intuitive for a person who is preaching to their readers to get fit and healthy, to write an article acknowledging or even suggesting that there are times we fall down and to accept i , I’m not going to lie to you and say I’m perfect in my own endeavours to be fit and healthy. I, like you am human and with that comes all the imperfections and weaknesses that make me one. The trick is to find ways to minimise those weaknesses and strive to be the best you can given the card you have been dealt with in this life.
Realise that being human comes with many levels of imperfection and recognise those traits, manage your expectations and don’t put pressure on yourself to be perfect, but also remember that with positive thinking we can ultimately be great as a human despite them.
Mike, being human.
