Who among us has not heard the phrase ‘everything in moderation’? We figure if we do everything ‘almost’ right - if we eat well most of the time, exercise a few times a week - then we can ‘indulge’ every once in a while, and we feel justified and happy doing so. I myself have lived by this credo for the most part over the past few years.
Just this past week, however, two people have asked me if I lost weight…after my immediate thought ‘why, was I looking chubby before?…’ I started wondering why they asked; I was unaware of having lost any weight. In thinking back, I do remember making a few decisions differently over the last couple of weeks than I have in the past, and to this I must attribute any physical change.
I have been studying and thinking about the concept of consistency lately, and along with my goals which have been top of my mind, I must assume this awareness has made a difference in my actions. One of the goals I state over and over in my mind is that I am active every day. Just that repetition has caused me to get up and do something, when prior to this I would have skipped a day, although I still would have been active almost every day. Can it be this simple?…I happen to be listening to a set of Brian tracy tapes in my car at the moment. When I go to eat something lately, I can hear Brian Tracy’s words in my mind; ‘Every decision you make is either taking you towards your goals, or away from them’…so there have been a few times lately where I decided on salad instead of pasta, or fruit instead of ice cream, when I normally eat a really healthy diet most of the time.
Can these few small changes - the difference between consistency and moderation - really make the difference? For someone who is very mindful of choices and feels they are usually good ones, I find this really surprising, although perhaps I shouldn’t. It makes perfect sense, and brings to life for me a saying I once heard about the difference between super-successful people - in athletics, finance, whatever - and normal people not being the huge gap everyone thinks it is. The difference is very small, and if we could only see that, we might be motivated to just tighten everything up a little and reap the rewards we say we want so badly. Well, I can tell you from the frontlines - it’s true! Such tiny little differences in decision-making DO make a fundamental difference in outcome, and they started before the moment, with a prior decision, that XYZ is what I want and who I am.
June 26th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Shauna,
I can totally back you up on this using my own similar experiences.
Even though I was a personal trainer for 3 years, so I exercised and ate right most of the time, I didn’t live that strict of a lifestyle once I stopped training for a living.
However, during the period of time since I stopped training full-time, I still made good choices MOST of the time.
The result of that has been that even going from exercising almost daily to exercising only 2 to 3 times per week, I still only put on about 5 pounds over the course of an entire year. Compare that to some of the people in my circle of influence who have put on more than 20 or 30 pounds during that time.
I guess my influence isn’t strong enough!
p.s. - About a month ago I started exercising daily again. I didn’t want to keep those 5 pounds so I decided to give them to someone else who needs them more than I do!
- Aaron
June 26th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
Ah, there you go! Our timing seems similar - let’s keep it up!
Although living a healthy lifestyle overall will always be my priority, it is interesting to see how much of a difference I can make just by making a little extra commitment in a certain area.
I have no doubt this would apply to any area of life. Thus, we can use this knowledge as a tool, so when we wish to ‘turn up the heat’ and get something accomplished in a given amount of time, we can have confidence that the extra boost of effort and consistency will serve us well.
Have a great day!
Shauna