If you are like most people, you haven’t exactly been taking care of yourself your whole life. Maybe you played some sports when you were younger and worked out sporadically. You ate junk food without thinking about what you were putting into your body and have been able to get away with it. Relatively… Oh sure maybe you’ve gained a little weight over the years and maybe your back and knees are starting to hurt consistently but it’s ok right? We all get that as we age right? Before you know it, that little annoying discomfort has now become full blown pain that you have to take meds for, and that weight kept on creeping up to the point where nothing fits like it used to and you don’t like what you see in the mirror.
I believe this is one of the reasons midlife crises happens to so many people. You got to the point where you are taking stock in what you’ve accomplished. And this is where you ask yourself if it’s too late to start over? Can you still reset your body and reverse some of the damage that’s already been done? You may wonder how your body will respond to any drastic change. You may also wonder if this is not even possible and you should just accept that you are getting older and this is what it looks like.
Well, here are my answers to all these questions. For one, I don’t want to alarm you but if you continue on this road and don’t change anything, it will only get worse. And two, yes it’s possible but it will be hard. The good news is our bodies are extremely adaptable and once you start eating healthy and working out, you will see the results within a relatively short amount of time. I am not saying that all your ailments will magically disappear but you will feel the difference within a few months and if you keep on going the results will be even more significant. There was an interesting study done that compared men who never worked out in their lives to men who used to work out but haven’t been in the past seven years. The results were that both groups were in the same boat health wise. What this means is if you don’t use it, you lose it! But at same time, if you start working out you can gain it all back. The body will adapt.
Yes, it’s hard to change your eating habits when you’ve been so accustomed to certain foods and introducing a drastically different diet can feel daunting. Start small. Take baby steps and make a few changes at a time. Just keep on going in that direction and don’t look back. Working out can feel overwhelming and intimidating after many years of not doing anything. You feel embarrassed by how out of shape you are and how easily you get tired when others don’t seem to. There’s no way to sugar coat it. Yes, it will be an uphill battle at first but it will get better with each workout. I promise that if you stick to a consistent routine you will feel stronger and more energetic after a few months.
These days all you hear is accept, accept, accept. Accept what? Accept that you are fat, we’ll just rename it as “curvy”. I say, no! Don’t accept! There will be no change if you accept. Just the opposite, resist the complacency and keep on pushing for change.
What have you got to lose? Maybe a few pounds!