Taking Away Your Choice /
Fitness with Kate Ivey
Allowing yourself to play out the ‘shall I/shan’t I’ mental struggle does you no good, and is detrimental not only to your fitness but your mental health and self-belief. Fitness expert Kate Ivey explains.
Keeping consistent and therefore having long-term success with your exercise and general all-round health means doing things you don’t feel like doing. It means exercising when it’s the last thing you want to do, it means having a healthy meal when you are craving takeaways and it means digging deep to encourage yourself to continue on your healthy path.
The best way to stay on top of your fitness and make exercise a regular part of your life is taking the choice factor away. Instead of giving yourself the option of doing it or not, schedule it in and make it something you do. Not just something you do when you feel like it, when there appears to be time or when you are with others. Make it something you do, full stop.
The thing with choice is it plays with our minds. It is normal to not really feel like exercising and the thought of working hard and getting up a sweat is far worse than doing it. Even fit people, including myself, often don’t actually feel like doing a workout – but we do it anyway.
Engaging in the mental struggle around ‘shall I/shan’t I’ is what is stopping you from succeeding. You’ve planned your workout, so it’s happening. Don’t give yourself the option of backing out… and then enjoy it as the results unfold.