Something I find fascinating is the way we shape our identity on the negative first. I notice that women who tend to yo-yo diet consider themselves a fat person who is sometimes fit. I wonder why is it that they do not consider themselves a fit person who sometimes gains weight?
I see someone who stays on track with health and fitness for 3 months, maybe 6 and then they fall off for a week or two and all of a sudden they are all “I knew it” and “I knew I’d fail again!” etc. Logically that doesn’t make any sense.
You get to shape your own identity and you are allowed to think ANYTHING you want about yourself, and you choose to think you’re the kind of person that “could never be fit”?
If I look back over my life, I actually have always been drawn to fitness. My story is based of all my eating disorders, my 110 pound weight loss, overcoming major depression and slowing crawling out of massive debt.
I can look back over my life and see so much proof that I was not healthy or fit. That I was a fat girl that got motivated sometimes. It is really easy to say I was always a hot mess and it appears as if I “found” fitness at almost 30.
If I REALLY look back at my life, and LOOK for proof that I was actually a fit person that got off track, I can totally see the path!
-I loved weight training for my PE electives in high school my sophomore year, picking up heavy stuff made me feel like a badass.
-I totally owned Tae-Bo on VHS lol.
-At some point in high school I actually joined a gym after I got emancipated and I tried out a kickboxing class for a few months as I could afford it as a broke teen.
-In jr college I used up my electives with weight training and yoga.
-My best friend and I, in my early 20s, actually did go to Turbo classes at the gym on our split shift break at work.
-When I lived within a few miles of a YMCA, I would take my Discman with my Eminem CDs and get my elliptical on, aaaand now you all know I’m about to be 35 hahaha!
-When I worked at a building with a gym, I worked out before work and showered there, getting up at 5 am for my 8 o’clock start.
All of these attempts at living a fit life were VERY short lived, as drinking, drugs, over work, school, relationships and my social life pushed them out of the forefront.
I never stuck with anything long enough to REALLY learn about nutrition and eating, or learn what was best for MY body.
I yo-yo’d like CRAZY and it was the same old story. I’ll never be able to keep it off. I’m just not one of “those people”. I don’t “like” working out.
You name it, and I told myself the most negative lies.
So yes, if I look at a calendar and count the days I was “fit” and then counted the days I was “fat”, I am sure on sheer numbers alone I am not a “fit” person.
However I KNOW that in reality I have ALWAYS been a fit person who sometimes gets off track and NOT the other way around.
I don’t need 6 pack abs or 12% body fat to be a healthy and fit person. I don’t have to be perfect, never gain an ounce, or go balls to the wall every single day in my workouts.
As soon as I embraced fitness as a part of my life FOR REAL, I was able to stay focused and change my perception of who I am.
I encourage you to look for proof in your own life that you ARE the person you wish you were. Maybe it’s business success, financial control, relationships, or something else.
No matter what you are telling yourself you are not, you have the option to change it any time you want.
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson