"To do" lists

If you are living a sedentary lifestyle and have fallen really far off track, you're very likely overwhelmed at the thought of the amount of work you are going to need to do to get even close to where you once were or want to be. Natural reaction to being faced with a challenge that large.

When you have a to do list that snowballs, it's hard to know where to begin. There's so much to do that you don't even want to face it. It's overwhelming. You know you can't get it all done at once though, so you tackle one item at a time. The thing about "to do" lists is that they're a lot like fitness. Your list may involve grocery shopping, paying the bills, packing the kids lunches, mowing the lawn, doing the laundry, painting the mailbox, going to the doctor, giving the dog a bath, etc, but once you have completed any one of these tasks, they're going to end up right back on the "to do" list.

If you could get your mindset on fitness to be the same as tackling your other responsibilities, you may finally get to where you want to go. Once you have arrived at the healthiest version of you, your fitness "to do" list won't be as scary as it once was. It will still exist, but it won't be nearly as intimidating as it once was because you continuously stay on top of your list and keep it under control.

You know that feeling you get when the laundry has piled up and you finally get the chance to get it caught up and it's such a feeling of relief? Just because you got it all done, doesn't mean it's gone off the list for good. There will be another full load by the end of the day, but you don't let that stop you from doing it. Why? It's on the list. You have to do it. You have no choice. And it's not going to wash itself.

What if instead of feeling totally overwhelmed by how far you have to go to get back to where you want to be health wise, you created yourself a sort of "fitness to do" list? What if you wrote down all of the things that you want to change about yourself and started tackling one or two of those things at a time, never removing anything from that list? I don't want you to put "lose X pounds" on the list. I want you to put a goal weight and or size, and more importantly a visual image of what you want to look and feel like on that list. That never comes off the list. Be specific with what you want. Write it down and start at the top. When you get the hang of one thing, move on to the next. Add just one thing at a time.

I understand how frustrating it can be when you feel like you have a long journey ahead of you, but the thing about living a healthy lifestyle is that it's never ending. We all have a long journey ahead of us. The difference between those of us that are fit and healthy, and those of us that aren't, is that those of us that are fit and healthy have chosen to take the journey. We made our "fitness to do" lists and are sticking to them.

Don't be afraid of how far you have to go. Healthy living has no finish line, so stop stressing yourself out over fad diets and calories and pounds. I'm a huge believer in eating right, working out, focusing on the things you want to improve, focusing on being healthy, and letting the rest happen naturally. When you crash diet and focus on what the scales say, you rob yourself of nutrients and muscle mass that your body needs to get you to your ideal visual image of a healthier version of you. Don't take away all of your own tools, then get angry that you failed. If you start putting water in your gas tank, your car isn't going to run better. It's going to have the opposite effect. It needs gasoline to run. It needs the proper fuel to get you from point A to point B. if you start filling it with water, you're not giving it what it needs to perform for you. Your body is the same. You need to fuel it properly to get the results you want.

Make your list today and start on it now. Why not now? What's wrong with now? Get on it. No more excuses. No more getting overwhelmed by the big picture. No more putting it off and letting it pile up like dirty laundry. First thing on the list is to get started! Today is the day to start tackling your fitness to do's. I know you can do it. And only you can do it. So make it happen.

My email is lacysfitnessblog@gmail.com. If you need help with your fitness to do list, I'd be more than glad to help. Shoot me an email and we will get started!