I feel like I always have some fitness goal I am trying to achieve. Some years I want to reach a certain goal weight. Other years I want to tone more. Sometimes I don’t want to be working towards any fitness goals and I just want to do what I want. If you struggle with meeting your fitness goals, you are not the only one, I have several struggles that pop up while I am trying to be my best most fit self. I want to share what my struggles are and how I work against them to be successful.
I am an emotional eater. Point blank period. When I am happy I want to celebrate with food. When I am sad I want to drown myself in misery with food. Not just any food the best worst for you food you could possibly imagine. Cookies, french fries, and cheeseburgers are my favorites when it comes to overindulging. Needless to say my emotional eating doesn’t help me reach my fitness goals at all! I always think “Oh I can just work it off” but the body, especially my over 30 year old body just doesn’t work like that anymore. Even with my emotional eating I have to be more cognizant about what I am eating. When I get that feeling that I want to eat because I have something to celebrate, I have to say “Tera you are not a dog. You do not need to reward yourself with a treat.” When I get sad and want to eat an entire pack of cookies I have to tell myself “Tera you do not need this. Go do something better with your life.” Pep talks can definitely help you stay on track! Another tip to stop emotional eating is to replace whatever you want with something else. So if you think you want to eat a whole gallon of ice cream, grab some fruit instead. When you think you want soda, drink a glass of water or some tea. All of these things can help with emotional eating.
Another thing that I struggle with when it comes to my fitness journey is sticking to a workout routine. I will have weeks when I am super motivated to work out and other weeks when I am just like blah I don’t want to do it. I am currently not a member of any dance studio or gym which makes it even harder! It is totally up to me to get my butt up and work out. When I had gym and dance memberships it was a little easier because at least then I could plan my workouts around their schedules, but without that I have to find my own motivation to do it. It really helps me when I plan my workouts ahead of time. I just don’t plan the day and the time, but I also plan what I am going to do during that particular session! Having it on my calendar means nothing if I have no idea what I am going to be doing once I start working out. I have two Dry Erase boards that I use to keep my workouts on track. I have one Dry Erase board where I plan the week. For example:
Sunday - Dance Day
Monday - Pole Conditioning
Tuesday - Cardio and so on.
This board is located on my refrigerator and I look at it every morning. In my actual dance room, I have another dry erase board which details which workouts I am going to do. I sit down and write on this board even before I start exercising! Sometimes once I get in my dance room I get excited and distracted. I have the board there to remind me exactly of what I am supposed to be doing. Writing out your workouts ahead of time will definitely help you have a consistent workout routine.
I am a terrible cook. I don’t know how the cooking gene missed me but it missed me big time. If it was possible to burn water, I promise you I could with how bad I am in the kitchen. Eating out all the time is terrible if you are trying to lose weight or get in shape. Processed food just has so many ingredients that are so bad for you. Every fitness professional will tell you 80% of losing weight comes from changing your diet while only 20% is working out. Since me and the kitchen are not friends but I have to eat healthy to lose weight I had to figure something out. I am very good at following recipes so that is the first thing I did. Luckily I have several friends who love to cook healthy so they are a very good resource for me. I have also worked on making the recipes that I do know a little healthier so they aren’t so bad for me. For example when I make pasta dishes I’ll use low fat cheese and gluten free pasta. I won’t slather my chicken in BBQ sauce but instead bake it without the sauce. I recently discovered skinnytaste.com which has tons of recipes that are flavorful and healthy! The website also sells a meal planner so you can write your meals down ahead of time and plan your week. If I do decide to eat out because I don’t have anything to cook, I will make better choices, so a fruit cup instead of fries or brown rice instead of white rice. Not cooking isn’t a good excuse for not eating right.
There might be other reasons you struggle on your fitness journey. Maybe you struggle on your fitness journey because you don’t have the time or you have health issues preventing you from getting where you want to be. If you find yourself constantly not meeting your goals, I think it is important to do some self-reflection to try and figure out what is going on. You might just need a break which is completely understandable. Regardless, your fitness journey is your own and we have all struggles. Take it as fast or as slow as you need to just remember to stay positive, don’t beat yourself up too much, and celebrate all of your wins!