(This blog posting is part 2 of 2. Part 2 focuses on why health and fitness should be important to you, as well as struggles I’ve faced on my journey. Part 1 gave background on my health and fitness journey.)
Achieving good health and fitness takes a lot of hard work, dedication, perseverance, and the ability to say no sometimes to a bag of M&Ms. Despite knowing that good health is essential to keeping your body functioning at optimal levels, sometimes it’s just hard. And I know there’s a handful of you who don’t know what constitutes good health because I was that person for quite awhile.
I like analogies - take one relatable experience to describe another. One way to try and understand why you should care about achieving or maintaining good health and fitness is to compare it to a car. Cars require maintenance. At different periods of time, different maintenance is necessary for a car. You typically take a car in every 3,000-5,000 miles for an oil change. You should typically get a “maintenance check up” (aka your physical) once a year.
Less often, you take a car in to get tires rotated or replaced. You should also get cancer screenings at the recommended interval by your doctor. When your car just isn’t working right, you take it in and have it reviewed by an expert to help diagnose the problem. The same should be true with your body. If you never did any maintenance on your car, either personally or by a professional, eventually the car is going to stop working. So imagine how your body feels if you do nothing good for it.
Yes, I know there are differences between you and your car :). Some people need reminders that health and fitness should be a priority and not a “when it’s convenient for me” attitude like I had. Some people aren’t aware of the needs their body has and I recommend you speak with a trusted health care advisor to understand the importance.
I think a lot of people who lead healthy lives face times when they have a hard time caring anymore or don’t see the harm in giving in to unhealthy habits. It’s about balance. I love dark chocolate. I have a hard time not having some sort of dark chocolate every day. In small quantities, dark chocolate does have some health benefits. And some days I eat a small amount. And other days I consume a large amount. I wish I had the magical answer on how to say no but I don’t. (If you do, please share it with me!). I do remind myself of my overall goals and sometimes that does the trick for me. I remind myself that I do typically eat chocolate often so I’m not depriving myself of it, so there’s no need to over indulge and sometimes that does the trick for me.
Everyone's health and fitness journey is different. You can learn from others and utilize tactics that help you achieve your goals. You have to find what works for you, which may take fine-tuning every now and then (just like a car). Identify two or three tactics that have really helped you in the past stay on a healthy path. You can go to those tactics first when you become frustrated and adapt them to your current situation. If those don’t work, you can seek out new ones. Don’t be afraid to ask others for help.
So why should you really care about your health? It’s your foundation. Without working towards the goal of good health and fitness you’re allowing your foundation to potentially start crumbling. It doesn’t mean everything is easy or will be easy even if or when you reach good health and fitness. As you continue to further your education and knowledge of health and fitness, you’ll come across a lot more research and information today that is explaining how poor choices are affecting the body. At the end of the day, don’t let all the numbers and information overwhelm you. Remember to start simple and continue maintaining and supporting your foundation.
Miss FitGab
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