We’re doing it wrong…

Maybe We Are Doing it Wrong?

In the United States we spend 40-50 billion dollars on health and fitness every year.

40 to 50 BILLION. Every. Year.

Now out of those of us in the United States who start a diet and/or exercise program, how many keep it up, make it apart of their daily lives?

5 to 10 percent.

And those of us who lose weight, what percentage keep it off?

5 to 10 percent.

So this means we spend 40-50 billion dollars every year for a 5-10% success rate. Yikes.

I think we might be doing this whole health and fitness thing wrong.

If you are unsure of my conclusion, let me ask you this question…

What if you would receive ALL the benefits of healthy eating and exercise, EXCEPT your weight would remain the same and the way your body looked also stayed exactly the same…would you still eat better and workout?

Before you answer, here are just some of the benefits you would be receiving…

• Reduces stress
• Better sleep
• Less muscular and skeletal pain
• Boosts immune system
• More energy
• Reduces disease
• Lowers blood pressure
• Increased strength
• Increased endurance
• Great flexibility
• Prevents injury
• Better quality of life

But again, while you would receive all of these benefits, plus more, and be physically stronger, your weight would stay exactly the same and you wouldn’t look any different.

So I ask again, would you eat healthy and exercise regularly with no change in weight or appearance?

If your answer is still no, I think we have found the problem. And this is a problem that plagues most of us, both fit and unfit. We base our motivation and desire to eat healthy and exercise on the façade, on what others and we can see. No wonder we fail 95% of the time, we are basing our results on something that might not ever meet our expectations.

We are not all made to all look like a swimsuit model. Our genetics are all different, creating different body shapes and sizes. Some of us have carried and delivered babies, others have been through illnesses, both of which can affect how your body looks, but yet we all tend to strive for the same exact ideal. Our minds have been fooled into this desire for the false ideal, so I offer this…

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:1-2

 “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. “Philippians 4:8

 Let us set our minds on things above, on the Truth, on what is right. And the Truth is this…it is right, and honorable, and pure, and lovely, and good to challenge our bodies with movement and exercise, and to eat the most nutrient dense foods possible no matter how much our scales say we weigh or how we look in a mirror. There are to many, dozens upon dozens, of actual benefits to rely on arbitrary and inconsistent byproducts. And that is what weight loss and a changing appearance are; they are byproducts, not benefits.

Good Word, Good Health, Good Fitness

-Erin