In church yesterday my preacher was talking about how to fall back in love. He was specifically talking about how to fall back in love with Christ, but it got me thinking of guess what? Exercise! He gave 3 steps that I think can help you fall back in love with exercise. The 3 steps are: remember, repent, and repeat. Thankfully they all start with Re so I could remember them. Let's break each down.
Remember-Remember back to a time when either you enjoyed exercise or when you were in the best shape of your life. How good did you feel? How much better was your outlook on life? A flight of stairs was probably an afterthought, not a cause to sigh and grunt your way up. Don't you want to get back to those days?
Repent-This is the one that might have you freaking out a little. Don't. My preacher just described it this way. You are walking towards something negative and you just turn around and head the other direction. Simple as that. No beating yourself up or anything like that. Just simply walk away from the negative things that are holding you back. Keep negative thoughts and negative people away from you. Steer your grocery cart away from those foods and beverages that are going to hold you back. Stop practicing self sabotage.
Repeat-What things did you do when you were in the best shape of your life? Did you get up early to work out? Did you work out on your lunch break? Did you do it after work? What did you eat? Chances are it all boiled down to one thing. You made exercise a priority. Chances also might be you didn't have kids, jobs, responsibilities so it was a little easier back then. You will have to make more sacrifices now, but you have to make yourself a priority. Set aside one hour a day, at least 3 days a week, and commit to getting yourself in shape. Two lines I always hammer home.
1. If you can't take care of you, you can't take care of anyone else.
2. Nothing tastes as good as looking and feeling good feels. Not even Mexican lasagna at Rosie's.
PS-In case you have already started falling back in love with exercise and are really sore here are some tips