After 20 years in the fitness industry I have met a variety of people who want to achieve certain results by attending a gym. They are wide and varied from weight loss to weight gain; from managing stress to improving health; from having time to themselves to wanting social interaction, just to name a few.
Everyone has extreme motivation when they first arrive and join a gym. Their foot is well and truly on the accelerator in the car of life.
But then something changes and they appear to slow. Why all of a sudden does the other foot slide onto the brake?
Why are they now sabotaging their goals?
I had no idea until a recent discussion about people taking pharmaceutical drugs for medical reasons.
Patients who take medicine for recovery from major operations have low adherence after 12 weeks – some pharmaceutical companies say as much as 80% of patients stop medication! And here is an example why:
A patient was told he needed to lose weight for maximum benefit from his medication. He was very successful initially – foot on the accelerator! But then he got worried that his fellow workers (who were overweight) would start to dislike him and that would make for an unhappy workplace, adding stress to his life. Stress he did not want! So he stopped losing weight and returned to his initial weight.
These people to him were unconsciously ‘enabling’ or ‘empowering’ him to remain overweight – at the risk of his own good health. This meant while one foot was on the accelerator, the other was on the brake.
The brake was his protection mechanism.
Whether you are trying to lose weight, reduce your stress, start an exercise program or create better balance in your life your foot must be on the accelerator – this allows you to create change.
What you do with the other foot is your choice but putting on the brake will either slow your progress or stop your progress, thus testing your resolve.
The key I think is to surround yourself with support. Whatever your goal in life or work, have the right people surrounding you to achieve your goals .
Make sure your enablers – conscious and subconscious – are positive ones, as you drive your way along a new personal healthier and happier superhighway!
