we seem to know the problem
We all know reasonably well of what we need to do. Everyone I coach seems to know that vegetables are good for them and they should probably eat a little bit more of it. Everyone seems to know exercise and activity are good. Everyone seems to know too much abdominal fat is a health issue. Everyone seems to know junk foods cannot be eaten all the time and expect to be healthy.
How much is too much? What is moderation? These are questions we can always keep asking and complicating things. But the crucial part is not many people (at least, the 5 of you reading this blog) are thinking that zero activity + unlimited junk is going to not adversely affect your health.
i need to fix it
At some point in time, we all suddenly seem to sit up and take notice. That we need to fix something. Life might have taken hold of us for a few years and we might not have had the mental bandwidth at all to think about health and fitness.
Looking at an old photo, or making another hole in the belt buckle, or buying larger dresses - eventually it gets to a point where you wake up and decide to take action.
It is sometimes alarming - a doctor telling us that we need to fix a health issue before it gets worse. Or just a personal line being crossed.
This is a crucial event though.
too much "health" nonsense
But we are living in the era of too much of this health and fitness stuff going around. It is impossible to not have been surrounded by the noise around it.
So, what I see is a lot of you making the noises that you think you should be making but not meaning it or being ready for it.
I need to lose some weight
I need to eat more vegetables
I need to exercise daily
I need to go to the gym
I need to sleep
You get the idea. But then, if the realisation is not true and deep, the next step becomes a problem.
People often ask, but how do I eat more vegetables?
but this is so complicated
How is it possible to eat more vegetables?
Can you give me a meal plan?
Can you tell me precisely where and what vegetables I should buy and which recipe I should use to cook it?
Can I order this from a restaurant that will make it healthy and tasty and cost not too much? And can you tell me 17 restaurants that do this so I don't get bored?
you aren't ready
You don't really mean it. You think you do but you are just repeated the noises and patterns you think you have to.
If you cannot figure out that you need to eat more vegetables or how to eat more vegetables, you aren't ready.
Some of you might turn to a coach and that works for a good chunk of time. The coach tells you what to do and you just have to execute. The better the coach, the better the process.
But if you aren't internalising the process, if you aren't converting it into YOUR process, things eventually fall down.
But most of us cannot hire a coach, for whatever reason. But that's not an excuse to stop you.
You are a grown, functioning adult. Figure out how to double the amount of vegetables you are eating. That's it.
the blunt truth
C'mon, is it really that complex to figure out how to eat more vegetables? Munch on a carrot before lunch and a cucumber at 4 pm. That's "more vegetables" than you are currently eating.
That's a solid start.
If you cannot figure out what to do, if you aren't going to take the few minutes or hours to make this happen - you aren't ready.
Don't like it? Ah well, you need to hear it.
Good Will Hunting
As a coach, my long-term goal and success is measured when a student does not need me to tell them what to do.
You guys seen Good Will Hunting? You know, the scene where Ben Affleck when wishes that one day when he knocks the door, Matt Damon isn’t there.
If year on year, you are asking me the same questions about how to sleep more, or how to eat more vegetables - I am useless at my job and frankly, this is not working for you as well.
You keep coming back for the community, for skill coaching, for building on things we have done - that's great.
But if you are still asking me how to eat like an adult, you just aren't serious enough to figure it out.
So, figure it out.