Healthy Lifestyle and Weight Loss

 Setting a goal for weight loss has its downsides.  It's hard to measure unless, of course, you set a goal of losing a certain number of pounds in a few weeks or months.

    The problem with a lens like this is that it lacks definitive action.

    It's easier to set a healthy lifestyle goal.

    Then you can decide on the steps you are going to take to reach your goal.

    A healthy lifestyle goal means eating more healthy foods and being more physically active.

    That doesn't mean you have to put in everything and become a fitness enthusiast overnight.

    It is important to take small bites to accustom your body to the changes.

    Focus on a healthy lifestyle rather than your waistline.

    Which task is the easiest?

    To lose weight or change your diet.

    Focus on the actions rather than the result, because the result will be the product of the actions.

    When I was involved in track and field and training I had goals like beating my personal best times in middle distance and road races, but I was focusing on what I needed to do to achieve those.  Goals.  I wasn't going to set personal best times unless I trained for it.

    Elite athletes doing their best at the Olympics make it all easier, but what you see are the results of years of hard work and sacrifice.  Everything requires concentration.

    The key to all of this is passion.  No one can subject their body to all this discipline if they are not passionate about what they are doing.  It is passion that fuels perseverance.

    As an athlete, I haven't had the chance to be very talented, but I used my abilities to do my best.

    What does all of this have to do with losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle?

    It's about living your best life.

    An unhappy and dissatisfied life will sabotage your efforts to lose weight because you will always find an excuse to eat comfortably if you are trying to lose weight or miss a day of training if you are doing sports.

    The bottom line is this: if you don't feel like getting up in the morning, you need to make changes.

    Think about what you liked to do when you were younger.  Is it possible to take over some of these old interests?

    Getting involved in something you're passionate about will take you off the couch and off the TV, which can hurt your healthy living goals if you don't watch them.  Remember the old adage "Use it or lose it".

    Taking a balanced approach to life is the way to go for a healthy lifestyle.