Think Progress, Not Perfection

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

— MLK Jr.

How’s that fitness goal going? Maybe you’re crushing your goal, or maybe your goal is crushing you. Either way, what matters isn’t where you are today, but where you are going. The idea isn’t to hit a home run every day, but to make a little bit of progress step by step. Hitting singles isn’t as glamorous as hitting a towering home run, but racking up lots of singles gets the job done much more efficiently than hitting one out of the park occasionally. It sounds great to lose 10 pounds in 10 days, but in doing so, has anything really changed in your habits or lifestyle? Fad diets are just that - fads.

I once worked with a young man who lost 40 pounds in 50 days. He then gained it all back. Some years later he applied the lessons he learned from his failed weight loss challenge to forge ahead and finally drop the weight. But too often we want to achieve it all in one fell swoop.

We strive for perfection. We strive to crush our goal and to hit the home run. But visiting your goal isn’t the same as living at your goal. If you can achieve one sustainable habit, practice, or result from your current challenge, then you will have made progress – big progress. As Dr. King said, “Keep moving forward.”

KEEP STRIVING. KEEP WORKING AT IT. THINK PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION.

LOOKING FOR PASSION IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES – HOW TO FIND YOUR BLISS WITH EXERCISE.

I’ve never met anyone who stuck with exercise in the long run that didn’t enjoy it at some level. That’s bad news for some of you. Gyms are filled with people trudging through countless grueling hours of exercise that they despise because they believe that such work is the key to arriving at some far off destination of contentment. The logic is backwards.

Arriving at a destination of bliss is about showing up at the right place to begin with. Easier said then done. Most of us aren’t born tennis prodigies or Olympic gymnasts. The good news is that all of us are born with an innate ability to enjoy the expression of grace and happiness through our physicality. But getting there involves rolling up your sleeves and potentially trying a lot of different avenues. However daunting it may be to try new things, the litmus test of passion is simple – the key distinction and question where it comes to passion is ‘does it hold your attention?’ Asked another way, when you do a certain activity or task, does time move fast or slow? The truth of the matter is tennis prodigies and Olympic gymnasts aren’t necessarily born either; they’ve had the gift of exposure to their physical destiny. What many of us need is exactly that – the gift of exposure. I started studying martial arts and boxing not because it was fun or easy, or that I was necessarily good at it. But one thing was certain – it captivated me. I was enthralled by the way a boxer moves or how a martial artist expresses grace. I started doing theater as a kid because the theater felt like a magical place. To this day, when I am acting, time stands still.

“However daunting it may be to try new things, the litmus test of passion is simple – the key distinction and question when it comes to passion is ‘does it hold your attention?”

— Eric C. Stevens

In order to find lasting success with moving your body, you must discover the way to move that moves you. It means today, writing down five things you’ve always wanted to try but you haven’t because you’ve let fear, excuses, or uncertainty dictate your physical destiny. Exercise is not a means to an end, but an opportunity to discover passion and purpose. Your physical passion and purpose is waiting for you – go get it.

Food for Thought

FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

January 26, 2016  /  Eric Stevens

“The difference between fat and thin comes down to preparation.”

“The difference between fat and thin comes down to preparation,” a client told me yesterday. She hit the nail on the head. She means that she can prepare healthy meals with real ingredients and whole foods and get leaner in the process, or she can eat pre-packaged/processed foods and suffer the ill effects of chronic weight gain. Put another way, you can eat for convenience or you can be healthy and lean, but you probably can’t have both.

Many people struggle with weight, but they didn’t 40 years ago. Why? If you believe what you see on TV, it’s because people exercise less and/or eat too much. But both oft mentioned reasons are misleading and only partially correct assertions. People physically moved far less in 1970 then they did in 1920, but proportionally they were no less overweight. And while calorically, people have steadily eaten more calories each passing decade; the real culprit isn’t the calorie, but the type of calorie - Specifically sugar and ‘empty’ calories.

In fact, caloric consumption actually decreased among Americans between 2003 and 2010, yet the percentage of overweight and obese adults increased. Again, this is because it comes down to the type of calorie consumed. Indeed, statistics are staggering where it comes to the prevalence of ‘empty’ calories such as simple sugars, sugary beverages, and packaged foods (most of which contain added/sometimes hidden sugars.) It’s why diet foods, bars, and shakes don’t really ‘work.’ First of all, once you stop eating your fake diet food, you gain back the weight. Secondly, (and more importantly) eating that way doesn’t address the primary problem – eating packaged and processed foods is what got you heavy (and probably sick) in the first place. ‘Healthier’ packaged food isn’t the answer. Real food is.

“‘Healthier’ packaged food isn’t the answer. Real food is.”

— Eric C. Stevens