Future Value of Your Exercise Efforts

All throughout my life, I have always looked ahead to the future. Not weeks or months, but years…..five years, ten years down the road and what I wanted my life to look like once there, and what I needed to do to get there. If ever I could not realize any future value to what I was about to do, whether it was the purchase of a property, a creation of a new business, a change or move in our businesses, an investment or whatever, I would not do it. Most everything that I have done in my life has had some sort of future value to me and /or my family and that line of thinking has served me very well.

The reason I am mentioning this is that when it comes to exercise, the majority of people who take up exercise are thinking of their immediate troublesome situation and how exercise can resolve it as quickly as possible. I started working out with weights when I was a teenager and have been ever since. I knew then that doing that consistently throughout my life would serve me well as I aged and it has.

Most people looking to lose weight are expecting the majority of the weight loss to occur within a few weeks or months. Those looking to build muscle are looking to see muscle gain in weeks or months. Those looking to look and feel better, sleep better, move around easier, relieve some stress, and have more energy are doing the right thing by taking up regular exercise, but again, often expect these results to happen almost magically and in no time at all. People by nature are generally impatient.

Simply put, these things take time.  Although you may see some results in a lot of cases in a few weeks or a month or so, think of the benefit to you if you were to exercise regularly for one year. Ask yourself what you think you would feel like, and look like if you exercised regularly for one year regardless of your goals.

We, at G&M Fitness have always been straight forward with our advice to our customers. Our recommendations always revolve around having safe, long lasting and realistic goals in regards to results. When a customer comes in with the expectation of losing 40 or 50 pounds in a month or two, they seem disappointed when we tell them that it is not recommended nor should it be expected.

The changes that you make to achieve your goals, whether it is to lose weight or gain muscle or just changing the way you feel, they have to become part of your life. Do you really think for a minute that the healthy habits that were responsible for your transformation don’t need to be continued once you achieve your goal? Think again. The only alternative to a healthy habit is a bad one.

The reality is that the slower you make weight loss occur, the more likely it is that it will stay off, because when enough time passes, you will realize that the changes and improvements that you have made in your activity level and eating habits have actually become habits. That’s the secret. And again, in order to make something a habit, it takes time.

Think of it this way: A safe and very achievable weight loss is 1-2 pounds of body fat a week. Even at one pound a week, which to most seems like a lot of work for nearly nothing, but it isn’t for nothing. In one year, you will have lost 52 pounds! That’s not nothing. Not only that but in addition to losing 52 pounds, you will have likely improved or normalized your elevated blood pressure, your cholesterol level will have improved, you will be sleeping better, your back pain will have disappeared, your stress level will have come down substantially, your self-esteem will improve, you will have many, many new friends, your stamina will have improved tremendously and much, much more. A new you will have emerged and you can thank yourself for seeing the future value of regular exercise.

Gino