Are You Maintaining Your Fitness Goals as a Healthy Lifestyle?

Once we reach our fitness goals, are they really done? I hope the answer for all of you is a big NO. Staying fit through maintenance of living a healthy life is the real goal. 

Without maintaining our fitness, what was all the hard work for? Life is the event deserving of our best healthy self. Sure, we may be motivated by a special occasion or fitting into a swimsuit, but those are only short-term goals. Staying fit through maintenance means we are in this for the long haul. We have committed ourselves to a lifestyle of health and enjoying a quality life through the process. 

I walk the walk of maintenance every day and would be a hypocrite to my clients and you if I failed to do so. Living a fit and healthy life is a continual process of eating right, regular exercise, and plenty of rest. When you work hard to lose weight, reduce body fat, and gain muscle, just letting all that go doesn't make sense. For example, it has taken me decades to develop mature muscle and without continual challenging workouts, I could easily lose it to atrophy. Did you know deconditioning of our muscle begins after two weeks of not exercising according to some studies? 

Staying fit through maintenance also means we're happy and comfortable with our new lifestyle. We are in a good place physically and mentally. It allows us to enjoy the fruits of what we have achieved. Sometimes our confidence can be boosted to the point of self-challenge entering fitness competitions or marathons. For the most part, it enables us to feel really good about our health. 

Unfortunately, many individuals fail to maintain fitness once goals are reached and return to unhealthy habits. This is probably one of the hardest things to see as a trainer and I'm sure difficult for the individual who worked hard to achieve so much. What happened? 

Often times many of us are looking for temporary fixes instead of lifelong results. We consider fitness a burden to our life eliminating fun, foods we prefer to eat, and causing workout discomfort. Our mindset is not ready to see getting fit as an enjoyable and beneficial lifestyle. We feel great for the minute wearing that bikini, but once the winter months hit, all that pseudo fitness is tossed aside. 

In order to stay fit using a maintenance program, it requires living the life full-time. Our body achieves what the mind believes is the new motto. Falling in love with the process of taking care of our body exemplifies the best of fitness maintenance. It's important to move beyond short-term goals and into the full-time maintenance of our healthy body. 

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Be well and Stay Healthy