I’ve always held a certain level of fitness. Meaning, I’ve never been so out of shape I’ve huffed and puffed climbing the stairs in the subway, or had difficulty keeping it together during a one-off class with a friend. However, I’ve always gone in and out of spurts of health and well-being. Meaning, I’d work out for three weeks and eat super healthy, then take a few weeks off, not working out and indulging in whichever foods I wanted.
I’d play by the “I’ll start again on Monday” rule, and if Monday didn’t shape up as intended, I’d delay taking care of myself until the following Monday. I wasn’t motivated to work out at a gym; in fact, I despised it. I didn’t mind classes, but given my schedule was all over the place, it was tricky to stick to it. Basically, I’d only work out if A. I had a gym membership which included good classes and B. if the class schedule worked with my own schedule (which was rare). To summarize: there was always an excuse to not attend a class.
Fast forward to current day, I work out doing some sort of HIIT workout (high-intensity interval training) at least twice a week and go on minimum one or two runs a week. I’m in the best shape of my life, and I know that I will never “take a few weeks off” ever again. So what changed? There are four things that made me turn an effort into a lifestyle choice.
Stress was affecting my life
Ah, stress. The evil thing that pops up and you don’t even know you’re stressed until you’re not. My job, that I absolutely loved, was stressful. It was busy and demanding and I wanted to maintain a level of utter perfection that was difficult to maintain with my work load. My skin started reacting to the stress, which was the ultimate indicator. I had to do something about it, but I felt like I had no time. That’s where running came in. I could slip on my shoes and head out the door, and would be back within the hour. It was a struggle in the beginning, but I muscled through and now, couldn’t imagine my life without it.
My brother was diagnosed with a disability
It actually wasn’t my brother’s diagnosis of multiple sclerosis that inspired me to take care of myself. It was a year after Tom was diagnosed when he became the healthiest he’d ever been. He stopped drinking (not that he was a big drinker, but an occasional beer can pack on the calories), he found a doctor he was inspired by named Terry Wahls who also has MS, and speaks openly about the integral relationship between food and MS symptoms. (With diet alone, Dr. Wahl’s went from being wheelchair dependent to not). Tom started working out again, even though he couldn’t engage in typical working out he was used to (running, biking, playing hockey, etc.) but rather doing bodyweight exercises within his capabilities.
When I saw him for the first time after a few months, I was blown away. He was lean and toned, his skin and hair were glowing, and he looked like the happiest and healthiest version of himself. If he could do it, what the hell was my excuse? I started running a week later.
I realized I didn’t need to kill myself with exercise
When I was working out in my late teens and early 20’s, I felt as though you needed to engage in a full hour of working out in order to see results/make it worth your time. There were some days when I’d spend 2 hours at the gym because I thought that was better. It was totally unsustainable.
My runs started bleak, a 30 minute 4-kilometre run and I was wiped. But, this was 30 minutes door-to-door. No awkward searching for a locker, or making small talk with an old acquaintance from university, or waiting in line for a shower. No, this was a 30-minute run, home, in the shower, eat, dry off, get ready in just over an hour. I had time to fit that in.
To supplement the runs (because, let’s be serious, I wasn’t going to run more than once a week in the early days) I started doing BBG workouts with a friend who so graciously introduced me to the epicness of Kayla Itsines’ “Bikini Body Guide” workout program. I hate the name (working out isn’t about looking good in a bikini…), but I love the movement.
I could do BBG workouts in the gym, at the park with my dog (Louie), at home, and all within 24 minutes. Yes, during those 24 minutes I feel like I may be dying, but knowing it’ll all be over in only 7 more minutes keeps me going.
I needed a challenge outside of work
There are many challenges you can find outside of work, and I’ve always been more drawn to the creative challenges; refurbishing old furniture, building new furniture, learning guitar, teaching myself to sew, etc. While I still love those hobbies, I needed something active to help maintain a healthy lifestyle, and hopefully something that was measurable. That’s when I taught myself to run. I could track and document my progress with my favourite app called Strava, and eventually, trained for my first-ever Olympic triathlon. That challenge was something I wouldn’t even dream of at the top of 2016 – and now in 2017, I’m training for my first half-Ironman.
Your motivation to turn exercise into a lifestyle choice may look different than my four reasons listed above, but do take a moment to consider why you want to start working out. Look beyond how you want your body to look, and that’s where you’ll find the motivation to fit it into your routine.
meghan jeffery 