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Yoda once said, “Always in motion is the future.”
I know the source is a little silly, but isn’t that a great quote? To me, it says that the future is ever-changing and is virtually limitless with potential. You are free to change it however you wish. That Yoda, so wise and prophetic.
I shared that quote with one of my newer fitness students, Mary, recently. Mary is quite active and is a fellow RVer! Funny how like attracts like. I’ve got quite a few personal trainees who share James’ and my love of the road.
Mary has always loved exercise, so she’s got that end of things covered. But she struggles on the nutrition end. She’s got about 25 pounds to lose, and is pretty discouraged about it. In fact, she’s actually gained some weight recently even as hard as she tries to lose it. And boy has she tried. Diet books, starvation, supplements, hours pinning diet advice on her Pinterest board, you name it. None of these big changes have worked.
Here’s my theory on where Mary’s going wrong. I think she tries too hard. It’s been too much change all at once.
We are such creatures of habit, even the decidedly displeasing ones. You’d rather not be eating cheesy puffs all the time when driving cross country. But, it never fails, you constantly find yourself wiping the orange stuff off the RV’s steering wheel. Mary’s had half a century to grow some pretty deep roots on her bad habits, and all her attempts at completely separating from them have been way too much too fast.
Yoda also said, “You must unlearn what you have learned.”
Mary and I took a look at her eating habits and found one of her weak spots: the hours between 2pm and 5pm. Big calories (and unhealthy ones) get ingested in these pre-dinner hours. These are the extra calories that have been thwarting her weight loss. If we can do away with these, she’ll slowly start seeing the results she desires.
So, that’s where we are at. Mary has one goal, or one tweak to her eating plan. Her goal is to monitor her eating habits between 2pm and 5pm…and don’t change anything else. No diet pills, no more diet fads. Just watch the clock: 2-5pm. She can eat fresh fruits and veggies all she wants in that time. That’s it.
It sounds so simple, but starting small is a great way to see big results. Sometimes it just takes one single healthy lifestyle tweak to create a domino effect and stop a free fall of our other bad habits. Plus, focusing on just one thing keeps it from feeling so overwhelming. Once you’ve tackled a single goal, then you’ll feel motivated to keep the improvements coming.
So, RV friends, what is your one tiny tweak going to be? Your future’s still in motion, just like Yoda said. The question is, how are you going to get there?
James and I will each be making one change as well. Yes, even fitness buffs have challenges. What will we pick, and how will we do? Tune in later, friends!
And may the force be with you…