By Nadia Popova
Ever wondered if you might be ruining your best years when it comes to being fit?
A lot of us spend our years wanting to be fit – merely passing the time rather than making the most of the days/months/years we have in life to be “able” to take full advantage of becoming our own version of what it is to be ‘fit.’
Most of us spend our time partying, eating junk food, and taking vacations rather than working out, acquiring new skill sets, building healthy fit-habits, and investing in mental and physical wellness.
I ask you this one question – “Are you passing the time instead of making the most of your fitness potential?”
Here are some ways to tell if your day-to-day routine is ruining your fitness goals.
- You fail to get out of bed as soon as you wake-up.
If you spend a half hour to an hour scrolling on your phone before getting out of bed; I am sorry to say this – but you are NOT making the most of your ‘fitness opportunities!’
Those who want to live a fit purposeful life don’t spend time lounging around on their phones while in bed after waking up. They also don’t hit the snooze button multiple times- day after day. In essence, waking up is no big deal, it’s just the start of another random day. To someone who truly embodies fitness: waking up every morning is a refreshing welcome to another day of hard yet meaningful work.
- You spend more than an hour or two a day on aimless activities.
Some activities are aimless, done only because they are pleasing in the moment. Some activities like this are:
Scrolling through social media
Watching Netflix / Youtube / TV
Playing video games
In limited amounts, no more than an hour or two a day, these types of activities can be a a great way to decompress. Any more than that, and you’re going beyond the ‘decompression mode.’ In essence you are ‘wasting valuable time’ that could be better spent on achieving your fitness goals. People who are focusing on their fitness as a ‘daily habit’ don’t spend endless hours doing these types of things because they are aware that every hour sucked away by aimless activities is another hour they will never get back. It’s not that they try not to spend time doing these things — it’s the fact that wasting that much time makes them sick.
- You aren’t ready for bed at the end of the day.
People whose days are filled with purposeful activities feel tired at the end of the day. Whether it’s mental work or physical exercise, purposeful activity (especially fitness related tasks) uses up energy and will leave you looking forward to your night time routine.
When you aren’t making the most of your life and fitness opportunities, you might fail to feel that relaxing desire to hit your head on the pillow at the end of the day. Your mind is still racing, (I still need to do x,y.z etc)… instead of feeling accomplished. Think back to a time when you got a restful night sleep – were you productive that day? Now think back to a time when you struggled to fall asleep… how much time did you waste in the day on aimless activities?
- You spend more time planning than actually ‘doing.’
If you spend more of your time in “lala land,” daydreaming, planning or thinking about being fit, rather than working on your fitness, then you are not making the most of your fitness opportunities.
Fit people don’t sit around daydreaming about what their future body might look or feel like. People who have successful transformations pick a goal for the future and then work hard to make that goal happen. Someone who spends all their time daydreaming is not someone who spends all their time doing.
Think about weightlifters. They spend a little bit of their time researching how to lift weights more effectively, and a lot of their time lifting weights.
- You worry what others think of you.
People that truly succeed in fitness are those that are too busy focusing on themselves to worry what others think of them. Yes, some might worry about what people who matter think of them, but they don’t worry about what their friends, family, or social media following thinks. They are too busy focusing on their own health and fitness tasks!
If you routinely worry about what your friends, family, peers, or social media following thinks of you, you may be letting your fitness potential slip by. Instead of doing what others approve of, find a fitness plan and purpose that you can be true to; even when you feel the world is turning upside down around you.
After reading this article, do any of the five reasons mentioned above equate to why your weight-loss / fitness goals haven’t happened?
Fitness is a lifestyle – it’s about instilling life-long habits, and doing things that you don’t always want to do.
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