I was in the gym this morning, nothing unsual in that you might think, however amongst the regular patch work of posters and adverts there was a new one. It read along the lines “Only 18% of adults do enough regular exercise for it to be beneficial to their health. DO NOT let your hard work go to waste over Christmas, hire one of our personal trainers now, 25% for the month of December!”
Alarmist? Just a bit! The idea of this advert is of course to make you think that unless you hire a personal trainer for that difficult Christmas period you’re going to put on a load of weight and spoil all your good work. Well as far as I’m concerned, any diet and exercise regime that is to have long term goals has to be sustainable. That means in order to keep it going you’ve got to also be able to have a break every now and then and that’s exactly what Christmas is about.
I hardly drink at all these days but over Christmas I shall be out and about. I’ll also not be worrying too much (if at all) about what I eat. I certainly won’t be feeling guilty about it. I’ve spent the last 11 months working my ass off and I’ve done good. I’m going to enjoy Christmas as much as I can because I know that it only lasts a few days. Heck it’s only a week or so even if you include New Year, it’ll be over before you know it and then it’ll be January. The time of the dreaded New Years Resolution. Whatever I put on (and I will put on weight, no point expecting anything else) I will soon lose again. My lifestyle is just that, a lifestyle, not a diet or fad. If you’re setting yourself long term fitness and weight goals don’t ever be afraid to have a good time, the time when you start seeing it is a punishment is the time you’ll start to doubt. Doubt soon turns to resentment which sooner or later turns to you calling it a day.
