We have all been conditioned to be realistic about life and to hold back on our dreams to avoid failure.
Yet I have been motivating women to lose weight for a long time and I KNOW that realistic goals just don’t excite many of them. This is why the weight loss industry is full of lying adverts; the truth is simply not exciting enough to motivate many of us. For someone who is trying to lose weight to be told they can lose 1lb a month, well this is not very exciting news. In the same way, someone who is trying to get fitter and has a realistic goal, for example to do two classes a week to get to to average fitness. (In other words, on a sliding scale from 1 to 10 to get to, maybe, a 3?) How exciting is that?
The next advice will be: ‘Just stick with it and you will see the results.’ True, but how many of us have the patience? It’s like being in a boring relationship. No, we need excitement, we need a big dream! We need to sign up for something that’s thrilling but scary at the same time. We need an adventure. I am lucky to work with some special people, people who achieve extraordinary goals. I love to hear about their successes and how they have proved the realists wrong.
Last month I met Sarah, who’s from Ireland. She’s a very friendly person who looks nothing like the stereotypical image of the scarily-fit triathlete. Sarah didn’t start exercising or looking after her diet until she became 40 and her poor fitness and asthma began to become a problem. She was a successful lady, definitely not someone who is scared to go for that big goal. So, at the beginning of 2016 Sarah decided to run a marathon and complete her first half ironman in the year and she did!
She was scared and excited on the same time; she wasn’t the fastest or the fittest athlete there, but she did it. Her fitness improved and now she is far fitter than just the average and has lost lots of weight. She is now training regularly with a triathlon club, helping other girls to be brave and go for it. So you see, big dreams will get you big results! Get outside of your comfort zone and choose the amazing adventure YOU want to go on. Make a big deal about it and get super-excited. You can figure out things like training schedules and timings later. Just do it.
If you need help with training, or if you just want to share your experiences with me, send me an email. Take care.