Healthy High Achiever Blog

Stick - with - the - program!

Since when was "living" relegated to this kind of programmatic thinking? Programs are for computers and even there they don’t run right!

Case in point:

Here you have Joe and Jane, they are living their lives in a certain way right now and the results, the consequences of their way of life, or their "lifestyles", are evident in how they look, feel and perform.

If Joe and Jane are overwhelmed, exhausted and overweight… logic would tell you that their lifestyle is not working for them and that this is likely not boding well for the achievement of their goals either. In other words, lack of energy, endurance, stamina, strength, emotional poise etc, make goal achievement hard.

So what do we do?

We put Joe and Jane on a diet or a fitness program to deal with the most obvious symptoms and engage them in the stick-to-the- program paradigm for better results enforced by well intended professionals, who themselves, simply have more successful lifestyles. They don’t need to stick with a program, they just do it because they are inspired to, educated and supported.

But this is not the mindset of most people, which is why most people fail. They are focused on relieving symptoms "overweight…" and that’s how the program was marketed. They don’t embody the whole lifestyle that the program represents and only make very small changes. Making small changes are normal and natural but this is not what the average weight loss program requires.

Lifestyle change is all about making small changes over time to adapt to changing circumstances so one can thrive. But because weight loss programs are more about getting great testimonials, you have to make big changes fast. This is not normal or natural.

Today, lifestyles are sold like widgets, like units sold from a business. So for best results one should embody the whole lifestyle and fast. Problem is, change doesn’t happen that fast, hence the focus on manipulative touch points like low carb, or creatine ingestion and the influence of big rewards, like cars and money, that give the appearance that things have changed, of success. 

Healthy High Achievers don’t think that way, and that’s why they are almost always successful.  

Here’s what you’ve got to know, a "program" is a lifestyle (albeit usually addressing fragments of a whole lifestyle) and changing a lifestyle overnight, depending on how big the change is, is not an easy thing to do.

Notice I didn’t say "lifestyle changes are hard", they are actually easy, but changing whole aspects of your lifestyle like the way you eat and your activity levels (which is what most "programs" focus on) is not easy given all the preceding influences of poor quality eating and inactivity.

"Sticking to the program" is an outdated vernacular the whole concept is like Swiss cheese. You can poke so many holes in it, it doesn’t hold up as a mindset for success. Programs are a businesses way of describing their offerings.

For consumers we have to look at our engagement as the development of a new lifestyle for a bigger purpose, and recognize that unless you are addressing and coordinating all aspects of your lifestyle as you make change, you will not experience the sustainable results you are looking for.

The average diet, weight loss or fitness program is only going to address parts fo the equation at best. This is important to know so you can set expectations accordingly.

Consider the fact that most (not all) diet and exercise programs ask you to exercising more a fatigued body, and eat less of foods that don’t really serve you to start. This is a formula for staying stuck to begin with addressing only two important, albeit only two, components of your lifestyle.

There is a crazy focus these days on getting others to stick to programs, when in reality people don’t stick to programs, they live their lives by default, all things considered. Changing a lifestyle has to be an inspired, educated and supported personal endeavor, and those changes need to be made within the capacity constraints of the individual and considerate of that persons circumstances.

Hey, I’m all for a person making big changes in a single bound if it works, but not when it doesn’t with expectations that it should. This is major flaw in our approach to improving fitness, health and well being today. Healthy High Achievers don’t think this way, it’s usually the desperate and obsessed that do and I’m not just referring to the client.

If Joe or Jane are attempting to stick to a way of life that is not their own, they will forever stay stuck. Stick with the program are the 4 dirtiest words in the fitness industry. They are part of a misguided, keep-you-stuck vernacular that is outdated and take the joy out of living. A program is simply meant to help you build some new routines in your life, but how those routines actually play out in your life will change.

Learn the language of lifestyle and things begin to change naturally, this is what Lifestyle Training is all about.

There is a time and place for a "program", but only when you are aware and set expectations accordingly. We’ll talk more about that.  

I’d like very much to read your comments.