The Elusive Magic Bullet
The elusive magic bullet.
“I just can’t find what works for me. Nothing works for me.”
I spent YEARS searching for what to do to increase my energy, feel better, lose weight, and stop feeling stuck in my body. I listened to all the podcasts, read the books, followed all the right people. But I never got to feeling any better. At least not for any notable length of time.
I just knew if I found the right thing: the right supplement, the right diet, the right bio hack, the right exercise program I would finally lose the weight and gain energy.
BUT… I was always switching around. I would drop a ton of money on a supplement to only take it for a week. Or find an exercise program and do it for a week. Oh and diets. I was convinced that if I could only eat perfectly then I could lose weight, be skinny, and finally be happy. But after a week or two it got too hard to stick to the diet, so I declared it didn’t work and would keep searching.
What’s worse is I would have a constant inner dialogue of “I can’t do it.” “I’m just lazy” “I just have no discipline”
If you have become a health nomad. Always searching, finding, then moving on quickly I’ve got news for you. The magic bullet you’re looking for is consistency.
You can’t just exercise for a week and expect to lose 10 pounds. Or any pounds.
You have to give the diet, the exercises, the supplements, whatever, a while to work.
DUH, Caitlin! EVERYBODY knows that!
But, do you live it? I certainly wasn’t living it even though I knew consistency was the answer. I was still hoping that one big workout a year and one on track meal a week would be enough to change my life.
We live in a microwave society with crockpot dreams.
Even more than that you never arrive with fitness and health. It’s always a journey. Realizing and internalizing this for myself has been a game changer. My health is no longer this thing I need to “fix” , it's my life’s work. It’s my absolute joy and privilege to take care of this body God entrusted me with each and everyday.
That’s why building a lifestyle that supports your health is so important. What you do most of the time matters way more than what you do once in a while. Stressing about going off the rails on vacation or at a special occasion was my norm. It prevented me from living my life. But the truth was that I wasn’t following my ideal diet when no one was watching. I would listen to health podcasts while eating donuts (very true story). I was so stressed about someone seeing me eat gluten or sugar that I would eat it in secret. Realizing that what I do 80% of the time makes the most difference has driven me to eat better in privacy and allowed me to not worry about those times that going off plan makes sense for the occasion. (And a legit egg allergy now helps too no cake for me)
I think on the surface level, most people know we have to live a healthy lifestyle most of the time to feel healthy most of the time, but why don’t we do it??????
Programming from those around us. Was your mom always trying fad diets or focusing on her weight? Did you see teachers or other women dieting or talking about weight or looks?
Programming from society: Messages in commercials, magazines, and TV shows telling us that you must be skinny to be happy, but you should still eat junk food and be a couch potato.
Pressure to uphold an image. I was the health nut in many people’s eyes for many years before I actually got consistent. It was an image I loved, but it simply wasn’t true.
General humanness: Humans have the instinct to avoid work. We want to find the easiest way. So we have developed tons of ways to do that (cars, computers, etc), but in doing so we have severely decreased our level of movement and nutrition.
Do you struggle with consistency in your health/wellness/exercise/eating routine?
Shoot me an email at caitlin@balancewithcaitlin.com with your thoughts and struggles. Your secrets are safe with me, but I will probably offer a few suggestions.
