Getting It Right

“The secret to life is finding the right balance to everything you do”

One most difficult thing that a lot of us come across during our fitness journeys is attaining the right balance. The balance towards prioritizing work along with diet, the balance towards exercises and leisure, or even the balance towards travelling and diet. Things seem smooth when everything is at the right place, however the dynamics around us keep changing and so do we.

Let us look at few of the common statements:

• “ I won't’ be able to exercise this week since I have loads of work at the office”

• “ I think I won’t be able to maintain the diet since I am travelling”

• “I won’t be following the diet since I have an outing with friends”

Well, I am sure most of you would be able to relate to the above statements.

Often or not, we tend to fail in finding that right rhythm and thus getting demotivated during the process. While the reality is these are all a part of our lives, and so is Fitness & Health, a little towards the top in the priority list though.

So, what goes wrong? Why do we fail with this part?

• Most of the time, it is due to setting up unrealistic expectations without even understanding the entire science behind, thinking of losing x amount of weight in y amount of time, while not really paying attention to how that works.

• Not acknowledging our lifestyles and choices, you cannot expect your body to show quick results while being too flexible with your routine, remember, flexibility comes with a cost. While there is nothing wrong with being flexible, it's equally important to understand and respect our lifestyles and try syncing up things accordingly.

• Trying to copy someone who got great results. Well, there is no one stop solution for all. While the basic science remains the same, the requirements and the way our bodies respond, definitely varies from one individual to another, depending upon the history of eating habits, exercises, etc. It's NOT always just Calorie In and Calorie Out!

But, how to fix it?

• The first step to address anything comes from the point of acceptance. We need to accept our own lifestyles and accordingly start taking small measures to improvise, keeping it realistic and practical enough. Eg: Thinking of doing 15k steps while you have always been on the couch during your free time, that might work for a day, but there is a huge possibility of cramping up and taking rest for another 3 days!

• Setting up timelines for the One Thing you really want to do, it's more of like Segment Intending your focus for that particular hour, and that particular task. Eg: I would keep a separate hour for my workouts and not mix it up with my office calls or meetings. The more you practice this, the better you get at setting up timelines and channeling your brain towards that activity in that hour of day.

• Celebrating the small victories - An essential point is building up a self reward system where you can indulge into the delicacies without any guilt, but mindfully. After all, you need to enjoy the process.

• Planning - The most important thing which we lack is proper planning of things. Whether you talk about your meal preparation or workouts, it gets better if you have a plan for it. Ex: If i know I have a hectic week coming, I might switch to some simple and ready to eat items while I would save my time in the gym by reducing some load and doing super sets and giant sets, remember - Maintaining a Progress is also a Progress!

Similarly, if I love travelling, I won’t wait for that RIGHT time, rather I will always try syncing up my diet and choices during that while, or I would also plan the travel keeping in mind what all things I can have. Remember the Right time is NOW!

I am sure there are many other ways to bring things into alignment, however its the balance that we need to seek for in the longer run!