Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.

I came across this quote last week in a book I am reading. I remember seeing this quote before and thinking how true this is.

“Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.”
-Jerzey Gregorek

This quote can be applied to several areas of life but I will focus on the areas of diet and exercise this morning.

Everyday we are making choices. The majority of our choices lead to an action and every action leads to a consequence.

Eating healthy is hard for most people especially in the beginning stages of changing from unhealthy foods to healthy foods. It is not only mentally tough but physiologically difficult as well.

The way you feed your body determines the expectations it has and that triggers the cravings. Have you ever noticed when you are trying to cut out sweets that you can go a couple of days and stick to it then all of a sudden you feel this giant craving for sweets?

That is your body throwing a tantrum much like a toddler when they don’t get what they want. Then if you give in to the craving have you noticed that within 24 hours you feel a stronger craving for something sweet?

This is not coincidence and it does not just happen to you. There is a hormonal and chemical response to sugar that makes you want more of it. Much like a drug.

When you give in and make the “easy choice” you worsen the situation. Although it makes you feel temporarily happy the consequence is making your overall goal of weight loss much harder.

Now let’s apply this to working out in the opposite way.

You know you feel better when you workout. Moving your body is a good thing. Anyone who has worked out before for an extended period of time can attest to this.

Sticking to it can be hard. There are days you don’t feel like it.

Maybe you are a morning workout person and you feel extra tired because your newborn kept you up all night. Or you have a work deadline to meet on a project so you stay up extra late and the 5am alarm to workout seems extra early.

But regardless of how you feel you do the hard thing. You wake up and workout.

After a period of time something amazing eventually happens. You have done this so much that regardless of how you feel you have trained your body to workout.

I believe this is for two primary reasons.

1. You know how much better your feel when you workout so you do it even when you don’t want to.
2. You become a slave to the habit of working out and it is almost as if you don’t even have a vote based on your feelings. (really crazy to think since technically your vote counts 100%)

Making the hard choices eventually leads to an easier life when it comes to your relationship with food and fitness.

You have to start somewhere. Take this quote and write it on a sticky note then put it somewhere you will see everyday. Remember that you are making choices everyday. If the choices you are making seem hard then you are going down the right path.

I can tell you twenty years into my fitness journey how true this is even to this day. I am still making hard choices. My body is counting on me to be healthy. I have to commit to doing what is hard now so that later I can benefit from the choices I make today.
If you need help let me know. I believe in you.

~Charlie

 

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