There’s a lesson to be learned from the tortoise and the
hare, besides the fact that trash talkers rarely prosper. It’s that making
small consistent steps towards a goal will eventually lead to accomplishing that
goal. When I decided to improve my diet and regularly exercise, I was focused
on sustainability. I wanted to make changes that worked for my lifestyle and that
I would be able to maintain long-term. The key to sustainability for me was
small, incremental changes. In fact, I had been making small changes to my diet
since 2009. First it was switching to whole wheat whole grain everything, then
came cutting out virtually all fast food and red meat, only drinking water, reducing
my sodium intake, and increasing my intake of fruits, vegetables, and fish.
My diet today has completely changed from what it was 4 to 5
years ago. The good thing is because I introduced changes one at a time, I gave
my mind and body the chance to get used to those changes. When I started regularly
working out at the beginning of 2013, I wanted to apply the same principle. I
started with 3 days a week, adding an additional day after each month until I
got to 6 days per week when I did Insanity. I’ve since come back down to 5
workouts per week and that works well for my lifestyle. What I hope you take
from this is that you don’t have to make Goliath-sized leaps to accomplish your
goals; small steps can be equally effective. We live in a society obsessed with
instant gratification, which can affect virtually every aspect of our lives. Often
with physical health, instant gratification very rarely leads to sustained
gratification. Apart of my
healthier lifestyle is that I now value the latter much more than the former.

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