Originally posted March 22, 2011.

So you have embarked on your fitness journey, set your goals, taken action, and hit the mark.

Forebrain Fortitude. Now that’s what I am talking about!

A wave of confidence, competence, a swagger in your step, damn it feels good to be you. Is there anything more raw that earning something you desired, and systematically hunting it down like a machine and making it happen? I am sure that the person you were at the beginning of this journey has been transformed in the process.
I’m thinking….(insert your name here) 2.0!

Quick question: Now how do you maintain your newfound look?

It’s a good question to ask, and it’s a good question to hear!

Your change was triggered by a situation where the “pain” you were experiencing was perceived as greater than the “pain” you were going to experience by making a change. For example, perhaps this was your train of thought…”working out isn’t as hard as the pain from not feeling attractive enough to my spouse or the slew of health problems associated with obesity.” When you accomplish your goal aka “feeling sexy”, maybe that “pain” will no longer be there, perhaps you’ll stop attending your gym or bootcamp and the motivation will wain and maybe you’ll track back to the beginning where you started. I have heard of many people losing weight only to get comfortable and gain it back.

Here’s what you need to prevent this:
You’ve changed both physically and mentally – so now you need a new goal!

Life is all about setting goals, making them, and then setting new goals. Small attainable goals leading to big big picture goals and who knows the person you will become in the process!

If you’ve hit your body composition/ fat loss goal let’s diversify and go for some physical goals like doing the grouse grind, running the vancouver sun run, doing 5 pullups, flipping a 300lb tire, deadlifting 135lbs. Goals keep you striving, engaged and pushing the boundaries, keeping motivation high and not thinking about something as uneventful as maintaining.

You will always be better at everything in your life when you have a goal, a structure for achieving it, and very clear boundaries between what is ok and what is not.

Oh wait something is missing….And I think it’s called balance….sounds easy, but is it? Can you stand on 1 leg while doing one thing while thinking of another? You may have to ease up on 1 to be able to accomplish all 3. It’s easy to lose yourself in a goal and let everything else fall to the wayside. I speak from experience on this one…

I’m sure you you have met extremely wealthy people who are out of shape or have family issues, or those with great families struggling financially. Then there are the ones with the great bodies, while lacking good relationships. Yes, I say once again, balancing, it is tough….The total package, “the holy grail”, the complete life.

It’s not too difficult to get into great shape. Simple science – consistent healthy eating with consistent full body resistance training intervals. Done.

You can even become so obsessed with it that other areas of your life become lackluster. In the end having just a great body won’t make you happy (but I think you already knew that).

So when you find that homeostatic point with your body that you are happy with while not being consumed by the fitness monster,

We’ll I’d say that’s a pretty good point. It may not be the fittest possible version of you, but if other areas of your life suffer, is it worth it?

Find out how much time that you can spend to exercise each day or week and commit to it long term. During your body transformation, you may have been exercising 5 days per week. If you can’t maintain that for the rest of your life, chances are 3 days a week is pretty doable. Once you put the muscle on the body, that muscle doesn’t want to go anywhere, you can maintain it even with just a training session twice a week. But for the love of god, eat healthy! Adopt the 80/20 rule, eating close to perfect 80% of the time will keep that healthy body and still leave room for you to have a life and indulge.

I leave you with this:
“What price am I paying to attain my goals and dreams? We pay the price for success or we pay with failure.”

“No one can take away my achievements.”

Committed to your success,
Josh Saunders
BEFIT.
Lifestyle. Strength. Performance