My answer to that question has revolutionized my fitness program.
Are you a dieter, trying to lose weight? Or are you an athlete (maybe a beginning athlete) in a training program?
You might not think your answer matters much, but consider this:
If you are a dieter, the choices you make are all about losing weight. You can't have that cake because you are trying to lose weight. You have to work out because you need to burn calories (perhaps because you went ahead and ate the cake). If you fall off the wagon, it seems hopeless and depressing. When we are dieting, everything seems to be viewed in terms of deprivation and forced labor -- all for a number on a scale that invariably fluctuates. If that number drops, we are on cloud nine. If it doesn't move, or heaven forbid, it moves up, we feel like all that hard work and deprivation was for nothing. It is a stressful and often negative cycle. No wonder so many of us yo-yo.
On the other hand, if we think of ourselves as an athlete in training, our reasons for our choices completely change. As a training athlete, we work out to become stronger, faster, better. Our workouts become about increasing our intensity and reaching our personal best -- no phoning it in, because that won't help us get stronger. Our food choices become less about deprivation and more about preparing for our best workout. I won't eat that cake because it won't provide the fuel I need to train. It will make me feel sluggish. I won't be as strong. But if I pair a lean protein with some fresh produce, I will nourish my body. I will have more energy for my training. The number on the scale is less important because we know we are converting fat to muscle. No matter what the scale number does, we know we are getting stronger. When you fall of the wagon while you are in training, there is a great deal of incentive to jump back up and keep going.
When you are a dieter, you are fighting your body and its cravings to make it what you want it to be. When you are an athlete in training you are working with your body to make it the best it can be.
Do you see the difference? It is all about perspective.
You might be saying, "Have you seen my body? When I look in the mirror, there is no way I could ever see myself as an athlete!" I say that's just because you've thought of yourself in one way for so long. But you can change the way you think. You can begin to appreciate the body you have and begin to care for it and train it. As you do, it will get stronger and it will begin to change. Your relationship to your body and your attitude about it will begin to change. And it will be easier to get up early for that morning workout or run, because that's what athletes do.
