As someone who grew up without playing school sports, I had an epiphany about fitness in my early 40s. One day I saw a picture of myself that was eye-opening. I was disappointed not only in how I looked, but also in how I felt that day. My 20s and 30s were filled with many random attempts at working out. A month here, a few times a week there, but never consistent enough to make meaningful and lasting progress.
These are the 5 most convincing reasons I finally accepted that fitness had to be a part of the rest of my life.
Whenever I have days of nonexistent motivation (they come and go), I go back to these reasons and it quickly jumpstarts the need to workout! A quick memory jog of this list and, suddenly, fitness becomes non-negotiable. Movement becomes necessary! I am sharing this personal list to hopefully inspire you or let you know you’re not alone in your fitness journey.
1. A Picture from March 2022
My husband, kids, and I were dining out and eating by the campfire. We asked a stranger to take a picture of our family. When I got the phone back, I despised every picture of me from that dinner. I tried to convince myself that maybe it was just the frumpy sherpa coat? In reality, I knew I just had to face that I looked overweight and that was not the look I was going for. That dinner, and for the rest of the night, I had to silently reassure myself that fitness-for-the-rest-of-my-life is the only way to deal with this.
I had been overweight in my mid-twenties and mid-thirties too. In the past, I dealt with it by starving myself and drastically cutting calories. As expected, that resulted in a severely emaciated skin-and-bones look. Also that time, that was not the look I was going for.
2. Simple Daily Tasks & Mobility
During the stay-at-home years of COVID, I spent a lot of time gardening and cooking. I stayed somewhat active hauling bags of soil and moving citrus trees around the yard. I told myself that was sufficient activity.
But I also noticed something concerning.
Squatting down to pick up a 5-pound cast iron pan from the bottom cabinet made me wobble on the way back up.
If simple, day-to-day tasks like these were making me slightly lose balance, I was in desperate need of building strength and working on stability training not just activity. That realization stuck with me. Strength wasn’t optional anymore. It was necessary.
3. My Kids Need Me to Be a Good Example
It is true when they say having kids changes your perspective on life. My life was no longer about me. It instantly became about the little people that look up to me and call me Mom. Being a mom has taught me more about leadership than any corporate training ever could. The examples we leave with our kids, the ones they’ll recall when they’re middle aged, become part of our legacy.
Even if you’re not a parent, inspiring the younger generation around you matters just as much. The younger people around you are still watching. We all influence someone.
I knew I needed to be a fitness mentor for my kids and hopefully they’ll adopt an active and fit lifestyle as well.
4. The Fear of Never Achieving My Peak
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I was maybe capable of more. Mid-life 40s makes you really look at how little time you have left and the fear of never experiencing my body at its best was terrifying. I had a feeling I was selling myself short.
I remember having an ongoing challenge with one of my cousins in the early 2000s. He lives in the Midwest and I lived in Los Angeles but every reunion we would challenge each other, “Whoever has 6 pack abs first is the winner!” I would wonder back then how many sit ups it would take me claim victory. Little did I realize back then that overall body fat had to be reduced first before 6 pack abs would make a grand appearance!
There was never an end-date to that competition. But the question stayed with me: What if I never achieve my best, leanest, and strongest version of myself? Achieving this still motivates me today.
5. My Genetics & Lab Results
You know that saying, “it’s just genetics.” That saying can definitely go either way. Your genetics can give you an advantage or it can be something you have to work against. My bloodwork from Jan 2022, after years of eating whatever I felt like eating, came back at the lower threshold of pre-diabetic. All along I had been telling myself I am still young and even my new primary care doctor didn’t seem alarmed. She also accepted that and explained “it’s just because Type 2 Diabetes runs in your family.”
It was up to me to feel the urgency, fuel the fire myself, and to do something about this now. I could either become fully Type 2 Diabetic or I could take action to change course while I still had the chance.
This list reflects my personal wake-up calls. These are the moments that pushed me to change my lifestyle for good. It was a reality check which, in turn, nagged me to change my way of life.
Everyone has a different fitness journey.
I don’t share this to compare, but to connect. Maybe some of these reasons felt familiar.
What are your top 5 reasons that fitness needs to be lifelong?
