Sticking to it

Sacrifice.  This is a term I hear and think of often.  It is a noble trait and a necessary part of reaching any goal.  Nothing that we want in life is achieved without some type of sacrifice.  This past week of preparing for competition and my own fitness goals left me with a few thoughts  that I thought might be helpful to you.  They are geared towards eating right, but could be applied to any goal.

Bottom  line – whatever it is you are choosing not to eat or do  is a temporary sacrifice towards a larger goal.  Yes you are tempted to eat the pizza, cupcakes, ice cream, nachos, whatever it may be, but realize you are  simply making a choice not to eat those things on this day. It does not mean you will never eat them again or that they are the last of their kind and this is your only chance to enjoy them.  Your mindset should be that you are choosing not to eat them right now.  You will eat them down the road when you have reached your goal or when your plan calls for it.

So many times we get ourselves in this mindset that we will only eat certain foods  therefore swearing off all other not so healthy foods for the rest of our lives.  That is not the case.  And it is the mentality that leads us to be tempted and cheat and indulge and fall off our plan and ultimately completely give up our goals.

Yes it takes hard work and discipline to stick to your goals and to achieve them.  Mindset is everything.  I have a much different perspective if I look at things as temporary sacrifices and choices versus never eating certain things again.

This weekend, I bought, cut, and served a pack of gourmet cupcakes from a local friend’s cupcake shop.  The shop, Dollop,  just won a competition on the Food Network show Cupcake Wars.  There has been much media hype these past few weeks locally and the lines have been wrapping around the building to get into  this shop.  So there is somewhat of a frenzy surrounding these cupcakes.  It would have been very easy to jump on  the bandwagon and indulge in the “must have now” mentality.  Having ha d these cupcakes before I can certainly attest to how amazingly delicious they are.  But, I didn’t have a single crumb.  Why?  Because I chose not to.  I have 6 weeks to go and my goal will be reached.  I won’t blow it now.  In 6 weeks and for a very long time after, there will still be cupcakes.  I can have them at any point after I have reached my goals.  These were not the last cupcakes  ever to be made  and I am not depriving myself of ever having another cupcake as long as I live.

My choices and sacrifices are temporary and part of a larger plan  to achieve my own personal goals. This is a healthy mindset to adopt when you are striving for your own health and fitness goals.  I think you will find, like I have, that this is a more realistic and acceptable thought process to make sticking to your goals easier.