Getting and Staying FIT! by Rita H. Losee, ScD, RN

Congratulations on joining Fit4Summer. Perhaps you have jumped on the fitness train before and much to your chagrin and dismay have fallen off. Very likely you’ve made multiple attempts at getting fit. 

Fitness and health is not just a matter of what you do, it’s a matter of what you think. Very often, the impetus to initiating a fitness program is: “OMG, I’m so ____! (Fill in the blank).

Does that statement inspire you and build confidence? No! Perhaps you chose the word “fat”. Observe: how often do you say or think, “I am fat.”? If you think of yourself as “fat” or “out of shape,” you are predicting your future. Note that predict, literally, means spoken before.

Lasting fitness demands changing what you are putting into your mouth. It also means changing what is coming out of your mouth. Change what you say about yourself and your body. Practice saying, “I love being fit!” The first time you say it, (go ahead, try it!), a part of you will shout, scream, and yell something on the order of, “No way! You’re _____.” It takes practice.

Write out a detailed description of how you’ll look and feel at end of Fit4Summer. What are you saying about yourself? What are your behaviors? What are you feeling about you and your body? What are you loving about the “new” you?

Winning athletes always focus on and continually visualize success. See yourself, act as you want to be 12 weeks, 12 months or 12 years from now. Continually ask, “What would a healthy, fit person do, think, say?” Then do it, think it, say it. 

You don’t make one decision to get fit. A successful effort means making thousands of decisions, day after day, for as long as you want to be fit.
When you slip, skip the exercise session, eat food loaded with fat, calories and virtually no nutrition, and you inevitably will, resist saying or thinking something like, “I was so bad. I skipped ___.” Never do that!

Ax murderers are bad! People who make mistakes on a fitness journey are just human, learning to change old habits of thought and action. View your mistakes as a movie director would -- as “mis-takes.” Simply shoot the scene over again until you get it just the way you want.

It takes practice to get fit and stay fit. You practice thinking thoughts aligned with fitness, you practice behaviors aligned with fitness, and you practice the emotions of being fit, strong and successful. And, then you are!