Fit Fast or Fit Forever?

Welcome to America. Have it now, pay for it later. It truly is the American way. It is becoming the way of the world. We hardly pay for anything and then, take it home.

You pay for your groceries right? My grocery store is trying to get me to pay later by opening up a credit card account with them every time I get my groceries. And, they are making me offers to save money today if I will just agree to pay with their credit card now.

They want me to take their "quick fix" offer.

What's wrong with taking this quick fix offer?

The trouble is, this quick offer only looks good on the surface. The truth is you'll be worse off if you decide to take it.

Need proof? Look at the number of companies competing for your business trying to manage credit card and other debt.

On the surface, this quick offer looks good. You get to save ten or fifteen percent on the sale now and you don't have to pay a penny today.

The truth is you are going to pay twenty-two percent interest (or more) on your first bill... and that interest applies within the first day of your purchase.

You don't hear about that though. You just get the good news... save today, pay later, have it now.

Here's the really troubling part. There's the chance that you will not pay the whole bill off. If you only pay part of your bill, you will pay interest again on the next bill and they'll throw in some other fees just to help you along (that's a joke... as it's plain to see they're not helping you at all).

Use the card a few more times and before long, the bill can easily get too big to manage.

What's this got to do with fitness?

Quick fix fitness solutions only look good on the surface. Fit fast often translates to "Have it now, pay for it later". The problem is, you will do more than pay for it... you will over pay, and when it comes time to get fit again, it can be that much more difficult.

You know it's going to be Spring soon and then Summer is just around the corner. You've got a wedding, a pool party or any kind of party for that matter. You've got to get fit fast.

What are you going to do?

Are you willing to do anything?

It's a scary way of thinking about fitness. It's also very common for a lot of people. So common, you can see that almost all the advertisements for fitness related products are geared toward achieving fast results.

They want you to take their get fit fast quick fix offer now.

How would you like to never have to deal with that way of thinking again?

How would you like to never ever think you have to lose weight quickly? How great would it be if you never needed to get fit fast again? What if you could know without a doubt, that all those fitness adds you see don't have anything to offer you?

Let me share and embarrassing truth with you.

When I was finishing college, I was in the worst shape of my life.

Here I was finishing a degree in Kinesiology (Exercise Science) and I was in lousy shape. I hated it.

Whenever events would come around where I knew my body would have to be exposed in some way, I would panic. After all, I was supposed to be the one who knew everything about being fit. How could I be in bad physical shape?

Then I'd look in the mirror and I would see someone who was in bad shape. Forget about explaining it, I had to do something about it fast.

I would reach for a quick fix. I'd eliminate my carbs, workout like crazy several times a day and experience some of the worst depravity you can imagine (I couldn't sleep most times).

Needing to get fit fast meant that I was willing to do most anything.

I'd lose weight, look ok, and scrape by for whatever event or social gathering I was attending.

What happens next is what was killing me.

I'd wind up in worse shape than I was before I decided to get fit fast. Because I had been deprived, once the time that I needed to be fit had passed, I'd eat like no other. Anything and everything, I ate it.

Forget about exercising... I hated it with a passion since I had just been killing myself working out several times a day with no energy.

Back to square one right? No, worse... two steps behind square one.

I would gain more weight and body fat than before.

Choosing to be fit fast often times means that we are willing to do anything to get a few quick, short lived rewards. But you will over pay for those short lived rewards in the end. Chances are really good that you will put on more body fat and possibly lose valuable muscle.

Why does this happen?

Because your body wasn't made for quick fixes so forcing it to go through this time causes problems.

Some of the most important problems include intense cravings for foods that are not good for you and putting on body fat faster than usual as you may be putting yourself into starvation mode.

And, learning to hate exercise as you are often subjected to grueling workouts while feeling like you have little or no energy.

So, why do we choose to try and be fit fast with quick fitness fixes?

Because today's world is very busy. We have learned to be last minute managers, running damage control and fixing catastrophes all day long and the offer to be fit fast can look really good on the surface.

Everything else is fast today. We learn that faster is better and so we naturally apply it to our health and fitness.

Fast is not better when it comes to our health and fitness. It can be very detrimental and harmful to our health and our fitness efforts. Often times quick fitness fixes lead people to the opposite results they were desiring.

If you would prefer to skip all of the problems associated with quick fitness fixes, you can choose to be fit forever.

You may be surprised at the results you get when you choose to be fit forever.

Choosing to be fit forever does not mean that you cannot be fit in a short amount of time. 

It just means that you are making healthy choices that you can follow for the rest of your life, not just a few horrible weeks.

Why don't we choose to be fit forever?

Do you feel you will never again be able to eat good food?

That's not true. There are so many good foods that will keep you fit forever, you just have to know a little about preparing your own food or, how to eat when you are not at home, like when you are at a restaurant or a celebration. It does not mean you will have to eat cardboard.

Getting fit fast with quick fixes mean that you will have to eat cardboard. And yes, you will hate it.

People think that choosing to be fit forever means that you will have to work out all the time.

All you need is about thirty minutes, three times a week. Is that too much time?

Is being fit forever too expensive?

Groceries will cost you more when you make the choice to be fit forever, but you will not have the extra fee of those doctor bills from being sick, missing work, etc. It's up to you who you pay, but sooner or later, you will pay.

Make the commitment to be fit forever and who knows??? You may be fit fast too. Either way, you will be fit for the rest of your life and that means you will never want to be fit fast again.

Matt