Why the heck am I working out if it’s not making me lean?
Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 307 of the wildly successful lifestyle podcast! How’s it going? Im happy to be here with you.
“The heaviest weight at the gym is the front door.” Ed Latimore. When I first heard Ed say that, it had a huge impact on me.
The reason why is because it resonates. It resonates and it’s true still even after years and years of consistent working out. The front door is still the heaviest weight for me.
I mean I have exercised my whole life, I was teaching high impact step aerobics at 18. I was thin, could eat what I wanted..without worry. I continued to exercise but around 27 I started putting on weight. My vanity wouldn’t allow me to continue down that path. So I thought well maybe I can fix it if I start running, ok that worked a little but then my body adapted and eventually back up goes the scale, so I thought ok, maybe if I do Bikram Yoga, a 90 minute, in my opinion, military style yoga 4 times a week, which I did, it helped but again, I wasn’t getting back to the size I knew was best for me and how I wanted to look and feel, exercise had stopped being useful in the way in which I was using it. Isn’t that interesting? I was working out to be thin, and it wasn’t working. So now why in the world would I want to continue something that wasn’t working? That’s the million dollar question.
It has taken a while for me to realize the role exercise plays in my life. I used to think and I would even say this “I exercise so I can eat what I want”. And I would make myself exercise and then go to Huey’s and eat a chicken sandwich with fries because I earned it. Eric and I used to do a 5 mile run every Sunday so we could go have brunch which meant blueberry pancakes and mimosas. I laughed out loud when he reminded me of that as we were talking about this episode. But you see, I was super frustrated because my jeans were getting tighter and tighter. It felt like I was working out for nothing. But there was this feeling of sort of a mixture of euphoria and pride the rest of the day after I had a great workout so it couldn’t be for nothing, right? I probably lived in that world for 6 or 7 years until I realized that there was also another sentence that I didn’t want to be true but was becoming more and more apparent. You can’t out train a bad diet, especially after 35. That’s when I realized working out was making me feel amazing but it wasn’t making me lose weight, not as long as my nutrition was where it was. So exercise for me was improving my sanity but food I realized was hurting my vanity, and my health of course but let’s be real…. I wish it weren’t so, but it is.
So I exercise because I feel amazing. Now, exercise alone wasn’t going to reach my body goals. I had to get honest with myself about food. And if you’re being honest with yourself you do too. But that doesn’t need to discourage us from working out because the benefits are worth it. Trust me. I’m just like you. It’s not getting easier, but every single time you do it anyway, you win. We have to stop wishing it would get easier and we have to get real about our exercise and nutrition. You can get benefits from one or the other, but you cannot outrain a bad diet and there’s no way to eat so healthy that you have to exercise or move.
You see when I’m really being honest… I am addicted to working out at least 5 times a week but My addiction to exercise is not because I love running so much or because I love going to the gym so much or pushing through that last squat with Kevin so much. My addiction to exercise is for the way I feel immediately after and the rest of the day. It’s for the way I feel in my clothes and my overall mindset. That’s why I do it. That’s why I’m so dedicated to it.
It is a chore every time I go. But I do go. And I will continue to go even though it’s not easy because man is it worth it.
I think sometimes we think it will get easier and when it doesn’t we quit because doing something we don’t want to do every day is difficult. Especially when that something doesn’t immediately give us the result we want, which is to be happy with our body. It’s not going to do that, not immediately, maybe not ever if you don’t get your nutrition in line. That’s the rub, right? Except that it’s not. Knowing that now is power.
I’m not exercising anymore so I can eat, I’m exercising so that I feel amazing. So that I’m a better wife. So that my heart is healthy and my muscles stay active and I’m flexible. I exercise because that’s part of who I am. I exercise because it gives me energy.
You don’t want to go to the gym because you don’t go. You may not have the energy but in order to get the energy you have to do the hard thing, you have to lift the heaviest weight at the gym and that’s the front door.
I gave up a long time ago thinking I would one day wake up and going to the gym would be like eating a chocolate oatmeal cookie, where I just love it so much I can’t stand it. That is probably not gonna happen. Now this week Im taking a pickle ball course and that may add some fun and adventure to my gym experience, I’ll keep you posted on that.
I do it even though its hard, even though I don’t want to. When Ed Latimore said the heaviest weight at the gym is the front door, he didn’t add but it gets lighter or it gets easier the more you do it, because that isn’t always true. For people like me, it remains to be the heaviest weight and most of the consistent people that are my friends at the gym, some of the ones there EVERY day, will say, “man I didn’t feel like being here today” but they did it anyway. And it is even harder to come to the realization that we can’t out train a bad diet, but I will tell you from experience, that is one thing that DOES get easier as you do it. The healthier you eat, the more you crave healthy food. I have found that to be much easier. Now I still will eat 3 pieces of fudge in a weak moment but that is very rare and uncommon anymore and I can tell my dip in energy when I do it. Im doing hard things and you can too. That’s what makes life better that’s living your version of a wildly successful lifestyle
That’s the difference. That’s what makes the difference.
Don’t wish for things to get easy, just know it’s gonna be hard and at the same time, know you’re gonna do it anyway.
So the answer to the title of this episode why the heck am I working out if its not making me lean? Here’s the answer. Your work out is for your sanity, you’re nutrition is for your health and your vanity.
My challenge to you this week is to commit to how many times you are going to work out, know you’re not going to want to do it, but know without a doubt you’re going to do it anyway and second go through your pantry and your refrigerator and throw anything out that is full of sugar and will tempt you in a weak moment. Just this morning, I threw out a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips we had left over from guests being here. In a weak moment, I will eat two handfuls. Tony Robbins says better to waste outside of the body than inside.
Your future self will thank you and if you need a little help, sign up for a coaching call on my website heididawson.com. Share this with 3 people. I love you guys! Ill talk to you in a few days.
