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Do we have any football fans out there? Did you watch the Big Game? How many watched it even though they aren’t die hard fans? I’m a football fan, but not one that tunes in to many games. Not anymore anyway. After all, my home team is the Detroit Lions. There are only so many times that you can watch a game only to have your hopes dashed. Again! Quite simply, I’ve given up hope. Fortunately, I didn’t do the same on my health and wellness goals.
Like the players in a football game, there were many times in my health and wellness journey when I got out there week after week and tried my best! And then, when it came right down to it, I’d get on the scale only to find that the efforts I put in throughout the week didn’t pay off on the day of the game (a.k.a. the weigh-in). As you well know, if you’ve experienced this, it’s very aggravating. Sometimes I’d want to just give up and not even show up for the “game” the next week. But, because I was dedicated to my team (a.k.a. my health and wellness goals), I did. Week after week!
This is when it’s time to revisit the game book (a.k.a. food journal). Are you eating enough protein? Did too many of your meals consist of snacks with little or no nutritional value? Were too many B.L.T.’s (bites, licks and tastes) making into your mouth without being recorded in the “game book?” Was water being replaced with soda, flavored coffee, or energy drinks? Did the majority of your plate consist of fruit and vegetables or was it primarily covered with pasta and rice? How many calories or exchanges did you estimate instead of verifying? Remember, just like a football team cannot play and win a game without using the game book to their full advantage, we cannot win the weight loss game without using our “game book” – the ever important journal.
After a losing team checks their game book, they probably look at their practice schedule. How does your practice schedule – or rather exercise routine – measure up on the weeks that your weigh-in doesn’t? Like your food, you should be logging your exercise as well. Were there days that you spent more time on the couch in front of the television then you did moving? Did your work schedule prohibit you from hitting the gym? Was your active lifestyle, which consisted of taking stairs or parking further from the door at a mall, replaced with using the elevator more often than not or driving around looking for the closest parking spot? Remember, these little things add up. If your practice (a.k.a exercise) suffers, the game (weigh in) will as well!
Finally, it’s time to check out the rest of your team. Do you have the right team members that you need to help you win the “game?” Even though you need to do it for yourself, there’s nothing wrong with expecting help from your “team” – your weight loss support group, family, friends, co-workers. But they cannot be expected to help you win the health and wellness game if you don’t clue them into what you need to succeed.
The coach of a football team doesn’t just gather a bunch of people and expect them to know how to play together. And you shouldn’t expect your support team to know what you need from them. You’re the coach and captain on your health and wellness team. But you certainly can assemble a defensive line to help you through challenges and struggles. You can have a quarterback, perhaps someone that’s achieved their health and wellness goals, to help point you in the right direction. And you have every right to appoint an offense line to be there with pats on the back and hugs – or perhaps a cooler of Gatorade dumped over your head – when you finally win the Big Game!
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