Walking, as a lifestyle, has lots of contemporary significance (green,conservation, fitness, health) and may seem extreme as a metaphor for fulfilling your lifestyle desires in other areas. Walking to lose weight seems even narrower with the assumption that this is a weight loss concept. The new walker is different.
The new Walking to Lose Weight is about the lifestyle skills learned from adapting your way of life for health, fitness and joie de vivre.
I’m writing from this perspective. Studies reveal that the behavior such as exercise and eating style required to lose weight is the basic behavior required to keep it off.
The original impetus for me to start was walking to lose weight. This process of integrating walking and pedometer steps into my lifestyle turned out to be a significant change to my approach to life.
This blog, and others, enabled me to use the turnaround process I had developed elsewhere for my own well being benefit. If you have read since the beginning of this blog, August 2008, you may have noticed a new emphasis develop. It really was a personal attempt to make walking a consistent part of my life. Over time I moved from the regulation technical and fact oriented regurgitation of well established (although not undisputed) theories of weight loss. I realized that more than that was required and it had a lot to do with how I viewed my life and the world as I saw it.
OK that’s a big jump, and there are a lot of steps in between. I hope to make the leap easy for you.
Lifestyle change is not easy when it is voluntary. It allows wobbling, changing your mind, not taking the harder decision, getting confused along the way.
We (humans) seem to feel better with a simple answer, such as change only one aspect and get the whole problem resolved. This makes it seem achievable. This is good. If you don’t start with enthusiasm it is even harder to change.
Walking as a weight loss process tends to be the preferred option for those with issues around exercise and maybe diet.
It is so simple to make the time and do it. But then it requires doing more to continue the weight loss impact. Then it requires solving issues such as injuries or stress, tiredness, time conflicts. And doing it every day seems harder than you thought. Why is that?
Walking for weight loss and using the 10000 steps program for instance, requires a considerble lifestyle adaption.
It means looking for support from people other then friends and family or in addition to them because their goals may not complement yours that well.
It can be done; but it requires a period of time to blossom into its full potential as little bit by little bit you find your issues are resolved and some even disappear.
OK now it is practically possible but what’s this?
Sometimes you don’t feel like it. Sometimes you’re distracted, bored, off color.
What do you do then?
One day or even two doesn’t matter…unless you give up and decide its too hard, you’re not up to it, it works for others but not for me.
Keeping to a lifestyle change which is voluntary, and most of us prefer our changes to be of this type, requires more of something we don’t always have consistently over long periods and that is unfailing enthusuasm.
This is no different to other issues within our lifestyles that we know we can change for the better… but it seems too hard, others disagree, maybe it isn’t possible… Your lifestyle at the moment probably grew over time with changes integrated haphazardly until now it is what it is and mostly it seems unchangeable. Inertia has set in and the momentum is towards keeping it going in the same way.
Any lifestyle change of significance, done over time, requires a perseverance and positive attitude. There is a transition necessary and if this process is seen as failure than you may give up before the success you so desired.
Dramatic changes such as the sudden onset of illness or winning the lottery are quick disruptions to old patterns but dealing with, or coping with them in your life, takes time for the new adaptations to be comfortable
Longer term processes such as weight loss require these adaption tasks ahead of the overt change.
Necessary now is a way of thinking and attitude to support the change.
Weight loss is an example of life style change. Another example is starting a home business.
Now we’re getting to the connection to your personal and world views.
Having what it takes to make and then keep to these changes requires a mental and emotional outlook which keeps you up for it.
These abilities are distinct to the individual but exist in each of us. Whether we can access them depends on our own limits and aspirations. That is your world view and your attitude to life.
This is a big concept for some and a non-issue for others. My work life involves mentoring those who would like me to help them make the connection to making the big changes over time.
I will continue writing abut the connection your view of the world has to your success.
