With the holidays around the corner, it’s hard to keep your head on straight when you’re constantly surrounded by sugary sweets, fattening dishes, and calorie-busting entrees. Some might say, “It’s not my fault I gained 20 pounds over the holidays. My kids, my co-workers, and even the ads on TV were always shoving food in my face!”

This reminds me of an article we wrote earlier this year entitled Seattle Eastside’s Top Personal Trainers Say “You’re Not to Blame for Your Weight Problem!”

“What if you’re not to blame for your weight problem?” The February 3, 2008 edition of Seattle Times posed this question in an article entitled It’s Not My Fault I’m Fat? Not surprisingly, this immediately caught our attention. What if it’s not your fault if you’re overweight? You may as well cancel that gym membership, re-stock your cupboards with potato chips and cookies, and call it quits. Because according to this article, until the government starts regulating our environments by getting rid of vending machines, outlawing “Super Size Me” meals, and black-listing certain deep-frying, calorie-busting restaurants, you won’t be able to change your habits and get healthy. It’s just too hard. Here’s a quick outline of the main points in the article and our thoughts on each:

“Eating is an automatic behavior that has little to do with choice, willpower, or even hunger…Automatic behavior can be controlled, but only for a short time.”

True. Many of us have hard-wired programming that makes us reach for that doughnut for breakfast. Old habits die hard. However, they can die and be replaced by new habits. With enough persistence and with the right mindset, choosing the right foods in the right quantities can become automatic as well.

“Changing routine behavior is painstaking and slow. It sometimes takes years to change one little thing.”

True. No one said that adopting a healthy lifestyle would be easy. But if you keep selling yourself short and convincing yourself that change is too hard, you’re absolutely right! And it will take years to stop reaching for that doughnut. It comes down to how bad you want it and why. It comes down to your mindset.

“If people rely on willpower alone, they are expecting too much of themselves..It’s easier to change the environment than it is to change people.”

False. This statement frankly depresses us. Are we really giving in to our own weakness and taking the coward’s way out? Pointing fingers and putting the responsibility for our own lives in other people’s hands? We believe that willpower – or “energetic determination,” as defined by Merriam-Webster.com – can accomplish anything. Granted, we do give some credit to the above statement by admitting that willpower should be accompanied by knowing what the right foods are, by a deeply compelling purpose driving the willpower, and by a belief in oneself and one’s worthiness. However, blaming anything or anyone else for our shortcomings is still just a “good story.”

We, personally, have more hope in the human race than this, and we hope you do too. This article drastically sells us short as human beings. If we told a 3-year-old not to take his sister’s toy, but he did anyway, is it entirely not his fault because she was sitting there playing with it right in front of him? We’re afraid this is the message this article would give to our kids: It’s not your fault. You’re a victim to your environment.

We’re not saying that government restrictions on the use of trans-fats or requirements to label restaurant foods with nutritional information wouldn’t help. But we can’t sit on our rears and wait until the environment around us changes before we change ourselves. A wise man once said, “As within, so without.” Real change won’t come until we decide to change ourselves. Then the food manufacturers and marketers, restaurant operators, and food vendors would have no choice but to conform. It all comes down to personal accountability. In the words of Dr. Wayne Dyer, “If your problems were the result of others in your environment, you would go broke sending everyone else to the psychiatrist.”

If you truly want to enjoy the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner and holiday festivities without dealing with added weight on your belly, it is all in your hands. The key is having a strong mindset. ??Most people approach the holidays with the mindset of “I deserve to indulge and I shouldn’t have to workout – it’s the holidays and I deserve it”. This is fine if you don’t mind entering 2009 with an added spare tire, a little less healthy, and with lower energy than ever before. Believe you deserve better, because YOU are more than that! Believe that you don’t have to wait until 2009 to get into better shape than you are today. Believe that you deserve to have a healthier lifestyle and have more energy NOW than you ever thought possible!

I’m always available to help – call or email me to set up a fitness consultation and let’s get started on making lasting changes over the next few weeks to come.

Contact info:

Phone: 425.296.9305

Email: rommel@element5fitness.com

Website(s):

http://www.element5fitness.com

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