Your fitness is defined by two things. That's right. Two things. The first is the goal. What do you want to accomplish? Second, the constraints. What are you willing to do or not do to get there? My goal? To be in great shape. I could care less about the aesthetic side rather than the healthy side and how I actually feel. As for the constraints, I'm actually not willing to spend endless hours in the gym or doing workouts that I hate. So my approach has to be streamlined, simple, enjoyable, and focused on health and fitness. I weigh about 190 pounds for reference and do not track my food because I really don't want to. But I do know from looking at myself and weighing myself daily that I am loosely maintaining my current body composition. Most of my diet is whole foods. Here's what I prepped for dinner tonight.
However, I'm not a Puritan when it comes to diet, so I don't entirely eliminate processed foods. I eat breakfast at Bojangles every day for its undeniable and innumerable mental health benefits. I don't spend forever in the gym. I go three times a week for a long workout (about 75 minutes). I also maintain a non-shameful amount of activity each week. I get in a bare minimum of 10,000 steps per day, though I often exceed that. Today, when I awoke, my body said to me, "Dave, let's go for a long run today, shall we? I mean, you've still got another 32-mile ultra to do this year, and you'll need at least 3 or 4 long runs before then." I replied, "Body, sounds good, Let's do it. Shall we aim for 10 miles today?"
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| Today's step count. |
"Sure," said my body, "as long as we get er done before the temps get over 98." "It's a deal," I replied.
So let me ask.
What do you want to accomplish?
Second, what are you willing to do or not do to get there?
Accepting the truth that nobody can do more than 100% was a revelation to me. My best is my best. As flawed, gullible, and out of shape I had allowed myself to become, I knew that the body God gave me was the body that I was going to have to use. I couldn't trade it in for some new, improved version of myself. If I was going to get where I wanted to be, it was going to have to be through this body. That's true for you, too. It's not a matter of getting the body you want. It's a matter of doing the most with the body you have.
Friend, you may never become the best. But you can most certainly become your best. You can find ways to improve for the rest of your life. You just have to learn how to do all these new things with your old body!