Getting started, part 1: Finding motivation

So, it's around about New Year's, and you've made a resolution to lose weight, get back in shape, something. Great! Sometimes the first stumbling block is simply summoning the desire to make a change.

But there is another, larger obstacle ahead, and unfortunately it's one many people never conquer -- getting started.

There is a vast ocean between wanting to change and actually getting started, and the one thing you need to bridge that gulf is motivation.

But wait? Isn't simply wanting to change motivation enough? Sadly, no. People are nothing if not creatures of habit, and we would often rather settle for the familiarity of lost dreams than the discomfort of embarking into territory unknown. You see it every day in the vast number of people who choose to say, "I wish," instead of, "I will."

I know. I've been there. After high school, I spent 20 years working a desk job and spending the rest of my time eating, smoking and watching TV. During all that time, I knew I was getting fatter and unhealthier by the day, and although I didn't like that, I did little to counteract it. Oh sure, I attempted to quit smoking from time to time, and there were a few half-hearted attempts to lose weight or exercise, but nothing stuck for long, usually not for a day.

Wishes are easy. Actions are also easy, at least easier than you think if you are guilty of putting them off. Bridging the two, however, is the single most difficult step. Wishes can be made, actions can be taken, but motivation must be discovered, and sometimes that it is elusive.

And before we get much further, know this: The changes I am talking about are wholesale lifestyle changes. You don't need motivation to take a pill or go on a diet for six weeks, just a modicum of willpower. But pills and diets do not work. They might be useful as temporary solutions to temporary problems, and they produce temporary results.

Health and fitness, however, are not temporary conditions. They require constant commitment, or they disappear. And they require some sacrifice, such as getting off your butt and giving up eating many of your favorite foods without abandon. In short, they require you to find true motivation. That's where I derived the first part of this site's motto, "No shortcuts."

So where can you find motivation? After all, we already know all the reasons for proper diet and exercise. We know they will make us healthier, happier, stronger, more energetic, more attractive. But vague concepts simply are not enough to spur us into action. To be motivated, we need concrete reasons for change.

For example, if you want to lose weight, you simply will not succeed if your reasons are to "you know ... be healthier and happier and all that other stuff." Your reasons must be tied to your individual circumstance.

For me, fear and education were the great motivators. (I'll get into all the specifics at a later time.) I didn't stop smoking until I was presented with some very real health concerns, and even then it took two years of trying and failing before I was successful. Quitting smoking led to the next step, which was wanting to get rid of the few extra pounds that came from not smoking anymore ... plus the many more that were the result of eating like a pig. For that, I chose exercise. And while some weight did come off, it didn't really start to happen until, on a whim, I had my cholesterol checked for the first time and found that I was a ticking time bomb. That led to a radical change in my diet.

I won't lie. The changes I made were difficult at times, but they were nowhere near as difficult as the struggle to find the motivation to make them. And to be honest, if I hadn't been facing some serious health consequences as a result of my actions, I don't know if I would have ever found that motivation.

If you ever hope to be serious about making health changes in your life, you have to find similar motivation. It's probably already there; you've been ignoring it or deluding yourself about it for years. You probably already know the consequences of inaction, but then again there is so much conflicting information out there, you may have been telling yourself the wrong things, or that there are no right answers.

Fortunately, that's not true. Good information is out there, but you have to look for it amid all the clutter. That's not always easy, since bad information is both louder and more prevalent. Slick sales pitches for the latest "miracle drug," "celebrity diet" or "no-effort fitness system" can be convincing ... until you try them and fail.

One source to which I frequently turn is a newsletter called Nutrition Action, which is published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Their website offers some information for free, but you have to subscribe to get the full content. Luckily, there is also quite a bit of info out there for free. Two good sources to turn to are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's page on obesity and the American Heart Association's pages on Diet and Nutrition and Cholesterol.

Educating yourself is the surest course to motivating yourself. Once you know for certain what your unhealthy lifestyle is doing to you, you will be more inclined to want a healthier life. The social stigma of obesity is bad enough, but it's really only a minor nuisance compared to the higher risks of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and depression that accompany it.

You want to live a healthy life, but you can only begin to do so once you are armed with the knowledge and motivation you will need to get you started. I will try to help by sharing the things I have learned, but it's up to you to do the physical, mental and emotional heavy lifting. That begins by searching within yourself and finding the concrete reasons you want to live a healthier life, as well as learning the consequences you face if you don't.

When you're ready to get started, I'll be here to help you along the way.