"I Would Be on Disability If It Weren't for You"

A client said this to me yesterday and it hit harder than usual. She had so much gratitude for NOT devolving. Though she wanted to have lost more weight by this point in her journey, SHE reminded ME that if she had given up any time in the past few years she would now be disabled.

The next day (today) a different client said, “if it weren’t for working with you, I’d be in pain every day.” Good lord. These people get it. This is what fitness is really all about. It’s not about abs. It’s not even about weight loss. It’s about striving for the best version of yourself at whatever point you are and with whatever capacity you realistically can at that point. Pain-free and physically capable sounds good to me.

I’ve been in the fitness industry long enough to see people who made really good progress at one point throw it all away. They gave up because they didn’t think they were losing enough weight; and they are now (or soon will be) invalids. People who could run, jump, rep out burpees and pushups, and deadlift hundreds of pounds are sedentary, gaining weight, and accelerating their aging. People who not long ago were improving are now constantly worsening. Why did they choose this? Because they weren’t getting lean enough fast enough. Because they bought into the marketing noise everywhere. Because they’re distracted by the superficiality. It sounds ludicrous, but it’s sadly very common. Bad trades are everywhere. We throw away our blessings in hand because we demand a different one out of hand.

Don’t give up. In even the most frustrating moments, remember that you are only as far as you are because of your efforts. Would it be nice to be further? Of course. Always. But that will never happen if you cease to persist.