Failure is a tough pill to swallow. Even though we all will experience it in varying degrees in our lives, it always stings. Especially for high achievers who are used to being successful at everything. So when it comes to our fitness or nutrition goals, why do so many of us fail?
Well, for one we often define success and failure in black and white terms. Success is a spectrum, not a destination, and when we treat it as such we set more reasonable expectations. We wanted to lose 50lbs but instead lost 30. Is that truly failure?
This piggybacks with our tendency to set timelines. While goals should be time dependent, we should also be aware that we don’t have control over outside influence. Life happens. We might get sick or injured or have a traumatic event that interrupts our process. If you’re not preparing for a specific event then plan for life and not a day.
In terms of weight loss, sometimes success is about maintaining prior results and not about losing more. We are great at losing weight, we suck at keeping it off. Maintenance is success.
We often also have unrealistic expectations. Having a goal of looking like someone else is a potentially damaging practice. For one, biology and anatomy dictates how our bodies look. Muscle insertion, proportions, and femur length has a huge role in how we look. I want to look like the Rock but I’m 5’8 and lack the parents that he was blessed with (and the work ethic). Second, you likely don’t want to put in the effort that it takes to look like your favorite physique. It’s not a knock on you, it’s just a dose of reality. Getting to single digit bodyfat sucks. Staying there sucks worse. If you have trouble with eating enough protein or avoiding alcohol on weekends you’re not gonna get there. Sorry.
Last, is a focus on the end result. The biggest mistake I see is that people focus on the outcome rather than the process. They spend so much time looking to the finish line that they forget to tie their shoes. And as they continue to trip over the unkempt laces they never take their eyes off of the finish, which seems to continue to move further away. All while the solution is right in front of their face.
So why do we fail? The real answer is we only fail if we quit. The choice is yours.
