The first two things that the majority of people think about when they want to lose weight is diet and exercise. Most of them fail to realize that discipline is even more important that diet and exercise.
Discipline will ensure that you eat foods that are right. Discipline will keep you on a caloric deficit even if your stomach is growling and demanding food at night. Discipline will prevent you from skipping workouts and make you give your best when you do train.
Weight loss is a mental game and not a physical one. It’s all about staying on track and finishing what you started. It’s a slow process. Make no mistake about this.
You could be obese and struggling or you could be lean and trying to shed the last bit of stubborn fat to see your six pack. Whatever the case may be, burning fat takes time. That’s why it’s called a weight loss journey.
You must have discipline to stay focused and go through the motions even though it seems to be taking a long time. Most often, it’s the time that it takes to see results that is the biggest hurdle to get over. It’s the one obstacle that trips up most people who want results overnight.
They fail to realize that it’s a slow process but quitting will not speed it up. If you don’t want to start over in future, don’t stop now. It doesn’t matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
When creating a diet plan for yourself, keep it sensible so that it’s challenging but not torturous. You MUST have a diet plan to follow. Don’t try to wing it. When you have a plan, all you need to do is follow it. Like a horse with blinkers on, you’ll keep moving forward without being distracted.
The same applies to your training regimen. Plan your workouts at least 2 or 3 weeks ahead and train when you’re supposed to. Do not skip workouts just because you’re not in a mood to train. Just give yourself 10 minutes and get started. Most often, once you start, you’ll take the workout to completion even if it’s 30 minutes long.
If you lack the discipline and give in to temptation, you’ll end up skipping today’s workout. Once that happens, it will become easier to skip tomorrow’s training and the day after that. Next thing you know, you’ve not trained for 6 months and it all started from that 1 workout you skipped.
Discipline is all about doing what you need to do even when you don’t feel like it. There will ALWAYS be days when you do not feel like doing what you need to. In fact, this will generally be the norm. It’s the brain’s way of self-preservation.
It sees the difficult tasks as unpleasant and tries to cook up excuses so that you stay in your comfort zone. Discipline will make you stronger than your excuses. You know what you need to do to get to where you want to go… and you’ll do them. This is what separates the winners from the losers. Winners do what everybody else won’t so that they can get what everybody else can’t. It’s the discipline that makes people winners.
If you want a body that you can be proud of, practice discipline daily. It’s your best friend. It’s not just about the weight you lose but also the confidence and inner strength that you’ll gain in the process. Believe in yourself and know that your own competition. Use discipline to transform your body.