Exercise: Changing More Than Your Body

By Penny Love Hoff

You don't have to understand how your primary olfactory nerve functions in order to smell and you don't have to understand electricity to make toast in your toaster. In the same line of thinking, you don't have to understand the complicated psychological component of weight loss in order to reach your goal.

What you do have to do is have a plan and stick to it. You also have to watch out for the tacks that exist along the road to the better you. No one ever feels like making uncomfortable lifestyle changes. Talk to a former smoker and ask them if they "wanted" to give up smoking. Lifestyle changes are hard. You just have to take Nike's advice and "just do it."

No on ever appears in the doorway of my little lobby cubicle of my gym to proclaim their excitement and enthusiasm for being at the gym. People solemnly enter, swipe their card, give a serious nod to the front desk staff, pivot robotically and head to the aerobic task at hand. But the locker room I am happy to say, is, a whole 'nother step class. Locker rooms are perfect for listening. Nudity in the locker room always has a sense of purpose surrounding it. When I'm undressing or dressing, I always feel the need to expedite and I certainly discourage eye contact and conversation until I get my hoohahs covered up.

And sometimes, I get an olfactory earful. What did I hear? Comments like "I am SO glad to get back in my routine!" and "That felt so great to get a workout in!" as well as "Man, that was hard but I feel so much better now."

I will always tell you to focus on how you'll feel afterwards, not on the dread you feel prior to working out. Do you know why? Because I assure you that when you finish it, you won't be the same.

Exercise will not only change how you feel about yourself, but it will make you more confident and effective in your daily life. I realize that it sounds like I am overstating things here, but by making changes with our body we can dramatically improve our life. Ask anyone who's lost a bunch of weight and they will tell you that they went from being invisible to being noticed, from being overlooked to being taken seriously; to being more of whom they were meant to be; to being half full in all areas of their life rather than half empty.

That is because the exterior changes help you excavate into deeper, more profound inner changes. When you accomplish something that has a physical result -- like losing weight -- it changes ALL of you. You begin to consider that other, less visible changes, like switching jobs or making more money or ditching that bad boyfriend, might be possible.

Unfortunately, most of us are resigned to "half empty glass" self-talk like "I'll never be thin, that's just the way I'm built" or "All the women on my side of the family are big." Or "I have a sluggish metabolism." Mostly these are excuses for not changing. It's easier to say yes to that cheesecake right now than to say no for a goal that might be a few months away.

But if you can get yourself to the gym and feel how it feels after, then you can remind yourself that each day of letting that half empty feeling dominate gets you one day closer to leading a half empty life. Is that what you want at the end of it all? To know that you settled?

And more importantly the opposite is true. Each day of making positive physical changes will add up to years then decades of being the more complete you, not only physically but also in all other areas of your life. Otherwise, days turn into years, the years into decades and before you know it you're Elizabeth Taylor.

How do you become more successful and more productive? Exercise. Start with the outside changes and as the trickle down theory goes, your life will get better. You will look in the mirror and not only see it on the outside but you'll feel it on the inside. Controlling your body will help you improve all other areas of your life.

Of course, you could always wait for the diagnosis or the divorce. But I suggest that you refuse to accept a half empty body or a half empty life.

Take one more look at your goals. Or better yet, get a new sheet of paper, take stock of your body as it is now and list the half empty, self-related misconceptions that you are resigned to. If your only option was succeeding, would you choose to make the change? This isn't just a better body but a better life. Time to reinvent yourself.

Make sure to follow Penny on Twitter @pennylovehoff or visit her website for more health tips.