Vigilance

At the beginning of the year, many people on Facebook were already complaining about the fitness industry and how exercise doesn't help. This was dooming themselves to failure on their resolutions with self-fulfilling prophecies and fears about having to remain vigilant about their weight for the rest of their lives.

Every day on Twitter and Facebook, I see similar comments from people. They're upset that fitness will have to be part of their lives forever and that they won't be able to eat constantly without gaining weight. It IS a change in lifestyles that you have to undertake to lose the weight and take control of your health. It will be a life-long effort. If you stop eating well and exercising, you have to start the journey all over again

Source: sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net via Deborah on Pinterest

I know change is hard and scary, but I don't understand why people think that health should magically happen, but so many other protective measures are done with effort every day. You probably wear a seat belt, and you have to reach over and latch it, right? That's a preventive measure that takes vigilance. Same with looking for traffic before crossing the street, checking your mirrors before changing lanes, locking your doors, checking the expiration date on food and all the other activities you do daily to protect yourself.

Fitness is just another thing that everyone should do to prevent harm. It's possible to cross the street without looking and not get hit by a car, just like it's possible to remain overweight for years and not have a heart attack, but if you saw the odds on that in Vegas, would you bet on it? Probably not, so why risk it. Spend 30 minutes getting moving. Eat an apple instead of a donut. The instant gratification might not be there, but it will more than pay off in the long-run.