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On January 2nd, the gym parking lot is packed. The year-rounders grunt as they drive longingly past their occupied sweet spots and whisper, “See you in April, friend.” It’s a solemn albeit temporary so-long…
Petering out in April is not unusual. In fact, it’s actually more common than it isn’t. But it’s also a lot like tossing your Nikes on Lap 23 when everyone else’s eyes are turned toward the finish line, and you can make your clandestine escape behind the water station. Because that 26.2 tape is just too distant, and you’ve run far enough anyway.
In New England, at least, late April is a glimpse of that long-sought-after finish line. May brings the promise of sun and warmth and a reward for outlasting unspeakable temperatures and short, dark days. It’s a glimmer of freedom.
Motivation and endurance are not gifts—but notions that if you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard.
Helen Keller wrote, “We can do anything we want to if we stick to it long enough.” Henry Ford—“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” And Leonardo da Vinci professed, “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”
It’s doubtful that these Greats were referring to weight loss. That said, it’s not the subject that’s important, but the substance. We all WANT certain things out of life that have nothing to do with our personal physique, and although we can all put in the work to enhance our relationships, professions, lifestyles…WANTS that pertain specifically to weight loss and body composition are the kinds over which we have the most control.
The All or Nothing mentality is as old as it gets, but a 75-85% effort will take us much farther than will a nothing-at-all. So, whether you took a few steps back over spring break, or piled back on the weight you lost in January, it doesn’t mean that you skirted the finish line. It’s still there, unbroken, waiting for you to fill up that water bottle and tighten your laces.
The bright side of April…you’ve made this far…CONGRATS...keep going, even if you stumble now and then. Months remain to meet your goal, warmer months—with many more gym parking spots to choose from.