Would you rather be super lean or enjoy your life?
This is a super important question we all need to ask ourselves to assess if we are willing to put the work needed to reach our goals; and if not, reassessing to make our goals more reasonable.
Where the problem starts:
The fitness, diet, and entertainment industry have drilled in to our heads what a so-called perfect body is supposed to look like. Next to no body fat, visible abs, nice butts, boobs, and a tiny waist. Perhaps a model body is less defined than a fitness model body, but they still have one thing in common: next to no body fat.
Most of the time when people have a “goal body”, this is what they’re referring to.
And we get it! Those bodies are aesthetically pleasing being that we’ve been wired our entire lives to think so.
However, there is a high cost to these bodies; and most of the time you’re not seeing all the work that’s needed to get there.
If you are not naturally a super lean individual, becoming one takes a LOT of work and a LOT of sacrifice.
Alcohol, processed foods, and desserts are to be severely limited or none. This means that the dinners out, drinks with friends on the weekends, and nighttime snack are out of the question. Exercising regularly, being hungry, and saying NO most of the time are all part of the getting-super-lean game. When you’re seeing people on the cover of magazines, it wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns to get there. It’s also very hard to maintain.
This isn’t to say you can’t do this by any means; this is to help you ask the question of: Am I willing to do this? Do I truly want to give up my weekends for the body I want? And is being lean truly my top priority?
To put it in to perspective: If you want to make it in to the CrossFit Games, you can’t scoot by showing up to workout 3 times a week and end it at that because you have other things you’d rather do. Many top athletes workout multiple times a day and live and breathe fitness and recovering.
There is nothing wrong with not wanting to go to the CrossFit Games. But if you’re putting the bare minimum in while constantly getting upset that you’re not getting in, you’re going to be feeling nothing but frustration.
It’s OKAY to not want to put the work in necessary to become less than 10% body fat. But we need to be making sure we’re constantly putting that image in our minds as our “goal body” if in your core it’s not a priority.