Athlete Envy

One thing that I have noticed is that people come to me for advice on how to lose weight or what I should eat for this specific goal but commitment is more than changing what you eat or how you exercise, it is also about  creating a habit that you can follow through on. Many of us start off with the best intentions to go to the gym and may even do it successfully for a 1 week or even a month but when results are not occurring, should you quit? No but people do. Why?

The reason many don’t make it through on their commitment is athlete envy. What is athlete envy? It’s that fleeting thought of “why can’t I look like that? or why don’t I have abs? or why don’t I have larger calf muscles? or why don’t I have that waist size?” All these are natural thoughts when one gets started but if they linger that’s when you have a problem achieving your goal. How should one overcome this?

The best way I find that you can overcome such thoughts is by 1) finding something that you like to do and can commit to doing and 2) working out with friends. Both of these are super important to not only help you keep going to the gym but also because if you workout with friends you are likely going to have fun and motivation to make you keep going back! One of the main reasons that I still do Crossfit is because of the community aspect. No matter when and where I am, dropping into a Crossfit gym is great because many people approach you to say hi and if you join a gym, those same people might become friends! If you prefer activities which are for lone individuals, like running, find a track or a place you like to run that you can’t wait to tackle and then follow through will become easy!

Don’t let athlete envy stop you from achieving your best health, abs or no abs, you will be improving your health!