Lifestyle or just a Challenge?

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omgwale
omgwale Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I ask almost every new person I meet in the gym this one question... Is this healthy phase a lifestyle or a weight loss challenge an why? I get various answers and they are all pretty interesting. So I ask just have to ask :)
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Replies

  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    For me its lifestyle and pretty much boils down to a choice. Choosing to think about what I eat & why & how much. And choosing to build activity into my life rather than be a couch bum.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
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    This is my lifestyle now. Sure there are short term goals, or "challenges", to keep things interesting. For example, I'm working on completing a 10-week, unbroken streak of my bodyweight strength training program. When it's done, I'll make a new, more difficult challenge for myself.

    I'm still "new" to this more active, health goal oriented lifestyle, so the mini goals help me as a sort of way to find what types of activities appeal to me best. But I know for sure that I'm in "this" for the long haul. It's all about keeping it fun and interesting, challenging yet realistic.
  • mathjulz
    mathjulz Posts: 5,514 Member
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    Lifestyle.

    I'm seriously missing my gym time right now, but my body won't allow me to do much at all :sad: I can't wait to get back ... probably just about in time to meet all the people who join in the new year! :laugh:
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    If someone at the gym asked me that, I'd ask them what they are selling. :laugh:
  • ardysedwardsmcgrath
    ardysedwardsmcgrath Posts: 120 Member
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    Lifestyle... for me.. trying to make better choices..&for my daughter to follow.. I wood like to get back into lifting weights but I feel im too heavy to set foot in a gym.. soo for now im biking..&walking..
  • maasha81
    maasha81 Posts: 733 Member
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    started off as a challenge and basically wanted to lose some vanity weight .... it became a lifestyle change for me.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    Has previously been a challenge, a whim, an attempt, a jaunt.... now it's just what I do.
  • CindyMarcuzAdams
    CindyMarcuzAdams Posts: 4,006 Member
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    It some of it all, thrown together to make a new me.
  • Lemongrab13
    Lemongrab13 Posts: 206 Member
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    Lifestyle. It has been a challenge when I was a teen, and all I cared about was being skinny. Now being thin isn't even on my mind. My goal is to be athletic, and that's not a temporary interest. I want to become a long distance runner and in general I want to be able to do almost anything physically related, such as rock climbing, etc.
    Above all I want to be extremely healthy. :bigsmile:
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    Part of it is lifestyle and part of it is short-term goals. But it's not that my "lifestyle" change is some kind of radical notion. I just know there's certain things I personally need to do to be as happy and healthy as I can be. Whether I've let my gym membership lapse or join a new group of exercise friends or if I'm hanging out with my pub friends a couple days per week kinda depends on what season it is and how much free time I have outside of my training. Moderation and balance, I guess is my "new lifestyle," if you can call it that. I'm definitely a different person now, but eating and exercise is just a small part of that.
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    If someone at the gym asked me that, I'd ask them what they are selling. :laugh:

    Well considering he is an online fitness coach I guess we should be asking him that now. :laugh:
  • Mr_Bad_Example
    Mr_Bad_Example Posts: 2,403 Member
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    Hi, I ask almost every new person I meet in the gym this one question... Is this healthy phase a lifestyle or a weight loss challenge an why? I get various answers and they are all pretty interesting. So I ask just have to ask :)

    Why, are you looking for clients?
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
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    Lifestyle, though at the moment my exercise level is unsustainable.

    I'm eating in a way I can sustain, that does not leave me hungry, so when I need to ramp down my weight loss to maintenance phase hopefully I'll only have to dial down my exercise, leaving in enough to keep my weight steady without changing my diet again.

    At the moment I'm losing at 2 lbs/wk, one of which is due to dietary calorie deficit, the other of which is due to exercise. (Yes I figured this out by looking at my records over the past month and calculating--not just guessing, I "did the math"...)
  • Rosyone
    Rosyone Posts: 74 Member
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    For me, remembering that this is a lifestyle change that must be approached realistically if I'm to have any hope of long term success *IS* the challenge. So much of what is really required is pure tedium - reconditioning myself to recognize and be satisfied with standard sized portions across a wide range of foods, for example. It's so much easier to "go on a diet" and then pat yourself on the back for your will power than it is to permanently reform your eating habits.
  • roanokejoe49
    roanokejoe49 Posts: 820 Member
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    For me, it's about life and death. I'm trying to hang on to my kidney function and avoid dialysis for as long as possible. Losing weight is part of that plan.
  • ChelseaWelseyKins
    ChelseaWelseyKins Posts: 272 Member
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    Lifestyle of course!
    1.) My fiance is a soon-to-be Marine (currently at boot camp). He's always been Mr. Exercise and bulk up, and I finally want to be that trophy-looking wife that can keep up with her man!
    2.) I'm a studying Dietitian and I feel like if I don't live a healthy lifestyle then I'm basically lying to everyone I give advice to. It's like that gym teacher in high school that was overweight but told everyone to run because it was good for them. I want to be someone my clients look to for advice who can actually execute it.
    3.) I want to make MYSELF proud. I want to feel confident and have a bunch of energy.

    Like my quote on my profile says... Not a diet, it's a lifestyle :)
  • Barbellarella_
    Barbellarella_ Posts: 454 Member
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    I think that is sort of a trick question for me personally.

    I am "cutting" right now, and I don't plan on always being on a cut of course. When I get to my goal, I will be maintaining, which is different. Either way, I will be eating the same foods, just different amounts.
  • weightliftingdiva
    weightliftingdiva Posts: 522 Member
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    It's a lifestyle change for me, but with challenges along the way. Some of them are goals that I have (finish C25k, 12 weeks of strong lifts), but then some of them are actual challenges. Like not eating any of the three types of cookies, the muffin, ice cream or the extra dessert that I could have had when I was in the kitchen. I looked at them and wanted to eat it all. Then I told myself a big fat NO and thought about how good breakfast would taste in the morning.
  • aldousmom
    aldousmom Posts: 382 Member
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    Lifestyle. It would be hard for ultra-marathon trail running to be a phase, because of the huge investment of time, work, and dedication to accomplish one race. I wouldn't have it any other way.
  • mathjulz
    mathjulz Posts: 5,514 Member
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    If someone at the gym asked me that, I'd ask them what they are selling. :laugh:

    Well considering he is an online fitness coach I guess we should be asking him that now. :laugh:

    There is that ... :ohwell:

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