Making Those Secondary Choices

This morning my husband and I are off to the health club to work out after a L-O-N-G hiatus.  From early October of 2007 (about 3-1/2 months after starting on 5&1) until May of 2010, I worked out fairly regularly at a health club near our house.  My husband has successfully kept off the 50 pounds he lost on 5&1, but exercise has never been his strong suit, if you know what I mean.  He started working out with me in May of 2010, but once I was injured late that month when I slipped and fell off the treadmill, breaking a bone in my right knee, he never went back.  The injury kept me fairly immobilized for several weeks and even after the break healed, my knee was never the same and this injury was most likely the final straw that led to my total knee replacement this past August.

Anyway . . . it's been close to 18 months since either one of us have worked out regularly or gotten much exercise besides a walk.  We'd canceled our health club membership and tried to work out at home on some equipment we have, but it was definitely hit and miss, with more "miss" than "hit."  We recently received an offer to join another health club (membership fee waived and very reasonable monthly rate).  I've finished physical therapy for my knee and know that working out will help to further strengthen my knee as well as provide the overall conditioning and health benefits we need, so we decided it was time to get going again.

To my surprise and delight, the trainer we're working with was one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser (TBL has an entire team of trainers, not just the ones seen on camera).  This guy knows his stuff and my husband and I are really impressed with how thorough he has been in doing an assessment of where we are and what we need.  I'm excited to see what happens over the next months as we get back into a good workout routine under the guidance of this trainer!

One thing we know for sure:  maintenance is about more than just maintaining at a healthy weight.  That's important, to be sure, but getting to our goal weight isn't the end of the road, just an important milestone on the journey to being optimally healthy.  One of my friends who has lost 30 pounds and maintained a healthy weight for several years said that it's important for her to continue to set health goals for herself.  By doing so, she continues to move forward on her own optimal health journey and she continues to experience the satisfaction of reaching new goals. 

Consistency in exercise has been an ongoing challenge for me and this is the next hurdle to overcome on my own journey.  Certainly the issues with my knee complicated my ability to exercise, but the truth is that I really don't like to do it!  However, I DO like to be healthy and I DO want to live a healthy, active lifestyle for as long as I can.  Because those things are important to me, I'm heading to the health club today!

Exercise is a secondary choice I am making because it supports what I
REALLY want.  The important thing to note about secondary choices is that they are often things we don't want to do . . . but we do them anyway because they support what it is that we DO want.  Just as a concert pianist will practice for hours, not for the love of practice but because practicing supports their desire to be a concert pianist, those of us who want to be healthy make secondary choices that support our goal. 

Staying on plan is a secondary choice, drinking water instead of something else may be a secondary choice, and working out instead of relaxing at home is definitely a secondary choice.  We may not particularly want to do any of those things for the pure joy of doing them, but choosing to do those things will allow us to live a long and healthy life.  If that's your goal, choose wisely :-)