One of the most difficult aspects of maintaining good health/fitness/wellness is consistency and motivation. Sure there are things like having a partner to work-out with, pushing oneself, taking notes of progress etcetera but really, it is tough especially when you have a million things to do. I can't even offer any solution for this.
I was just in the bookstroe yesterday and read an Article from Scientific American that in a few pages, addressed the issue of American obesity and poor diet. It is truly alarming to learn that 30 percent of Americans are obese and another 30 percent are considered overweight. That's a whopping 60 percent of the population. The billion dollar multiple sometimes conflicting diet solutions and fitness trends that burst and fade along, aren't helping at all. That already gives us an idea about the intensity of this problem facing the country. If we think this will pass, well, we will all be in for a big surprise.
Studies after studies link obeisty and becoming overweight with many medical problems. I know this because I see it everyday in my patient load. Chances are, on a given day, 6 out of my 8 patients suffer medically because of conditions associated with obesity: high cholesterol, high sugar, high blood pressure, stress, and difficulty moving because of years and years of sedentary living.
It is very easy for me to make this site as my pulpit to lecture everybody about what I think is the problem - but if I do, I will just be like everybody else, a lecturer and a problem-seeker, not a soultion-maker. What Scientific American has found out is that the consistent effective way of dealing with obeisty is behavior modification. Yes, there is a brain/body connection to the problem of obesity and unhealthy lifestyle. What this generation should explore is a solution to American obesity that involves changing of habits and reasoning/rational for living a healthy lifestyle and eating right.
I find this effective on my patients: they lose significant weight and increase significant active 'lightness' when they attend my PT sessions regularly. Then a few weeks after discharge they either resort back to their old conditions or even worse. There is a connection between having someone to help you improve your health than doing it alone.
The trouble is - we mostly do our exercises/eating alone. It is important then that we have another 'pusher', another 'reason', another 'motivator' to make us consistent with our personal quest for healthy living. (Next, we will explore the different approaches).