Let's Chat About Sacrifice: What is does and doesn't mean

One word: Sacrifice.

This is something that I have been thinking a lot about over the last month or so.  I'm not really sure why, other than the fact that it feels like with any effort to loose weight, diet, or get fit you have to sacrifice some things to attain your goals.  And for every person, these sacrifices may be different.  So, first let's take a look at what it means to sacrifice something.

In our context, we will look at one of the several definitions of the word from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: sacrifice- a destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sacrifice

For me personally, I have had to make several sacrifices to reach my goals thus far along my personal fitness journey.  And mostly, I haven't missed the time involved in the things I have put aside as I strive to meet my goals. And let me be clear when I say that you don't have to completely stop doing something you love to try and meet your goal.  Sometimes just scaling back the time spent on something can make all the difference too.  Let's face it, then you'd just be miserable. :)

For me, I am a huge television junky and gamer.  There are several tv shows I like to watch, and I am an avid Guild Wars 2 player.  However, both have been preventing me from becoming (and staying) active.  So, as a result I decided to redirect some of my time doing both of these pastimes and use some of that time to exercise.  This doesn't mean I stopped doing either altogether, I just spend a little less time doing them each day (or week). 

On the other hand, I also love things like candy bars, potato chips, pretty much anything deep fried or chocolate.  I also love a good, cold, can of Pepsi.  Those are my vices.  And they were also hindering my progress.  But in this case, I ended up "sacrificing" most of these items because in the end I felt it was a better investment for me to exclude these items.  Keeping them around the house meant I would eventually end up eating them.  I have very little self control when it comes to the aforementioned items.  And honestly, I haven't missed them.  And now that I have learned my control with these things, I know an occasional candy bar or Pepsi won't hurt my progress that much.  And I can walk away at any time.  For example, I bought a bottle of Pepsi this afternoon, after drinking about half of it on my way home from work, I was done.  I had my fill of it.  And didn't need to splurge on it anymore.  This was a huge step for me, and without being able to initially sacrifice that, I wouldn't have stopped until the whole bottle was empty.  And there was no guilt for not finishing it or even for buying it.  Because I know I haven't had one in 2 weeks.  Which is a great improvement over about 7 cans a day.

Now let's look at a way sacrifice can hinder your progress.  For me personally, I have been down this road as well (as recently as this week).  One thing you shouldn't sacrifice is rest.  I made this mistake the other night.  After pulling a late evening at work, I came home and worked out.  This meant I was going to end up getting less than 5 hours or so of sleep that night.  But I did it anyways.  The next day, I felt terrible from lack of sleep and I was sore from working out on top of that.  Your body needs that rest to rebuild and rehabilitate from the stresses of not only working out, but from life in general.  Don't sacrifice that.  It's far too important.

One other way you can sacrifice to the point of hindrance is by giving in to the "I have to workout" syndrome.  I hear people talk about how they feel they just "have"  to workout.  If you have this mentality, your workout may benefit you as much as you think.  Sure, you're working out.  You're doing something to help yourself.  But with a "have to" mentality, you are sacrificing the "want to" mentality and thus will not push yourself as hard as you normally would.  I'm not saying we don't have "off" days, where it is physically challenging just to tie your gym shoes.  But be careful not to fall into this trap.  Remember, you are choosing to workout for a better, healthier you.  Don't sacrifice that self worth and sell yourself short.

These are just a couple brief ways sacrifices in your everyday life can help (and even hurt) your progress.  It is up to you to evaluate what you could do a little less with each day, or even do without for a few days to help you attain your goal.  Just make sure you aren't sacrificing the right things by mistake like: proper nutrition, rest, activity, and your personal relationships. After all, this fitness thing is all about learning to balance your life with a healthy lifestyle.  Keep that in mind.

And until next time, be happy and be healthy!

Posted in: fitness, gamer, games, health, nutrition, rest, sacrifice, workout