Fitness Through a Wellness Lens

Fitness is a part of all our lives and whether you are training for a marathon or going on evening walks, we each have our own unique relationship with fitness. The same is true for wellness, but the two are frequently confused as being one and the same. When we see someone who is healthy and in good shape, we assume that this person has wellness; however, this isn’t always the case. I have spoken with former bodybuilders and athletes who now have multiple physical injuries and mental strains years later. Even though these individuals achieved incredible fitness goals, they never prioritized their wellness.

On a less extreme level, we all know someone who has gone on a fad diet, such as keto or a juice cleanse, and lost dozens of pounds in a short period of time only to gain it back once they stop dieting. When we focus on short term fitness goals, we often achieve them at the expense of our long-term wellness. Instead of seeing wellness as a result of fitness, we need to look at our fitness through a wellness lens. Realizing this has produced a paradigm shift at Your Pursuit of Wellness and we have identified the 3 main components as being: sustainability, self-awareness, and knowledge.

Sustainability

As previously mentioned, the internet is littered with fad diets and extreme lifestyle changes that promise you can lose X number of pounds in just a few short weeks. While many of these methods do work for weight loss, the truth is that most of the time we gain back the extra pounds. This is due to the changes being radical and short term and aren’t viable for the long term. Instead, it is important to focus on making multiple little, sustainable changes to our lifestyles. Whether it’s adding a vegetable or fruit to every meal, working out for 15 minutes in the morning, or planning your meals for the week, these small goals help us create long term improvements to our fitness and wellness. Additionally, accomplishing these milestones provides a sense of accomplishment and improves motivation.

Self-Awareness

A key part to having wellness in fitness is to be self-aware of your fitness goals, what motivates you, and what demotivates you. We are all on our own personal fitness and wellness journeys and have our own unique aspirations. It is through determining our goals that we take our first and most effective steps toward them and learn what consistent actions we need to perform to complete them. For example, the nutrition and exercise plans for a runner vs. a weightlifter look extremely different.

Additionally, we all have our own preferred methods for approaching fitness as well as our own unique responses to external factors. You might be more motivated to work out in the morning as opposed to in the evening or if you have a stressful day, you may end up binge eating or having sweets in the evening to deal with the stress. Learning what inspires us to get closer to our goals and what takes us farther away is paramount to achieving them.

Knowledge

Having the correct information is a crucial component of fitness and wellness. Unfortunately, it is all too easy today to find false or misleading information especially when it comes to exercise and nutrition. It is important when working toward and researching your health goals that you know how to find reliable information from trusted sources. That’s why a vital goal at Your Pursuit of Wellness is to put together a digital library of fitness and wellness knowledge that is backed by professional experts.

Full Podcast: https://youtu.be/Sn3ESmhLAmQ