Letter to the Editor: “Chris, I have fallen off track. What do I do?”

“Chris, I have fallen off track over the past three months. I’ve been doing a ton of walking, but I haven’t lifted weights at all. I just haven’t been motivated! Hahaha I know, I know, it’s not the same, I get it. My eating also hasn’t been the best. I only put on six pounds, but I know it’s really more than that because I lost a bunch of muscle (yea, yea, yea, you’ve drilled that in my head that muscle weighs something on the scale). I’m not happy about the way I look and feel. I’m discouraged, I feel like I failed. I’m nervous about coming back but I’m excited, too. Advice?”—Jane Doe

“Chris, I fell completely off track and put on 30 lbs. I’m afraid to look you in the eye when I come back, and I don’t want you to yell at me. I miss you though 😊”—Janet Doe

These are two text messages I’ve received; the senders’ names have been redacted, but with their blessing, I’m sharing a response here.

This entire state-of-affairs is unprecedented, and everyone’s situation is different; however, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s time to start picking yourself back up and gearing your mindset toward moving forward. It is ok to feel discouraged, and I am aware that many have fallen off track. The only thing that is not ok is giving up. Come on, are you actually going to let this be the beginning of the end for you?

I’m a die-hard proponent of a school of psychology that declines to address the issue of why. Example: someone has a phobia of heights. Why? What happened in his or her childhood that contributed to this? Well, who cares?! Rather than dissect the past and beat yourself up, I prefer looking forward with a singular laser focus on what you are going to do, right now, to achieve different results in the future.

Yes, I always good-naturedly give you a hard time over the “I know I haven’t done ‘insert most important parameter here’ but AT LEAST I’ve done ‘insert not as beneficial parameter here’” option, but there’s a reason. My mentor once shared a thought with me that has been engrained in my skull for the last twelve years, “Always be an honest voice because you may be the last honest voice someone ever hears.” Survey a hundred people and 90% of them think that walking incinerates fat; that to get leaner you must first drop a bunch of weight and then “tone up”; that you must cease eating carbohydrates to lose fat; or that if you stopped lifting weights for three months and only put on five pounds, that is simply five pounds of fat, and once you adjust your eating, your body will discard those sole five pounds of fat. The above ideas are based on a sliver of truth but are overwhelmingly pure misguided fantasy perpetuated by a world of disingenuousness. I care about my clients, and over my dead body are they going to give those fallacies any merit. I’m a firm believer that if you understand the process and the basics, then you are far more likely to succeed.

It all starts with you.

The global pandemic was out of your control. What’s in your control is how you react to it now. It all starts with your mindset. My advice is this: look forward. Write down a specific goal and, in this instance, include the why.  

Don’t write down, “I want to lose weight;” rather, “I want to lose 15# by October 1st because I would feel so much better being lighter, fitting into a smaller size pants, and being all-around healthier”.

Don’t write down, “I want to lose weight” if you really mean, “I want to lose the extra pounds I put on during the shutdown and get back to counteracting, as much as possible, drinking, partying, and bad food with weightlifting. I love those things and refuse to give them up, but I also want to be as healthy as possible within those parameters.” There’s no wrong goal! Write down what you mean—that is the first step to success.

Simply, figure out what you want to accomplish, and when we get back to Fit House, I will guide you to that goal in record time. 

I never consider anything a failure, only a learning experience, as long as you don’t repeat it again. I’ve had a couple mental learning experiences during this shutdown, but I’ve grown from them and regrouped, and I will be that much stronger going into the future. The same for you. What did you learn from this? How will you be stronger moving forward? Will you be even more motivated than ever to get back on track?

Lastly, let’s have fun! The worst is almost over, and we’re going to have a blast when we get back to it. I’ve done my due diligence and used this timeout to learn and customize a brand-new training methodology and system for everyone when we get back. It’s going to be exhilarating, cutting-edge, and our ticket to rocket ourselves to out-of-this-world results, in real-world record time. Can’t wait to see you!

About the author

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Chris Rombola
chris@myfithouse.com | Profile | Other Posts

Chris is the owner of Fit House. He's run the training departments at several commercial gyms, and after years of seeing how awful those environments were for his clients, he opened his own studio. He is devoted to getting people strong, lean, and healthy.