This is Willpower Moment edition, Number 52. It’s the final one in the series. We have now been together for a full year.  During that year, I have shared with you the psychological strategies and tactics that people use to keep themselves on track with their wellness and fitness goals. I’ve explained proven methods people have used to combat temptation, procrastination, lack of motivation and even addiction. In the end, the inner conversations in your head will be the deciding factor regarding:

• What you eat, and how much you eat
• Whether you exercise on any given day
• How much sleep and rest you get to renew yourself, so you don’t deplete your willpower reserves

So, let’s review a few key concepts to ensure that you keep moving in the right direction. First, it’s important to establish your wellness goals: what foods you are planning to give up or greatly reduce, and what foods you plan to include to a greater degree to help improve your health, performance and body shape. You also need to document your fitness routine: Endurance and hopefully, strength training and flexibility as well. What’s your program going to be? It should be completely spelled out. Use the Daily Wellness Checklist on the Dashboard Page of the Meschino Wellness Platform to track your progress each day and each week. It only takes one minute at the end of the day. Record makers are record breakers. Track your adherence and progress. It’s a powerful, inspiring way to hold yourself accountable.

Remember that small treats can help you get through a moment when a major sabotage treat is presented to you or you suddenly develop a major craving.  Less is more when it comes to truly enjoying the pleasures of life.

If you need a fresh start, then begin by uncluttering your environment, which also clears space in your head to allow new, exciting goals to be set and pursued (like working out every day).

Use a ritual to help shift your state, so you can say yes to exercise each day (remember the CCCP formula):

• Carbohydrate snack to change blood sugar direction – helping your brain feel more energized
• Make sure your workout location is Convenient
• Couple exercise with something pleasurable (music, TV show, sports broadcast, dancing etc.)
• Plan, in advance, when you are going to exercise on any given day, so you don’t leave it to chance

Remember that absence, or in this case, abstinence does not make the heart grow fonder. It’s sad and difficult in the beginning to give up certain unhealthy foods that you love, but over time you really do forget about them – especially when you see how much better your body looks, how much better you feel and how much better your blood results become. I’ve have seen some amazing transformations in my life. It’s amazing how much the body will adapt and rebound it you’ll just feed it properly and exercise 4-7 times per week. What man has done, man can do and women too. You can do this.

The truth is that most people would like to have a better looking or more fit body than they have right now and help reduce their risk of heart attacks, stroke, cancer, dementia, osteoporosis, diabetes and so on.  Even if you’re doing pretty well already, most people would still like to get to the next level (body fat reduction, lean mass gains, faster running or walking speed, more muscle tone, better abs etc.) Studies show that most of it is in your hands. To a large degree, your health destiny and your ability to have an age-resistant body and mind is under your control, not your genetics That’s one of the most important discoveries of the last 35 years. But, if you truly want it, then you have to at least use some of the psychological strategies and tactics I have outlined in the Today’s Willpower Moment series. For this reason, we are going to begin resending them to you again starting with Willpower Moment No. 1 next week. With this type of information, it’s very important to see and hear the strategies more than one time for them to really sink in. Also, you may be in a different mental or emotional state of readiness when you see and hear this information for the second time, or be in better position to act on the information. All I know is that it’s important to keep these strategies top of mind. That is how you get people to take action.

 So, congratulations for staying with me for one full year. Starting next week, we get to do it all over again, which I know will help propel you even further along the path to wellness and fitness success. It’s been and pleasure and a privilege to share this program with you.

So, thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.

Dr. James Meschino
DC,MS, ROHP