Nowadays everyone and their mother is preaching balance.
But do you want to know the truth? There will always be sacrifices you have to make. There will be times that you will be the only friend who doesn’t order dessert. There will be times where you have to skip out on date night because you have to get your workout in. There will be times when you have to grocery shop at midnight because that’s the only time you’re able to go. There will be times you spend 2 hours in the kitchen meal prepping instead of sleeping in. And there will be times that you will eat your meal-prepped lunch cold in your car while everyone else on lunch break eats from the buffet.
NEWS FLASH: if you insist you can eat the cookie every time because you “live a balanced life” you’re not going to reach your fitness goals. I understand balance can mean different things, like “eat the damn cookie” doesn’t necessarily mean “eat the damn cookie every single time you crave it”, but I think a lot of influencers combined give off that vibe because for every time you see someone post with a cheat meal talking about how important balance is, you never see the 50 other meals in between that are clean whole foods or posts about them saying no to dessert that they were really craving.
In order to get that instagram perfect booty and non-existent waist, you cannot have a balanced life, you must have a strict, goal-oriented approach. Your favorite fitspo that has a million followers and your dream body—I bet you that her day job is to look good and be fit. I bet she has trainers and coaches helping her stay on track. And you know what? That is amazing and I wish that my job required me to be in the gym 4 hours a day, but I wish that they were more transparent about how much time they actually put into it, all the resources they have to help them, and all the sacrifices they have to make to look the way they do. Let’s stop pretending that physique competitor’s bodies are obtainable with a “balanced lifestyle”.
Fitness comes down to priorities. IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR BODY OR LIFESTYLE, YOU HAVE TO MAKE SACRIFICES. If it were easy, then everyone would have their dream body. I think it’s important to figure out what you’re after. If you’re after a crazy lean physique, but you’re only willing to make sacrifices 50% of the time, then your goal is not realistic. If you simply want to be healthier, you can live a more ‘balanced life’, but realize that you’re not going to grow your dream glutes. Any fitness goal you may have is great and I’m cheering you on like crazy—just please be realistic so you don’t set yourself up for disappointment.
Mandi.