The One Secret to Making Your Lifestyle Change Stick

One of the true joys in medicine is being witness to some of the incredible changes my patients make to better their health.

No, I’m not talking about when someone goes on a crash diet and loses 30 pounds in 2 months (only to gain 40 pounds back the next year), or when individuals state they quit smoking cold turkey and then I soon discover that they simply changed to an ‘e’ cigarette with ‘only’ nicotine in it.

Rather, I’m talking about that busy mom of 3 who initially struggles but steadily builds a work-out into her schedule and eats smaller portions so that the pesky and unhealthy 20 postpartum pounds comes off her abdomen over a year or 2.

That retiree who starts going to the YMCA’s swimming pool several times a week for 90 minutes of cardio and lost so much weight over several years she is able to wean off the majority of her prescriptions and now looks at least 15 years younger than her actual age.

And lastly, that middle-aged man who experienced a ‘heart attack scare‘ and decided he wanted to stop being a slave to his work and over-scheduled life, and work the program to find independence from cigarettes, decrease his drinking, and start to really ‘play’ with his grandchildren.

All so that 3 years later, he can run half marathons without any more angina episodes.

Those are the patients who inspire me and challenge me to practice what I preach as well.

What do they have in common that was the key to real change and lifelong health betterment?

I suspect that you might expect a very medical or technical answer similar to what’s already been written by numerous nutritionists, life coaches, and medical celebrities, but my answer is more emotive and practical.

These successful patients simply made a choice…

A choice to LOVE.

Not to love another, but to LOVE themselves enough to make hard decisions, to LOVE themselves enough to be brutally honest and stop making excuses, to LOVE themselves enough to put their health (physical, emotional and spiritual) first.

To LOVE themselves enough to live a life where the chance of becoming a health burden to self, loved ones and the society is mitigated by controlling the aspects they can.

So no matter the current state of your health, the fact that you are a member of this site or was led to this information means that you are already on that journey to your best health.

Find out what you can do today and everyday to LOVE yourself the HEALTHGIST way!