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Bryan Bariatrics Newsletter Articles

The Big Decision to Exercise

Having a hard time getting motivated to exercise? The first step is to decide that exercise would truly be useful to you. When you consider making a lifestyle change, or any major decision, you will consciously (or unconsciously) be weighing the trade-offs to your daily life.

When we make decisions, we weigh the pros and cons along with the gains and losses. We also consider our values and whether the decision will be considered right or wrong, good or bad.

Some questions we consider are:

If I don’t make any change in what I am currently doing, what will be the negative impact?
What will happen in the long term?
How might this impact my life, my family, my ability to do the things that are important to me?
How will my life be different?
What are the potential benefits in the long term?
What are the drawbacks about making the changes?
What knowledge and or skills would I need to develop?
What are the time commitments in learning the new skills?

To actually make a change, the scale needs to tip so that the benefits outweigh the costs. Then you have to decide to go through some transitional, possible discomfort in order to make a new normal for yourself. If you are having a difficult time being consistent with your exercise, this PDF worksheet will help you define your stance to make it a part of your lifestyle.