By Timothy J Murphy, CAE

As part of our regular professional programming activities, our association management company’s meetings pros constantly plan, strategize, and execute conferences and conventions worldwide for our client organizations. Event management is a discipline all unto itself, and I am happily surrounded by team members who are the best in the business in this arena, as this is not really my forte. One of the regular tasks they taught me to do is to keep a file after each event called “Lessons Learned”. Here we can formally record what went right, wrong, and in between, and then create ways to make it better next time. By drilling down into these details, we can cut through the “noise” and stay focused on what’s really important. And then it occurred to me that this same strategy easily translates to the success of our health and strength journeys.

When I started on my own health and strength quest nearly 12 years ago, I learned great lessons along the way in areas of exercise, nutrition, athleticism, and all things better health. But then somehow along the way, I forgot to go back and look at that “file” to remind me of the lessons I’d learned, and thus forgot to apply them to my current challenges.

To that end, I have compiled some of the great lessons I learned along my health and strength journey, and hope these will help you, too, when you need a little reminder, nudge, direction, and/or encouragement.

1. Forget the numbers – If weight loss is your main goal, don’t weigh yourself every morning; your weight can naturally fluctuate for a variety of reasons: food and liquid intake, activity, sleep quality, etc. For accuracy, weigh yourself once a week on the same day at the same time. (Remember, mornings are best right after getting up.) Lesson Learned—The stress created by daily weighing comes from watching the numbers go up, as they do sometimes. But they come down too; it’s all about averages.

2. Relax and stop the obsession – I needed a reminder of this by my coach, as well as by my wife, from time to time, especially as it related to nutrition. I called it “being strict”; my wife (and coach) labeled it “obsessive”. Lesson Learned—It’s okay to deviate occasionally from healthier nutrition plans, as long as it’s not a regular thing. So relax…a few potato chips at the party won’t bust the waistline!

3. Remember why you exercise – Regular exercise has bountiful benefits, including cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal strength and balance, muscle tone and strength increases, and an overall feeling of well-being. It’s not a drudgery; it’s a privilege. Movement and muscle tension increases your quality of life. Sure, you’ll get tired. That’s the point. Lesson Learned—Exercise is a celebration of what the body can do. It’s not a punishment for what you ate last night!

4. Slip-ups happen. Get over it (again, see the “obsession” part) – Okay, so the diet and exercise train derailed last weekend, and the party (especially the accompanying food and drink) was legendary. Then you wake up on Monday morning with that old, bloated feeling, and the guilt comes flooding in. Some years ago, I would have been beside myself with remorse. But then I heard my coach’s voice in the back of my consciousness with the Lesson Learned—Just because you went wild one time does NOT mean that you gained back every pound you ever lost. (It only feels that way, but you didn’t.) Don’t use this as an excuse to go crazy all the time; just when you occasionally blow it.

And finally, I saved my favorite for last:

5. It’s okay to push yourself – Move a lot. More than you think you can. I always have to remind myself that rest after physical activity is important, but getting up and doing it again is key to getting stronger and more resilient. Start off slowly and build up to great levels of physicality, just like competitive runners train (they start out running 5K, then 10K, then half-marathons, then marathons). Lesson Learned—Regular movement matters just as much as occasional, extreme workouts. You can’t do strenuous workouts every day, but you can move every day. Fortunately, opportunities for daily exercise are readily available all around us: take the stairs, walk to destinations instead of driving, park far away from the door, walk your time away in airports rather than sitting at the gate, etc.

No matter how long one has been striving for optimal strength and fitness, we all need those reminders of the strategies that got us there and will keep us there. Whenever I try something new or engage in a more advanced level of exercise, I always tell myself over and over again: “You’re better today than you were yesterday, and you should see what tomorrow looks like!”

The preceding was a guest post from one of our clients, Tim Murphy. In 2014, Tim’s doctor shook him up when he said, “I’m just going to be blunt. You’re too fat. You’re too young to be this fat. You’re not in good shape. You have to do something! You’ve got to get the weight off.”

As an avid listener of WIBC, Tim had heard about Exercise Inc and decided to check it out. When he first learned about the 20-minute workout once a week, he was skeptical. But he decided to give it a shot.

Since then, Tim’s lost over 90 pounds and improved several other key health metrics. More importantly, Tim’s been able to keep the weight off and continually improve his health and fitness for more than 10 years.