There’s a good explanation as to why most people say they want to be fit and healthy yet only a few actually achieve it.   Most instead, are more content in the Flab Life rather than the Fit Life.

Why?  Because the Fit Life requires commitment.

Here’s a little glimpse of the habits of those living the Fit Life.

Fit Habit#1: Exercise Daily

The truly fit among us plan and choose to workout most days of the week. Instead of watching TV, hitting the snooze button or spending countless time on Face Book or whatever else, they choose to hit the gym.  Exercise is a daily habit that simply becomes a way of life, rather than a chore undertaken only on occasion. Those who follow the Fit Life incorporate challenging exercise into their lives so often that – gasp – they begin to enjoy and look forward to it!

Fit Habit #2: Eat Healthy

In the Fit Life you make conscious decisions about the food you choose to eat.  You delay instant gratification.  You chose your meals based on quality and nutrition rather than just simply whatever is available or your desire. This means plenty of veggies and lean protein at most meals. Being fit means making it a habit to limit your intake of unhealthy foods and getting good quality nutrients into your body 90% of the time.

Fit Habit #3: Keep the Junk at a Minimum

Truly fit people turn down their favorite junk foods –most of the time. Treats and indulgences are saved for special occasions, and the fact that it’s Monday or that there’s a full moon doesn’t count as special occasion (nice try though!). The Fit Life means cutting out the majority of this stuff most of the time.

Fit Habit #4: Keep Pushing

Living the Fit Life is a constant progression. You continually push yourself to be a little better during each workout. There’s no such thing as simply going through the motions or not showing up – instead your focus is to consistently challenge yourself.

Fit Habit #5: Control Calories/portions

NO Buffets here. The Fit Life requires that you watch your portions even when you are eating healthy nutritious foods.  Remember, even healthy calories can add up to weight gain when you’re not careful, so calorie control becomes a way of life.

These are just the basics to living the Fit Life and some of the work that it takes to enjoy a fit and healthy body. Pretty hard, right?

Check out what the Flab Life looks like…

Flab Habit #1: Forget Exercise

Your focus is to spend your spare time being as relaxed as possible.  Coming home from work because you are too tired to do anything else, kicking back on the couch. The less that you use your muscles, the more aches, pains and mobility limitations you’ll experience. Oh, and if you’re like most you are consuming more calories than your natural metabolism burns and you’ll steadily gain weight.

Flab Habit #2: Eat For convenience and taste

The Flab Life means that you get to eat whatever is around, sounds and tastes good.  Typically drawn to items that are high in sugar, salt and fat so your eat-whatever-diet will naturally be filled with these. You’ll find your waist increases in size, and your energy levels plummet, accordingly.  Not to mention your health is probably deteriorating.

Flab Habit #3: Indulge Often

The Flab Life says YES to junk food.  If I’m hungry and happen to be driving by a Fast Food place I stop.  Snacks and highly processed foods from bags and boxes become a staple of your diet. And as I mentioned above, your favorite foods are likely high in sugar, salt and fat. Your nutrition, if you can call it that, is going to raise the number on your scale higher, and higher, in addition to putting you at risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and other weight related ailments.

Flab Habit #4: Stay Comfortable

The goal of the Flab Life is to be comfy. This means you don’t push yourself and have limited activity on a daily basis. When you don’t use your body and muscles they begin to atrophy (shrink!), leaving you with less lean tissue. Since lean tissue raises your metabolism, a drop in lean tissue means you’ll be burning fewer calories at rest than ever before causing fat gain to be automatic.

Flab Habit #5: No limit

In the Flab Life there’s no limit on how much you eat – in fact, you eat whenever and whatever. As a result you often feel sluggish from your overloaded digestive system. And your motivation to exercise and turn your Flab Life into a Fit Life gets dimmer and dimmer.

So which life is harder? The Fit Life? Or the Flab Life?

The truth is that both of these lifestyles are hard. Just depends on which hard you’d rather deal with.

The Fit Life’s hard has to do with discipline, motivation and determination. It’s about doing the right thing rather than the easy thing. Most of all, the Fit Life is about constantly striving forward.  Even though it’s hard, for those living it, they will tell you it’s Absolutely Worth It.

The Flab Life’s hard has to do with excess fat, aches, pains and physical limitations. It’s about avoiding doing the hard thing now and ending up with a body that’s just plain hard to live in. Most of all, the Flab Life is about NOT taking action and in my opinion missing out on a lot of what life has to offer.

Which hard do you choose?