The 3 D's for Success with Diet and Exercise

So you want to lose weight and/or get back into shape, but you just can't seem to do it. You just can't find the time with having a job, school or family. By the time you get home from work you are too tired. You created a plan to exercise and diet, got started, but after a few days, you went right back to your old habits. You quickly got discouraged because you didn’t see any improvements.

Well I'm here to tell you, you are not alone. You are the typical person. So what's the solution? The solution is; you first have to obtain the 3 rules of success!

The first rule to success is "DESIRE". If you want to be a doctor, an athlete, an entrepreneur, an actor/actress, a good mate, a good employee, a good parent, or whatever, you first have to want it.

If you don't want to be a doctor, you will not become a doctor. If you tell yourself, it would be nice to be a doctor, but you don't pursue it, then you never wanted to be a doctor. But if you have the "strong" desire to be a doctor, guess what, you will become a doctor. You will do whatever it takes to become a doctor.

The initial reason why so many people fail to diet and exercise is because they don't have a strong desire. If the desire isn’t there, you will never become successful. It's unfortunate that when a serious health issue arises, that's when most people obtain the strong desire. But most times, it's way too late. It's difficult for someone that had a heart attack to suddenly try to get in shape.


The second function of success is "DISCIPLINE". To be successful in anything, takes discipline. You have to do "it" day-in and day-out usually with a lot of effort and work. You can’t do it for a few days and then stop. Back to our doctor example; if you want to be a doctor, you can’t take a few courses and stop. You can’t study for one exam and stop. You can’t go to a few classes and stop. You have to hit the books, day-in and day-out for years to be a successful doctor.

Discipline is needed to diet and exercise. It’s a permanent lifestyle change. You can’t diet and exercise for a few weeks or months then stop and go back to your old ways. This is why diets don’t work. Diets are temporary. Many people, diet, lose weight, and then return to their old habits. Most of the times they gain back the weight they lost and more!

The third function of success is "DETERMINATION". You have to be determined to never give up. No matter what it takes, you will be successful. Even when things look bleak, you never give up. You realize that life is a series of events that have hills and valleys. When you are going up the hill, appreciate it and enjoy it. However, when you are going down the hill, you have the determination to ride until you hit bottom because you know that the upside will be coming.

The umbrella to DESIRE, DISCIPLINE and DETERMINATION is ATTITUDE. You have to believe in yourself. I read before a research study about what traits successful people have. After analyzing hundreds of successful people, (success being whatever they wanted to be successful in) the only thing they found that these people had in common was that they all had a positive attitude, which meant they all had the DESIRE, DISCIPLINE and DETERMINATION to be successful.

So the questions for you are:

1. Do you have the Desire to diet and exercise?
2. Do you have the Discipline to diet and exercise?
3. Do you have the Determination to diet and exercise?

If you don’t, you will have to change your attitude. Make diet and exercise the most important thing in your life. More important than your job, your money or your material possessions! Create an intense desire to have your dream body. However, realize that you will have to permanently change your lifestyle to attain this. Discipline yourself to do it. And no matter what, be determined to be successful! Follow these 3 rules and I guarantee you success!

Copyright © 2007 by P. Birmingham