Who holds you back?

I feel pretty certain that most of you can relate to having someone in your life who holds you back, who gets in the way of every good plan or intention you may have. Obviously this type of thing can play out in all aspects of life but were going to talk about it in regards to health and fitness. This is a fairly common problem when someone decides to make healthy lifestyle choices and better him or herself and it is very frustrating.
You know what I mean, don’t you? There’s the friend you tells you it is all right for you to skip your workout and go to happy hour instead. There is the spouse who prefers sitting around the house instead of going for walks, who brings ice cream and cookies home or always wants to go out to eat. There is the sister or brother who will tell you what you are doing is ‘stupid’.
The sad fact of the matter is this; there are lots of people out there who are overweight and out of shape and not interested in expending the energy to do anything about it. They want to bring you down with them, it’s the whole ‘misery loves company’ mindset. Maybe it makes them feel a little better about themselves if you are right there with them or possibly even better if you are more out of shape then they are. This is all very sad but we all know there is truth to it. They want to sit around and do nothing and they want you to sit around with them.
I’m no psychologist but I imagine another reason that the people in our lives act this way is because of fear. They fear you will change and that the new and improved you will not want to spend time with them anymore. Your first reaction to that may be to think that that is ridiculous and it would not happen but it depends on the relationship. If spending time with someone means going out to eat burgers and drink beer then you really may not want to spend time with them anymore.
When you really start to embrace a healthy lifestyle with good nutrition and exercise you feel so great and you may really start to think twice before you do things that will sabotage that great feeling. Let’s be honest nobody feels great after wings and beer. So, believe it or not, if you really want to make permanent healthy lifestyle changes than some relationships will either have to change or be left behind.
In the beginning it is challenging to adopt a new lifestyle and what you need from the people you surround yourself with is support, not sabotage. After you get used to your new lifestyle you will feel so good and have so much energy that you will not want to do things that will take away from that great feeling. There are going to be people who just don’t get it and that is that. They may make fun of you or fear that you’ve changed. Let them know that if they really cared about you they would be happy that you are taking good care of yourself and not be bringing you down. If they can’t be supportive than you have a decision to make, don’t you?
Don’t get me wrong we all indulge from time to time, that is life, but it should not be a constant thing and it does not have to be the center of our social activities. It is that mindset that has gotten this society in the terrible state of health we are in.