There’s a knock-knock joke often used in my home that you may be familiar with. I believe it originated on the series The Office. For time’s sake, you can check it out for yourself but the tag line I often hear repeated by my boys is this – “We wait for no one!”
Though we don’t let them watch The Office (they’re enough Michael Scott all on their own), they’ve heard this somewhere and it stuck. So much so that my kids will joke and say it while they wait for dinner or when they’re waiting to be tucked in. Admittedly, I’ll say it when I’m calling them to get ready for the bus.
Though it’s unrelated to the joke itself, when I’m chatting with people about their health, I often say it in a different context – ‘Your health waits for no one.’
Our health doesn’t wait for Monday, or Jan. 1, or summer break to be over in order to improve. It doesn’t wait for your trainer or coach to do it for you, or for the release of the next best diet fad, or for everything to be perfectly aligned in your life. Like it or not, today’s choices, good or not so good, are tomorrow’s health outcome and your health simply can’t wait.
We can’t pause the poor health outcome and hope that good health will arrive just as soon as Christmas break is over. Our health doesn’t take a break, and for that very reason, we really can’t afford to take one either.
Allow me to clarify that when I use the word ‘break,’ I’m not meaning rest. Rest is good and I absolutely encourage rest. When I use the word ‘break,’ I’m speaking of what I’ve seen year over year for almost 25 now; December hits and fitness and healthy eating habits get shelved until January.
Gyms are a little quieter, veggies a little less consumed, and for the next four to six weeks, a large percentage of people stop taking care of their health and instead, overindulge in activities that fuel poor health.
I reserve all judgment, as I completely understand the desire to enjoy the Christmas goodies and relax on the couch with the family. The problem is this: when we stop our healthy lifestyle, the unhealthy habits that sneak in have an impact.
The impact is real – and unfortunately for some – can be a lasting one. Research shows a large percentage of the population tends to gain weight over the holidays. It also shows that it can take significant time to lose that weight and in a lot of cases, those few extra pounds actually stay on.
Three pounds from this year, plus five pounds from last year and two from the year before quickly add up to an extra 10 pounds. Thirty pounds in nine years can easily become a reality for some and the health implications this can bring, like high blood pressure, diabetes and inflammatory diseases, are no joke.
Some estimates are that it takes at least as much time as you took off to get back to baseline – the point you were at when you decided to take the six weeks off. So, if you take six weeks off and it takes another six to get back to where you were before, that’s 12 weeks. That’s almost a quarter of a year gone just to get back to where you were before you stopped.
If you want to improve your weight and wellness, giving up a quarter of the year is a losing proposition. But good news, I have a winning one for you; maybe instead of stopping this year, you still enjoy the delicious goodies and drinks and even a few extra rest days, but you also keep moving your body and choosing the kale and broccoli and water.
Maybe your typical three to four workouts a week simply decreases to two, temporarily. Instead of stopping, consider a healthy lifestyle that doesn’t take the next month off, but rather scales back a little to still allow for the balance of delicious food and downtime with friends and family without forsaking healthy habits entirely.
Those who keep going in December come in to January feeling so much better than those who stop and restart. A body in motion stays in motion, but getting it to restart takes a lot more effort, and in some cases, doesn’t even happen at all.
The better knock-knock joke? ‘Knock-knock, who’s there? A healthier you, because you didn’t stop!’
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This is a monthly opinion piece; Alison Brown is a local business owner, mother and published author.
