There’s one thing everyone who wants to get in shape, and eventually does, has done.

It comes with the realization that whatever you’ve been doing has led to the body and fitness level you have. Also, this isn’t something Personal Trainers really want you to know. That’s because they aren’t responsible for it, you are.

In order to get in shape, the one thing you absolutely must do is to change your lifestyle.

You see, your lifestyle is what’s responsible for your current health, weight, and fitness level etc. whatever it is, not your age or even your genetics. At some point you’ve adapted changes to your lifestyle, maybe without even realizing it, and those changes, over time, have helped you derive the body you see in the mirror every day. Don’t like what you see, or how you feel or how healthy you are, change your lifestyle.

Sometimes there are things that affect lifestyle that we can’t control such as injuries, disease, family tragedy etc. But, for most of us, our lifestyle is made up of choices. The number one thing I tell my clients is: your body reflects your lifestyle both inside and out!

Make healthier lifestyle choices and changes, and your body will follow.

Sometimes there is more motivation for making lifestyle changes like a health scare from your doctor, or an upcoming wedding your attending, or a graduation or even a class reunion etc., but whatever the motivation you must ultimately change your lifestyle and adapt healthier choices to get in shape.

But what is lifestyle?

The way I explain it to clients is that lifestyle is everything that you do and everything that you don’t do. If you choose to sleep until the last minute every morning before you have to get up and go to work, then that attributes to your lifestyle. However, it also means what you are not choosing to do is getting up 15 minutes earlier and making a nice healthy breakfast to start your metabolism off right, or getting up an hour early and going for a morning walk or jog or even taking that a.m. fitness class.

Lifestyle is all of the choices we make, or don’t make, every day and how they contribute to who we are, what we look like, how healthy are we, and our general state of being. The important thing to know is that you can make the choice to change it in a positive way and have it help you change the body you have and how fit you are.

You can choose to make small changes or big ones.

But if you are not in shape, you are not going to get there just thinking about it. Yes, you can hire a Personal Trainer or join a Gym, but you still need to change your lifestyle. A Personal Trainer can inform and inspire, and can only hold you accountable if you let him, but doesn’t make you follow through with your program, you do. I have always given credit for great results to the client for accepting and making the lifestyle changes and following through until they get the fitness results they want. My program eliminates trial and error and lays out the roadmap to success with all the guides and tools you need, but you must choose change your lifestyle to follow it to reap the benefits and get in shape.

So, where do you start?

You can start with simple positive changes today like these; wake up 15 minutes earlier on workdays and make a healthy low-fat, low calorie breakfast to start the day. Or pack a healthy lunch, instead of eating takeout food for lunch. Skip the free doughnuts at the office from now on. Go for a walk every night when you get home from work. No more late-night snacking after dinner, maybe cut out all processed foods from now on. Stop drinking that glass of wine every night and switch it to one night on the weekend only. Become a person who goes from zero exercise a week to 30 minutes 3 x week. Cut out red meat or fried foods or simple sugars. These are just some suggestions, but they are all positive changes that would ultimately positively affect your health and fitness level.

If you are not currently in shape, then it’s likely that at least some of the things you are doing with your lifestyle now are keeping you from getting in shape and having the healthy and fit body you want.

Change your lifestyle, and you’ll change your body!