Think of Yourself An Athlete to Lose Fat

If you have never thought of yourself as an athlete or very athletic, I urge you to get over that now. Especially if you have ever used that as an excuse to dodge exercise or in any way avoid moving your body. Like declining to take part in recreation, games, dancing, any exercise or movement, because you believe you are not athletic, and will not do well.

If you fall into this category, from now on I want you to think of yourself as an athlete. Because you are, no matter how big a klutz or how non-athletic you think you are.

You are an athlete and I encourage you to treat yourself like an athlete. And that means getting regular physical exercise. Training, working out, practice, drilling, repetitions, whatever you want to call it. Dedicated athletes never miss their workouts, their practice. Follow that pattern and you will see fat melt from your body, I promise you. It is one of the most effective fat loss techniques I know of.

I have personally gotten remarkable fat loss results from thinking of myself as an athlete, and treating myself that way. In fact, I think of and treat myself like an elite athlete, performing at Olympian levels of skill. That is my personal choice and it works spectacularly for me. Thinking that way and taking care of myself that way, you can bet I never miss my daily exercise, and I do not.

For the better part of my life I thought of myself as not very athletic. I never considered myself an athlete by the time I graduated from high school. I played some Little League, played football one year in high school and enjoyed various sports, but I never became particularly skilled at any of them. So I bought into the absurd notion that I was not an athlete, and believed that for many years. No more.

It helps to understand just what an athlete is: somebody who has the necessary abilities to participate in physical exercise, especially in competitive situations such as games, races, and matches.

I urge you to carefully read that definition again, and open your mind as you do. Notice that first half: somebody who has the necessary abilities to participate in physical exercise. That includes everyone, including people who are in wheelchairs, and amputees and other physically challenged folks who climb mountains, play tennis, snow ski, participate in track and field, play basketball, water ski and every other recreation and sport you can possibly think of.

The big point is that a person who is totally paralyzed and can only wiggle their left thumb is participating in physical exercise when they wiggle their left thumb. They qualify as an athlete. And so do you, whatever your physical shape or level of athletic skill.

The second half of the definition is where many people get hung up, especially folks who do not think of themselves as athletic. Those who might tend to sit on the sidelines and not participate in activities involving physical movement. It says, especially in competitive situations such as games, races, and matches.

Now, that is what an athlete is, many people say, those who compete in games, races, matches, contests of athletic skill. But that is a very narrow and limiting definition of an athlete. A person, say, who enjoys jogging or running, and runs or jogs for the pure pleasure of it, and chooses not participate in races is no less an athlete than runners who race.

Same with a bicyclist, dancer, archer, weight lifter, horseback rider, skier, or any other person who does not care to compete. They are still athletes. Not sort of athletes. Or not really athletes. They are athletes. And so are you and anybody else who moves in any way.

Absorb that. No matter what you do or how you do it, if you move in any way, you are an athlete.

Now the final hang up to rid yourself of is anything that has you saying things like, okay, but I am not very good at it. Get rid of that. Stop judging yourself and your performance and instead just enjoy. Do not buy into the absurd and dehumanizing nonsense of comparing yourself to anyone else athletically.

You are an athlete. And athletes get daily exercise, in whatever way they enjoy. Do the same and you will lose fat and get fit healthfully, permanently, guaranteed.

Jerome Kellner is a fat loss and fitness professional and author of The Maui Diet. Find out more about fat loss the easy, healthy way, by eating a plant-based diet of whole, natural foods at http://www.themauidiet.com.

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