Why You Are Really Canceling Your Gym Membership

I hopped onto Facebook this morning and saw an article on my feed that infuriated me. The title read "Weight Loss Supplement That Naturally Burns Fat Gets Biggest Deal In Shark Tank History". I eagerly clicked on the link and read through the entire article. When I initially started reading it, I thought the direction of the article was going to focus on how CRAZY it is that business builders are jumping to support a weight loss pill. NOPE. The article continued to talk about the "benefits" of this all natural pill that helps you lose weight FAST. The article then listed out 6 reasons why the judges were amazed with the product:

-helps stop fat product

-suppresses your appetite

-increases serotonin levels for emotional eaters

-increases energy levels

-improves sleep

-FDA approved

Okay HOLD UP. First of all...what does "stop fat product" even mean?! Your body needs fat to function properly! I could write an entire blog post about what is wrong with this type of product but what I really want to focus on here is the idea that society is willing to take or pay for anything for a quick fix when the way to a healthy lifestyle is right in the walls of a gym or your own kitchen! Why are people so quick to say no to dedicating a part of their monthly budget to a gym membership but yes to a pill or quick fix detox? We should be investing in developing long term healthy habits such as proper diet and exercise. A pill doesn't teach you anything about fueling your body properly or building strength or increasing endurance. It MAY (we don't even know how accurate these results are) give you a quick short term fix but then what? Are you going to buy another box of pills when you run out and live the rest of your life depending on a pill? The quick fix detoxes/pills/diets need to come to a stop! It's time to start treating your investments to food and exercise as a non option.

This finally brings me to the initial point of this blog post. The holidays are around the corner. This is when people often get lazy with their exercise. Holiday parties and commitments come up and exercise gets put to the side. Gym memberships get cancelled and then the "too expensive" excuse rolls in. I am here to tell you to take a minute to think about why you are really canceling your membership if you are planning to do so. If you are moving or choosing another form of exercise then okay you get a pass. If you are canceling because you haven't taken advantage this month because you got "busy" and it's not worth the cost I want you to take a minute to think about why you bought the membership in the first place. There was a time when you thought spending X amount of money for this membership was worth it. You made a promise to yourself that you would go X amount of times per week and that this investment was going to help you reach your goal.

So, is your goal no longer important? Or did you just give up? If you are canceling your membership and your excuse is that it's not worth the cost because you don't go enough, I am here to tell you that's a lie. You're canceling your membership because your goal isn't that important to you anymore. There is a reason you're not going enough and that's because it's no longer a priority. It's time we stop breaking promises to ourselves. It's time we make fitness a priority. It's time we make lifestyle changes a priority. No more taking breaks over the holidays and then crash dieting and starting over at the gym in January. I am not saying don't enjoy yourself on the holidays; I am saying create the balanced lifestyle that allows you to live a happy healthy life! The gym not your thing? There are plenty of ways to incorporate movement into your routine but it's important we make the time and investment. The promotion and glorification of quick fixes needs to stop. So, if you have been thinking about downgrading or canceling a gym membership, or taking a break from eating healthy, I encourage you to think about why you started in the first place. We have one body to live in, it's time we treat it that way.