Workout and Nutrition as HABITS
Part 1 — Identity-Engrained Long-Term Practices
Fitness and nutrition are intertwined subjects. They are complementary, and one does not suffice without the other in the pursuit of improved health, physical and psychological fitness. Focusing on one of those two "areas" of life can impact the other in a ripple effect fashion. While having the necessary knowledge and tools to properly set up our nutrition and fitness regimens is of crucial importance, this is not enough. As is often the case in many endeavors, also in health and fitness taking action feels much more complicated than "thinking about taking action/strategizing."
It does not have to be that way. What separates *professionals *from *amateurs *in any discipline, as James Clear points out in this article, is consistent commitment and deliberate practice over time. This is valid in health and fitness: achieving health objectives (*outcome-based *goals—e.g., losing fat, building muscle) is a *long-term process *that requires a plan, but, most importantly, that requires consistent action over time. We need to commit our identity to health and fitness. Not in a dangerous way, because there may come a day in which you might be forced to bed, not being able to exercise at all. Strongly tying your identity to fitness, in that case, would be dangerous, because losing your identity could lead to depression and the experience of strong emotions such as pain, frustration, anger, resentment, cynicism—things you may prefer to stay away from.
Identity-based habits can be based on a light-hearted, Stoic detachment from that identification, while aware that attaching our identity to the protocols we want to establish can be a potent tool in our toolkit of behavioral interventions. We aim at "becoming the type of person who chooses the healthiest option on the menu," or the "type of person who works out regularly without missing a session unless absolutely necessary." We can make good use of those identities, to then detach ourselves emotionally from them as soon as they are acquired. This is a healthy and sustainable strategy, I think: seek an identity (e.g., I want to become the type of person who trains regularly and consistently at the gym) wholeheartedly and passionately.
Once you reach that identity, let go of it just as wholeheartedly. And I do not mean letting go of the identity as in stopping to do the habit. I mean letting go of the identity psychologically. There is value in that, I would argue. Attaching our ego to something is rarely a reliable choice, in my perception. What if you lose that thing for causes that are outside your control, at some point in your life? Letting go of your emotional attachment to your current identities means believing firmly and non-naively that "everything will be alright." You can always pick yourself back up, clean your wounds, return to the surface, and form new identities, or re-establish your old ones, one step at a time. This is not a signaling game.