Fitness: Battle or Embrace?

I've heard it's the attitude with which you approach fitness that will determine the success of your goals. Lately I've begun to believe there are two approaches: a battle or an embrace.

The Battle must fought, the war must be won - requiring vigilance against weakness or slipping, constantly pushing yourself to stay true, to do better, to get stronger, run faster (insert million dollar man joke in here at any time). Regularly scheduled work outs, strict eating regimen, recording everything.

The Embrace is a life style. You're not fighting the idea, or yourself. There isn't a goal mapped out with regularly scheduled increments; instead there is just progress. A flow, like a river, towards an eventual destination. Whether or not there are a few bends (everyone makes mistakes), or the speed at which you're progressing can change. You have embraced a new way of living, and you are excited at each chance to be "active" (as opposed to scheduled work-outs or intense sessions) as well as interested in expanding your culinary knowledge.

Neither approach is better than the other (in my opinion). I simply believe each will get you different results. If you want the fast results, the drastic drop, the immediate gratification combined with the hard work, the deprivation, and no give - the Battle works best. I've become pretty certain however that while the Battle may be the easiest attitude to launch with (all the determination and good intentions), it is certainly the hardest to maintain, making it a short-term success approach. If you do not care about reaching a certain size or weight, if you do not have a deadline and there are no numbers in your goal - then the Embrace is probably best. You  may not lose weight every week. You will jump at the chance to be active - ride bikes, take walks, swimming, join a yoga class; and you will introduce a lot more veggies into your diet and drop a lot of fast foods. Your overall enjoyment of life will probably increase while your health will as well. And, most likely, your weight will drop slowly. This approach is most successful in the long term.

And there's no saying that you can't combine the two. Fight your way to achieve a goal, and maintain it by embracing a more natural approach to health.

I'd like to end this by assuring people that this blog is more of Lifestyle format, and will not be focused solely on fitness or weight-loss; but as it is a part of my life, I will be posting a lot about it.