Fitness columnist Emmet Rushe shares the real truth behind your failure to achieve your health goals.

“Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.” Wayne Dyer

Over the past 2 weeks I have been focusing my Facebook live vlogs on my Rushe Fitness page on ‘home truths’.


I have spoken about the scales, fluid retention, bread, weight loss teas and how many calories you really need each day.

During the fluid retention video, I was getting loads of questions and interaction about the subject and coming near the end of the video I had to touch on a subject that simply couldn’t be overlooked.

If you are currently unhappy with your situation regarding your;

  • weight,
  • health,
  • body shape or
  • fitness levels

And you are also doing things on a regular basis, that ARE NOT in line with your goals,
like eating junk foods regularly,
drinking alcohol regularly,
not preparing healthy meals
always eating from delis or carveries or fast food outlets
not exercising on a regular basis, or at all.

If you are currently doing all of the things listed above, on a regular basis, I’m afraid that you are to blame for your current situation.

This is never easy to hear.

We put up so many barriers to protect ourselves that we become immune to what’s going on around us.

But being realistic, we know.

We know that drinking alcohol regularly isn’t in line with weight loss.
We know that eating from fast food outlets, or carveries, or delis, isn’t in line with weight loss.
We know that not exercising on a regular basis isn’t in line with helping us to be healthier.
We know that if we aren’t preparing our own meals, we are leaving more chance of excess calories slipping in.

Yet we do this more often than we do not.

There are 2 ways to look at the situation above.

1. If you are doing all of the things listed above, and you ARE NOT complaining about your weight, or how your clothes fit, or how your body shape is and you are happy with your current situation.
Great, you’ve won.
Keep doing what you are doing.

2.  If you are doing all of the things listed above, and you ARE ALWAYS complaining about your weight, or how your clothes fit, or how your body shape is and you ARE NOT happy with your current situation.
It is time to take responsibility for your own actions.

We cannot keep hiding away from the fact that where we currently are, is a direct reflection of either what we are currently doing or what we have previously done.

You cannot expect to rectify bad habits over a 6, 8 or 12 week period.
Yes, you can certainly make changes to your weight and body shape over this time-frame, but if you haven’t learned how to break all of the bad habits that have formed over the years, they will drift back in and you will end up back where you started.

Trust me on this, I have seen it time and time again, and most of you reading this will have 1st hand experience.

What do we do then?
How do we start to change things?

The 1st part of this is the easiest, but also the hardest part.

We have to stop lying to ourselves and start being honest about;

1. What we actually want

2. What are we willing to do in order to achieve it. 

What you want, may not actually be what you think you want.
It’s easy to say ‘I want to lose 7lbs’.
But without the plan of action to get there, it’s nothing but words.

Figure out what you really want, and then work backwards as to how you are going to achieve it.

Be realistic as to how you will go about getting to your goal and how long it will take you to get there.

Please don’t turn to weight loss shakes, miracle diet pills, diet teas or coffees or any 7 or 14 day detox plans.
You know that they don’t work in the long term and you have probably tried them before, so please be sensible.

Unless you are planning to step onto a competitive stage in a bikini, what you have to do doesn’t have to be difficult.
Start small, by reducing and eventually eliminating most of the bad habits listed above.
Start to exercise 2-3 times per week and increase this over time.
Walk for 30 mins 3 times per week to begin with, increase this over time.
Add in some weight bearing full body exercise like squats, push ups, leg curls and pulling exercises.

Don’t get caught up in the all or nothing mentality when starting to change.
If you take your time and learn good habits along the way, you will be able to keep your changes, for good!
#TrainSmart