Maintainence isnt sexy.

wait. remind me what HEEL means?

When last we left Coop he was happily drooling all over his new domicile.

He slid effortlessly into our lives—but not so much into the lives of the neighborhood canines.

Coop, we quickly learned, had some socializing to do.

We examined our options, interviewed trainers, and decided sleep away camp was the way to go.

Two weeks. All training all the time. No Tornado’y distractions. Then home to us where Id *maintain* what he’d learned.

On our way to pick up the canine wonder I said to the Husband:

I get the fact I’ll have to work hard at maintaining what Coop learned. I realize it wont be fun. Ive lived maintaining for 20 years. MAINTAINING IS NOT SEXY.

The Husband had no idea what I meant in precisely the way, I surmise, all of YOU immediately grasped my point:

All of the above propel us on to greater fitness/weight loss success.

The ‘power’ of most of the above wanes after weight has been shed/goals reached.

Maintaining? Not glamorous

Maintaining? Never featured on a magazine cover alongside a titillating photo announcing “Find out how Sheila shed 30 pounds and struggles daily to maintain her loss!!!”

I knew maintaining Coop’s training would be challenging because I knew my own weight loss maintaining hadnt been sexy easy.

I was confident I could rock it because I recognized our differences —while seemingly vast—-were few.

I prepared for Coop retrieval by reminding myself of the three steps I went through with my own maintaining process.

Step one: This is all new & super! Im so happy!!! For Coop it was us seeing how he’d transformed.  For *me* it was shedding weight/discovering my love of the iron.  Goal achievement feels so flipping EXCITING it’s hard to envision the newness (weight-loss or Coop’s new skillz) ever losing its power to motivate!

Yay! He’s gots some knowledge!

Step Two: You know I can do this. Must we practice again!? (AKA My new bod rocks—do I really have to work to *maintain* it? Some slacking wont hurt—will it?) I’ll admit my mind was BLOWN by all Coop learned at Boot Camp.  He was socialized.  He followed commands.  I was very tempted to get lazy as Id already been REWARDED with a rockin bod trained dog!  Maintaining had to start on day one.  I knew–from fitness–if I blew off day *one* CONSISTENCY would never return.

May we skip my being tethered just for ONE day?

Step three.  This is forever?! When do I rest on my hindlegs laurels?!  Maintaining what Coop learned is a forever process. Maintaining weight loss is a forever process. Maintenance requires we find new motivations as, typically, old motivators no longer work.  We’ve reaped those rewards.  I look to my daughter when I feel like slacking.  Ill never venture off my fitness path as she’s my living, breathing motivation to remain healthy.  Ill never slack on Coop-maintaining because as much as she adores him–he’s big & there’s some fear there.

well trained dog = a FEARfree Tornado

It’s true maintaining isnt as glam or sexy as the actual weight loss (or Coop training) process—but that doesnt mean it cant be done.

It’s all about consistency.

 From canines to fitness—what are your experiences with maintaining change?What’s your best tip to avoid returning to old habits?

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