You Can Have It All, But Not All At Once

Don’t you love those ‘professional lifestyle gurus’ who tell you you can have it all: a house, family, money, fame, fortune, friends, and yadda yadda? It would be nice to have it all, but that is rarely the case because when you chase two or more rabbits, the likelihood of catching either one diminishes.

On the other hand, if you focus on catching one rabbit, your chances of success increase. Let’s put it in a health and fitness perspective. The Holy Grail of resistance training is to build muscle and lose fat simultaneously. But in practice, focusing on one at a time is more effective. For instance, fat loss requires a calorie deficit, while muscle gain needs a calorie surplus. So, it seems like you cannot do both at once.

However, it is difficult but possible. When chasing multiple goals at once, both will usually take longer. But when you focus on one, you’ll likely reach your goal faster. It’s a case in which you can have it all but not all at once.

Let’s explore this topic to help improve your focus.

Not All At Once Example

I recently moved from North Louisiana to South Texas.

My wife retired, and our son is going to Johns Hopkins soon, so something had to give financially. With a reduced income, in combination with a mortgage and college tuition affording our big, beautiful house and land with my gym, Outback Performance wasn’t happening.

So, the move and the downsizing happened.

In my dream world, it would have been awesome for all of that to happen at once without losing my garage gym, but reality had different ideas. My son worked his butt off for his shot at a top-10 college and deserves his opportunity. My wife and I want it for him, too, but having it all at once is not happening, which led to making some difficult but necessary choices.

What does this mean for your health and fitness?

It would be great to have all the time in the world to workout, shop, eat right, reduce your stress, and have your dream body that friends and family admire. In reality, you must make choices with your limited time unless you’re rich, a rockstar, an actor/celebrity, or a professional athlete who can hand off responsibilities to others.

For everybody else, It would be best to focus on what will give you the biggest bang for your buck. For some, this will be consistent with their workouts, while for others, it may be nailing their nutrition or reducing stress. It’s not like you neglect the other important health and fitness factors. It’s just not where you will put all your energy towards.  

When you have nailed one factor, like nutrition, you can move on to making your workouts more of a focus. That’s what I call having it all, but not all at once.

You Can’t Have It All At Once, So Now What?

A few years ago, I freelanced for multiple websites, thinking I would become rich and famous if I wrote more and produced more articles. Or something like that. However, the quality of my work suffered, and I ended up being let go by a few outlets because of this. I wanted it all at once, but it didn’t work out.

I am just writing for one (but I am on the market if you know anybody), and here on my blog. Subsequently, I feel the quality of my writing has improved because I’m taking my time and catching simple mistakes. However, this choice was made for me, so how do you choose which health and fitness rabbit to chase in your quest for improvement?

That’s a good question, and here are a few basics.

• Fat loss is the goal if your waistline is not half your height. Focus on nutrition, with workouts coming secondary.

• When your waistline is bigger than your butt, then fat loss is the goal, with a focus on nutrition with a couple of weekly workouts thrown in that focus on the lower body and core.

• If you cannot touch your toes or raise your arms above your head without compensation, then the goal is workouts that improve your mobility. If you had to choose between this and fat loss, go with the fat-loss rabbit first.  

• Usually, it is obvious when adding muscle is the goal, and when it is, it takes precedence over everything else.

Hint: I can help with all of these.

Besides that, how do you choose?    

The Choice

When you want multiple things simultaneously and only have the time and energy for one, my questions can help you narrow it down to one rabbit.

What gives you the biggest bang for your (health and fitness) buck with the time you do have?

Can you do it yourself?

Whatever the choice is, pick the one that sucks less.

Yes, you can pursue multiple goals simultaneously. However, remember that it takes longer, and your chances of success are lower.

Wrapping Up

You can have it all. Fat loss, muscle, and being as strong as an ox with your nutrition dialed in, but not all at once. When you focus on one goal at a time, your chances of succeeding are much higher after making your choice. Anyway, the thought of chasing two rabbits is exhausting, and I will take a nap.