You are not alone...

As I was leaving the gym earlier this week on a particularly wet and rather gray day, I was hit by some pretty heavy thoughts and struck by a realization as to why achieving weight loss may be so difficult for so many people. It's loneliness. Allow me to elaborate.

Let me take you back several years to when I was working as a personal trainer and Tae Bo instructor. I was in my early twenties and having a great time working out with people as a way to make ends meet. I got to go to work in stretchy pants and sneakers. I put on loud music, yelled a lot and did some kicking, punching and jumping. I got to take part in some pretty extreme workouts with some pretty intense individuals and saw what sorts of limits my body had. The best part of that job, though, was the people.

The relationships I made back then were forged with sweat, sometimes tears or blood, and at the most extreme even... puke (with 2 young girls at home, we use that word often... forgive me). I can't explain how good it felt to go to work each day and know that I was going to have a positive influence on somebody's life, even if it was as simple as making someone sweat for 60 minutes. We did it together, as a group, egos checked at the door and game faces on.

Hindsight is always 20/20, so I can say this all now very easily. I didn't realize what I had until I no longer had it: that sense of community.

I go to the gym 5 or 6 days a week and work out on my own, and don't get me wrong, I love it. I have the ability and the sheer will to get the work done in the gym. But I look around at so many people and they simply seem lost when it comes to working out. I'm not saying I know everything about lifting weights and whatnot. That is very far from the truth.

I'm actually saying quite the opposite: it's hard to do this alone. Had I not met the people I met several years ago at a small, local gym, I wouldn't be where I am now. I wouldn't be on the path to bench pressing my own body weight or hitting double-digit pull-ups, which is kind of a big deal when you weigh 155 pounds and you're a girl (there, I said it). I sure as heck wouldn't be deadlifting and squatting with ease.

Reaching your health and fitness goals is hard enough. You don't have to go it alone. Find somebody, or better yet a group of somebodies, that share similar goals. If there is someone to push you, even if it's someone you know only on Facebook or Twitter, you will get to where you're going. Having a friend or mentor on the same path as you may make all the difference.