The Good Life – January-February 2021

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MEN'S HEALTH WRITTEN BY: BEN HANSON The Importance of Finding Pleasure in New Habits Let's all join together, take a collective sigh of relief, and celebrate making it through 2020. It was not an easy year. In fact, for many of us, it was the most challenging year yet. But with the flip of the calendar, we are all given the chance at a restart — whatever your particular new start might look like. For the purposes of this column, however, we're going to assume many of you have a health and fitness-related goal. Whether it's weight loss, shaving some inches off your waistline, or finally diving into that Whole 30 cookbook you got as a not-so-subtle gift from your mother-in-law, New Year's fitness goals are as common as a Red River Flood. Though, we seem to battle floodwaters much more effectively than we battle the bulge. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic still raging, there really is no better time than now to give your body and your brain the stress relief they so desperately need. COVID makes the logistics a bit tougher, but exercising during times of high stress is a proven method 16 / THE GOOD LIFE / urbantoadmedia.com for boosting your overall mental well-being. You're going to have to plan. You're going to have to make room in your calendar and make it a priority. And to help maximize your initial excitement, it's good to understand why you may have failed in the past… and the super simple secret is to long-term success. Wrong Goals Lead to Failure Speaking with Dr. Forrest Sauer, Founder of Twin Oaks Health in Fargo, the reason why so many of us end up failing to reach our New Year's resolution goals isn't so much that we lack commitment or ability, but we always tend to focus our energies and optimism on the wrong thing. "Oftentimes people will only find pleasure in the end result… hitting the number on the scale or getting the six-pack or whatever it is," Dr. Sauer explained. "All of your emotion and mindset is on that goal, but that is such a fleeting and very shallow approach to getting in shape, because once you've achieved it you're done. You hit that peak rush… but then what? Inevitably, after that huge high you suffer a very quick emotional drop with nothing left to keep you motivated." Train Your Brain to Love the Work When it comes to long term weight loss or fitness success, maintenance is the name of the game… and it's a long game. Your goal may be to lose 20 pounds, but that's just one goal on the long road to lifetime healthy weight maintenance. In order to achieve that, you've got to find a way to fall in love with the work that's required. That work needs to become a habit. "The trick is to find pleasure in the act of getting there," Dr. Sauer said bluntly. "You gotta force yourself to enjoy exercising — it's a mental discipline at the end of the day, and you can train your brain at this just as you train the rest of your physical body. The reward is that wonderful dopamine rush that comes with physical exertion, Dr. Sauer explained. He says you can train your brain to like exercise — and learn to love it — by connecting those feelings of pleasure with the action itself vs. the result in the mirror or on the scale.
"The more you love the lifting, the running or healthy dietary choices, the more likely you are to maintain those actions," he said. "It's pretty neat, because really what you're doing at a scientific level is changing the chemistry in your brain to keep you motivated. Clients that suffer from mood disorders like depression can do the same thing." At Twin Oaks, Dr. Sauer and his team focus on these highlevel changes to help their clients achieve lasting success. Their goal is to hold people accountable by showing them exactly what they need to do given their specific goals and specific body types. It's not all calorie counting and reps on the weight bench. "For example," Dr. Sauer said, "if you want to lose 50 pounds, but we uncover you suffer from a hormonal imbalance, we have to do certain things first to address that before we can focus on a weight loss program that is going to last." • Special thanks to Dr. Forrest Sauer at Twin Oaks Health Solutions, medical consultant for our Men's Health section. urbantoadmedia.com / THE GOOD LIFE / 17
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The Good Life – January-February 2021

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