The Tribune

Health coach Ethan Quant, of Elite Wellness Solutions, has succeeded in his weight loss journey and now wants to share his methods with the Bahamas in an effort to foster a culture of wellness and conquer the obesity epidemic.

I remember before I first started my health, wellness and fitness journey I spent so much time waiting for the “perfect” time to begin.

Depending on what phase in my life I was in the “perfect” time meant different things. Sometimes it meant I was waiting to acquire the funds, waiting until the holiday season passed, waiting until the beginning of a new month, new week and even a new year.

Once the perfect time was when a friend of mine offered to start the gym with me – and they never showed up so neither did I. In April 2011, after seeing a picture of myself at a friend’s wedding, that very day I decided to begin. I couldn’t afford a gym membership so I decided to start “jogging” the Cable Beach strip. I didn’t have the money to hire a coach or trainer, so Google became my friend.

Using the little resources I had, and the information I found online, I made the first step in my journey of becoming healthier. What I realised is that “right now” is always the perfect time to start. A major game-changer for me was when I stopped waiting on all the stars to perfectly align before deciding to begin. Making the decision to just do what I was able to at that moment with what I had, created the momentum I needed to get the ball rolling and ignite real change.

If you’re in a similar place I was in, waiting on the perfect time to begin, here are a few words of advice:

First, set your goal; determine exactly what it is you want to do, whether that’s lose weight, run a marathon, come off high blood pressure medication or simply be more fit. Establishing your goal sets the framework for the actions and effort that will follow.

Next, make a plan. For me, initially my Google research gave me the elements of my plan. I looked on the internet based on my budget. My advice is to create your plan based on what your current circumstances allow, not necessarily your ideal. So as great as it may be to get a gym membership, hire a trainer, and eat all-organic food, if you’re not able to financially afford that right now then maybe you’ll do like I did at first and work out outdoors, or maybe find free online workouts and simply make healthier food choices rather than switching to all organic. There’s always something you can do right now, where you are, with what you have, to get you closer to your goal.

Thirdly, get started. As simple as this concept seems, if you’re anything like me, this step gives you great anxiety. One of my biggest fears that prevented me from starting was the fear of failure. What if I gave my absolute best and still failed at building the body I want? Another fear I had was the fear of being successful, because what if I was able to lose the weight I wanted to but not able to maintain it. Then I realised that I would never know what would happen if I never started, and you won’t know if you don’t start either.

Finally, have patience. Just like any new thing, it’s going to take time to learn and even more time to master. Your health, wellness and fitness journey is not any different. The current body you have is the sum of all of the lifestyle decisions you’ve made up to this point and in order to change your body you now have to change these lifestyle choices. And this takes time, so you must be patient and allow yourself grace.

I find that no matter where I am in my own health, wellness and fitness journey, I still reflect back on these principles. I am constantly setting new goals, revising and executing my plan, staying consistent and being patient with myself. If you need help navigating this, or any other aspect of your health, wellness and fitness journey, feel free to reach out to me directly.

• You can contact Ethan Quant at ethan@elite-wellnesssolutions.com or on Instagram at @ethanquant.