Getting Motivated and Sticking With It.

One of the biggest problems people face when embarking on a programme that is designed to change their eating and exercise habits is staying motivated. It’s easy to be enthusiastic to begin with, when you’re setting out your goals, imagining what you’re going to look like in a couple of months and the new clothes you’re going to wear. We have found that around weeks 3-5, that eagerness starts to dissipate. This is often because it’s hard work!

It takes a while to adjust to a new routine and pick up new habits. However, that is the key to real change. Unless a new approach to food and exercise become part of your life, it won’t stick. It takes just over 2 months to properly form a new habit* (the reason our programmes are 8 weeks) so, it is important to stick with the programme all the way through in order to experience the effects of your life changes and for it to become something you can sustain into the future.

Interestingly, researchers also found that ““missing one opportunity to perform the behaviour did not materially affect the habit formation process.” In other words, it doesn’t matter if you mess up every now and then. Building better habits is not an all-or-nothing process.” So, if you slip up at the weekend and go on a binge, miss a couple of days training or throw caution to the wind on holiday, it doesn’t mean all is lost and you should give up. This is a huge stumbling block for many people; the attitude that, ‘well, I got drunk and ate pizza last night so I might as well go crazy today and start again next week’. The truth is, if you get back to your programme as soon as you can, you won’t have done that much damage.

If you train with us, we’ll do our best to keep you motivated with enjoyable training sessions, group support, attendance incentives and nutrition advice and reminders.

* http://jamesclear.com/new-habit

Top Tips to Stay on Track

1) Be very clear about what your motivation was at the beginning.

Write down your reasons for wanting to change and reflect on these when you are feeling lethargic or detached from the programme.

2) When you set goals for yourself, make sure that they are SMART goals so that they are real and tangible:

SMART goals:

• Specific

• Measureable

• Achievable

• Realistic

• Time frame

3) Schedule your sessions - put them in your calendar and treat them as if they are as important as any other appointment. This is about you, your mental and physical health and your wellbeing. It is important and you should remember that. You wouldn’t miss a doctor’s appointment - this is a good way to avoid needing as many doctors appointments.

4) Find someone to be accountable to - family and friends can be good people to tell about your progress and tell them to ask for weekly updates. If you are on one of our programmes, we make you accountable for the number of sessions you are attending, if you are not turning up and you’ll be expected to give weekly nutrition updates to make sure you’re staying on track.

5) Have a range of activities that you enjoy doing or take someone along for motivation. On average, commercial gyms only have 29% of their membership attending regularly - and they class twice per week as regular. Just because you’re a member of a gym doesn’t mean you’re attending and it certainly doesn’t mean that when you do, it’s effective. Many people struggle to know what to do at the gym to get the best results and feel lost. It can also become really boring if you’re by yourself, using the same machines and not really seeing any difference. People are more likely to stick with exercise if they enjoy it, which is why getting involved in a sport is often a good idea.

Our small group classes are different. You are training alongside other people who will support and push you on and make it a fun experience that you’ll look forward to.

6) Pack your gym kit and lunch in the morning - if you don’t take it with you in the morning you definitely won’t be training in the evening. Making your own lunch won’t just save money but it will make sure it’s something considered rather than ‘grab the most convenient thing’ and will also ensure that you actually eat lunch rather than skipping it meaning you’ll be better prepared for training after work.

7) Reward yourself on a regular basis for your achievements. Put aside all of the money you would have spent on Snickers and convenience food and use it to buy yourself something once a month (cinema, trip away, massage, new training gear etc.)

8) Monitor your achievements weekly. Have an achievement book or put your achievements on your calendar and regularly look at the progress you have made. Take note of the small things: you don’t have to be losing pounds every week but you might lose cm, be able to fit into different clothes, notice that you like the way you look in the mirror, congratulate yourself for adding in 1 serving of vegetables or aiming for 20g of protein at breakfast will work towards you making habits and changes that will accumulate over time. Smaller goals that build on each other over time are key to achieving sustained results

9) Don’t be drastic with calorie intake or excessive exercise. Making it unsustainable or unrealistic will make it difficult to maintain and keep with it. We see lots of people start off by training every day for 2 weeks and then, at the end of the fortnight, they’re sore and burnt out and miss the next week

10) Expect it to be hard. If it was easy to make life changing habits, you would have done it already. You will feel sore after workouts, you will find it a pain to monitor your food to begin with, you will falter and mess up. BUT, if you can get past that, get through those tough times, and get to two months, you are likely to start finding things so much easier and reap the benefits. At the end of the day, it’s 2 months that could change the rest of your life.

Ready to make these changes but need guidance and support to get there? Book in a consultation with Mike to find out which of our programmes will get you to your goals.