The Monday Merry Go Round
The most challenging aspect of getting fit or losing weight is establishing those new habits that are going to get you there.
Are you one of those people on the Monday merry-go-round?
You know the one where you start out with all guns blazing on Monday morning only to run out of steam by Wednesday night with the promise to start again next Monday?..when you are ready for...
Ready for what?
For most the answer to that is Ready to do it properly only "properly" doesn't happen next week either and so the cycle continues.
Waiting for the "perfect" time to start or continuing to re-start because the wheels fall of the week is a great way to get nowhere fast.
To create habits we simply need to repeat the action we are trying to establish as habit often enough for it to become just that - habit.
The stop and start approach simply draws the whole process out and makes us feel as though we are never going to get there when if we consistently practice the action often enough over a 3 or 4 week period the hard work is done and we can get on with maintaining our new habit.
To create a habit of exercising regularly and eating well here are a couple of strategies to make it easier and therefore more "doable".
The first thing is to create structure around the habits you are trying to form; for example if you want to exercise 4 times a week it is important to ensure the structure is in place for this to happen and the way to do this is to plan ahead.
If you live a busy life there is no point in setting the goal to exercise 4 times if you don't first look at your diary to see where you can fit it in because the first excuse you will come up with is "I'm too busy". By looking at your diary and scheduling in exercise times that fit in with your week you don't have the "no time" excuse.
Another element of structure is knowing what you will be doing in each session so you don't spend the first 15 minutes standing around scratching your head.
Have a structured and easy to follow exercise plan to follow so when you hit they gym or the pavement or pull the weights out at home you know what you will be doing.
When it comes to healthy eating the thing that challenges most people is not having healthy alternatives on hand and blowing out because the only food near by is junk food.
The best thing you can do is plan ahead and carry healthy snacks with you wherever you go; in your car, in your handbag, on your desk etc so that eating healthy isn't hard work.
The last thing you can do is set mini-goals each week to keep you focused and on track. A good mini goal is performance based such as "Complete 3 cardio and 2 resistance sessions this week and have 4 alcohol free days". Ticking off these mini-goals each week will give you a sense of achievement and distract you from the often overwhelming larger goal of say Loose 20kg. Loose 20kg is a huge goal and can feel too overwhelming and too far into the future.
Taking a week by week approach allows you to focus on establishing solid habits week after week and by completing on these mini goals each week your larger goal is taking care of itself.
If you would like the guesswork taken out of creating the right exercise and eating plan for you then check out my range of programs and let me do the hard work for you.
Are you one of those people on the Monday merry-go-round?
You know the one where you start out with all guns blazing on Monday morning only to run out of steam by Wednesday night with the promise to start again next Monday?..when you are ready for...
Ready for what?
For most the answer to that is Ready to do it properly only "properly" doesn't happen next week either and so the cycle continues.
Waiting for the "perfect" time to start or continuing to re-start because the wheels fall of the week is a great way to get nowhere fast.
To create habits we simply need to repeat the action we are trying to establish as habit often enough for it to become just that - habit.
The stop and start approach simply draws the whole process out and makes us feel as though we are never going to get there when if we consistently practice the action often enough over a 3 or 4 week period the hard work is done and we can get on with maintaining our new habit.
To create a habit of exercising regularly and eating well here are a couple of strategies to make it easier and therefore more "doable".
The first thing is to create structure around the habits you are trying to form; for example if you want to exercise 4 times a week it is important to ensure the structure is in place for this to happen and the way to do this is to plan ahead.
If you live a busy life there is no point in setting the goal to exercise 4 times if you don't first look at your diary to see where you can fit it in because the first excuse you will come up with is "I'm too busy". By looking at your diary and scheduling in exercise times that fit in with your week you don't have the "no time" excuse.
Another element of structure is knowing what you will be doing in each session so you don't spend the first 15 minutes standing around scratching your head.
Have a structured and easy to follow exercise plan to follow so when you hit they gym or the pavement or pull the weights out at home you know what you will be doing.
When it comes to healthy eating the thing that challenges most people is not having healthy alternatives on hand and blowing out because the only food near by is junk food.
The best thing you can do is plan ahead and carry healthy snacks with you wherever you go; in your car, in your handbag, on your desk etc so that eating healthy isn't hard work.
The last thing you can do is set mini-goals each week to keep you focused and on track. A good mini goal is performance based such as "Complete 3 cardio and 2 resistance sessions this week and have 4 alcohol free days". Ticking off these mini-goals each week will give you a sense of achievement and distract you from the often overwhelming larger goal of say Loose 20kg. Loose 20kg is a huge goal and can feel too overwhelming and too far into the future.
Taking a week by week approach allows you to focus on establishing solid habits week after week and by completing on these mini goals each week your larger goal is taking care of itself.
If you would like the guesswork taken out of creating the right exercise and eating plan for you then check out my range of programs and let me do the hard work for you.
Comments