2 minute read
Fitness News
FITNESS: ARE YOU STILL GOING?
So, it’s February already and many people will already have fallen off of the wagon with their new exercise and diet regimes.
Is that you? Or are you still going strong?
Don’t feel bad if you’ve come unstuck already. Making changes to your diet and lifestyle are hard. It takes time to get used to new things, and it’s difficult to give up or change old habits. The key now, is to get right back on it. Whether you lasted a few days, or the whole month and then stopped, start it right back up again.
However… Review what you were doing first.
Figure out why you failed. What went wrong?
If you know exactly what it is you struggled with, try to dial that back a bit. Maybe you tried to go from zero training, to going to the gym 5 days a week…
Maybe you tried to go from snacking on junk all day long, to trying to cut it out completely…
Whatever it was that stopped you from continuing, figure it out and find a level that’s more manageable for you right now.
Your diet doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be better than it was.
Your training plan doesn’t have to be like an elite athlete or veteran gym-goer, it just has to be more than you were doing before.
This may sound completely logical (because it is), but many people just jump straight into a program that’s beyond their current capabilities. It could be more than your body can handle. It could require more time than you can realistically give to it right now. It could mean more commitment than you can give at the moment. and fix that. As long as you’re making some improvement on what you were doing before, it’ll be progress.
You can always up the game a bit later on once you’ve got used to your new routine if you’re unhappy with the results you’re getting. It’s always worth getting guidance on what to do to take the guesswork out of it and minimise the chance of failure. A good coach will be able to review your starting point and set you targets based on what’s achievable, and then build on that as you go.
If you’re one of the ones who “failed” (it’s a horrible term, but use it to motivate you to succeed now), then start again with the basics. The fundamentals of health.
Don’t try to follow a crazy training and diet plan, just work on building better habits.
Once you have the basics mastered (which may be all you need anyway), you can think about using a more strict approach.
Patience is key. Don’t expect insane results unless you can follow an insane plan and stick to it.
You can use the weight loss (or muscle gain) calculator on my website to get an idea of how fast you can expect to lose weight. It’ll give you a realistic timeframe, as well as a more ambitious timeframe for the super dedicated. Try it, and if your expectations were beyond even the ambitious timeframe – you can see why you may think you failed.
If you need some more help figuring things out, as always, get in touch and we’ll see if you’re a good fit for my Online Coaching program.
Mark www.MBonlinePT.com @MarkBroadbentPT