Advice and Tips
Springing Forward or Creeping Back? How are your New Year’s good intentions doing?
Feeling Slinky?
We are scarily near the end of February already and spring is so totally in the air! I get a feeling that the warmer, milder weather here in the UK is making us feel like time is moving even faster than usual, where did winter go and what did we do with it?! The days are getting longer: I reckon morning Fit Body Fix bootcamp will be completely in daylight in a week’s time (so no more hiding in the darkness doing haggis walks!).
As the daylight slowly creeps up on us, and time marches on, you might also feel a bit like your New Year’s good intentions have not quite come to fruition. Surely by now you should have lost those extra Christmas inches, become more toned up and be feeling fitter? Perhaps you felt like you were really getting somewhere initially, but can’t quite put your finger on why things haven’t continued to improve?
Fret not! It’s simpler than you might think!
What usually happens is that we start a plan of healthy living or creating new, healthier habits, with all guns blazing. We tighten up on everything, never miss a training session and keep laser focussed on our goals.
Then that seems to have become second nature, other things take our focus, and we take our eyes off the ball a little (or a lot). Now, I fully suggest making your new healthy habits second nature, but it usually takes a little longer than we think to actually embed these habits for good. 28 consistent days is usually enough, and thereafter it still takes some conscious awareness to keep on track. Plus, a few days of ‘old habits’ can take you the other way again as those old habits have been replayed time and time again so are easier to fall back on.
Sometimes referred to as ‘diet creep’, what tends to happen is that although you might feel you are doing all the same things, in fact, if you look at your food journal (you are keeping one, right?) you will notice the overall ‘compliance’, or ratio of good, nutritious, supportive stuff to the dodgy, indulgent stuff, has crept up.
The great thing about this, is so long as you are aware that things have stalled, or plateaued, you can take a few steps to get things going in the right direction again.
Keeping a food journal makes addressing this a lot easier.
You can go back to the log you kept when things were going swimmingly, and compare to the past couple of weeks. A few more nights out, where you decided to ‘treat yourself’? A little extra treat after dinner, as you’ve been so good all day? Those little things are not really about the food, but about the mindset and letting the self-saboteur in you take the helm! With a little awareness, these little things can be squashed and you can pick right back up where you left off….
The same goes for training. Initially you stick to your plan, never missing a session, then you find that the odd excuse creeps in, and before you know it you haven’t quite hit your target for the week. Combined with a few extras on the nutrition front and you can see that it really is not a huge thing you need to address, simply a combination of the little things.
Regardless of where you are in relation to your goals, it is always worth reviewing regularly so you can keep this from happening. I recommend that you assess your goals every 4 weeks – this is homework for my Fit Body Fixers every four weeks, and we discuss the goals and strategies in our monthly coaching meeting, as well as in the forum.
Monthly goals don’t have to be humungous, either. If you are consistent with the habit of reviewing and setting your course, you can avoid ever having to make giant goals if you don’t want to, as you will never be wildly off track!
Also, bear in mind it is better to focus on BEHAVIOURAL goals, than OUTCOME goals. All the things that creep up on you are habits or behaviours. These need addressing so that the desired outcome occurs. Often people make the mistake of thinking constantly about the goal (often in a negative way, which actually makes it harder to achieve) rather than on actually DOING what needs to be done to get there!
So, get food journalling if you are not. If you are a client of mine, make sure you send it to me for review with any questions so I can help you to see where things can be tweaked, and to make those less than optimal choices less likely to occur! I like to highlight the poor choices, as it gives you a visual of how much of your weekly intake has been ‘goal supportive’ and how much is taking you away from your goals.
Set your training plan and stick to it – having a few emergency quick workouts up your sleeve in case life just gets in the way, as it of course often does. There really is never an excuse not to find at least 15 minutes in a day and there is always something constructive you can do in that 15 minutes. Check out the forum for the latest Fit Body Fix weekend homework challenge that is also great ‘no excuses’ workout any day of the week!
If you are in Southampton and want to find out what Fit Body Fix is all about, as well as look at your goals & how to achieve them, there is a trial week starting Monday March 7th, and you can also come along to the Coaching Meeting on Friday March 4th at 6pm. Subject to space, you can try out a whole week before having to commit to the full 4 weeks. Plus I have a great offer if you join with a friend (or two) so well worth bringing someone along too! You need to register to secure your place: http://www.fitbodyfix.com/freebies
So, head over to the newly reactivated member site forum for a speedy workout you can do this weekend, and take an honest look at the nutrition and think about a few small things you can do to get closer to your goals in the next few weeks!
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