5 Things Making You Inconsistent With Your Health Goals
Let’s just put this out there right from the start, consistency is the bread and butter to the results you want.
Being that you’re on here, you probably already know that, but we wanted to highlight that quickly to make sure you know what we would be focusing on in this blog.
With that said, we totally understand that being consistent can be difficult. Even though we work in a gym and are authorities in the industry, we find that our consistency is also tested.
We found though that there are a few actions steps that need to be taken, that allow consistency to be easier. When we are missing these steps, then it will hold us back, and make it really challenging to stick to the actions we need to take to get to our goal.
So what could be keeping you from being consistent?
Missing a Workout and Nutrition Program
This is honestly the first step. If you don’t have a workout and nutrition program, it will make it SO difficult to stay consistent.
A program does many things:
Give you a sense of direction
Insures you’re doing taking the right actions
Keeps you progress towards your goal and avoiding plateauing
Holds you accountable
Saves time and stress of having to find what you need to do
Simply put, a program is the dotted line on the map that takes you to the “X”. Without it you can spend not only months, but YEARS being confused and frustrated over why you haven’t yet reached your goal.
One of the main reasons we found our clients would initially have trouble being consistent is that they felt overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated for all the efforts they put in but not getting results. They spent months, and sometimes years, doing things, but not doing the RIGHT things that supported them to getting to their goal.
With the right plan, you will be more consistent knowing that your actions WILL reap the results, while also keeping you from feeling overwhelmed and confused because you will be doing the things aligned with your goal.
Doing Too Much at Once
Have you ever watched a video on YouTube, or maybe you saw multiple videos on Instagram or TikTok, with all the tips and tricks to get to your goal? One person is telling you “this”, and another person “that”. You’ve absorbed so much information that you don’t know where to start.
And sometimes you don’t even start… This is called information paralysis.
We’ve also seen people being so motivated at first that they will try and make all the changes at once.
We know we’ve personally done this. Changed our nutrition, started working out a lot, started walking more, started taking our vitamins, bought protein powder, and slept early. While we did feel great, we lasted maybe two weeks trying to do it ALL, because we went from 0 to 100 all at once.
Fast forward to today, we are doing all of the above, but we are able to maintain it.
How? We took it one step at a time, or better put, one habit at a time.
While it is a longer approach, it also promises you results, and KEEPING the results. Going all-in, all at once, might get you the results, but it is a recipe for reversing your progress, or being stuck yo-yo-ing to and from your goal.
Which TRUST US, IS NOT GREAT AT ALL.
Take one step at a time, and start with what is easiest for you to begin with. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to be CONSISTENT.
Once you become consistent with the habit, and it becomes almost effortless, introduce another habit into your routine.
Then you simply rinse and repeat.
If you start getting stuck, or you start falling off the consistent routine, go back a step or two to where you were consistent and re-approach the new habit differently.
And remember, don’t proceed to the next habit, until you’re consistent with the prior habits.
Limited or No Self-Belief
This might seem trivial to you, or you might not understand how this has a connection to your health and fitness journey, but your mindset is more than half the battle when it comes to changing your routine.
While this is ONE aspect of your life, you need to remember that this is still a part of you that you are working on changing. Your fitness, nutrition, and other health habits are going to be connected to what you tell yourself on a daily basis. If you lack changing your mindset towards these habits, the physical changes will lack in correspondence.
If you believe very little of yourself in succeeding, you will do everything you can (without even being aware of it), to hold yourself back, so you can convince yourself of that story you sold yourself on.
So where do you start?
Our personal favourite is writing out your goal but more importantly WHY this is your goal. Now your "WHY" has to be deep, not superficial like “getting ready for vacation”, “oh for my wedding”. If you get an answer like that, ask yourself “why is it so important that you hit your goal for that specific occasion”.
Keep asking yourself “why” until you hit an answer that stirs up emotion. Now THAT answer, is the true answer.
Knowing the true reason why, will be something you want to remind yourself of every day. This will keep you going on the toughest of days, because this is what is truly important and of value to you.
Next to your “why”, the next best thing is to begin writing out your affirmations. Your affirmations are your “I am” statements. They need to be positive, and they need to empower you.
Examples can include:
I am stronger each and every day
My body is the healthiest
I am beautiful physically and spiritually
I value my health
I show up for myself every day
They can be short and concise or longer. They also don’t have to be something that you believe is yet true. We encourage you to write out things that are not yet true because the more you say them, the more you repeat them, the more you will believe them, and start to embody these affirmations.
Lastly, listen to positive podcasts, and read positive books.
Sometimes it won’t be easy, and who are we kidding, it won’t be easy most times, but remember that physical and mental growth requires being uncomfortable both mentally and physically.
Not Being in a Supportive Environment
You know that moment when you’re trying so hard to eat more fruits instead of other high sugar snacks, but you constantly see it in the house, or someone keeps bringing them to you, telling you “it’s okay, just have SOME”.
We’ve been there, and that can definitely make the journey WAY more difficult than it should be.
When we say “environment” we mean both where you work, and your home, as well as the people you surround yourself with.
You want to make sure that if you’re trying to get consistent with working out, that your home has the equipment you need, or that you have access to a gym. You want to make sure the people you are sharing your experience with support your fitness journey, and don’t make little comments like “oh you are fine, why are you going to the gym”.
If you are trying to be consistent with your nutrition, it would mean buying more whole foods and not bringing home snacks (which of course we can have snacks at times, but we are talking about the big picture). It would mean buying healthy foods for work potlucks, and communicating with coworkers your journey so they too can buy healthier snacks rather than just donuts.
It could be telling your friends about your journey and what you’re working on, so they don’t keep inviting you for drinks, but plan a fun activity instead.
Now some people, no matter how much you try to communicate with them, won’t want to change. This is going to push some buttons, but you want to stay away from these people.
We are not saying completely take them out of your life, but be cautious and make the effort to spend more time with those that completely support you. The worst feeling is trying so hard to change a habit in your life, but that one person keeps holding you back because they don’t want to get left behind. If they value your relationship enough, they will notice, and begin to support you more.
Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Say what?
Right now you are comfortable. You have had this routine for months, even years. You are used to it. While you do want change, the thought of making all these changes in your routine is uncomfortable. VERY uncomfortable for you even.
The thing is, as long as you are comfortably living your life, you are selling yourself a story that it’s “comfortable” and a good enough life. Deep down though, you KNOW you deserve better. Otherwise why would you be here? Why would you make any efforts towards bettering yourself?
As a human-being, we are programmed to feel safe. We will maintain our “comfortable” routine, because we know it’s kept us safe this whole time. What you need to remember though, is that “safe” doesn’t necessarily mean the best, or that what served us before will continue to serve us.
Eventually this “comfortable” feeling will become unbearable and we will finally decide to make changes.
As we begin to change, we will come across obstacles, and uncomfortable stages in our journey, but you need to remember that every time you come across something uncomfortable, it means that you are experiencing change.
Behind every uncomfortable situation, there will be a benefit and positive change waiting for you.
Your job is to learn, that if you are committed to growth, you will experience uncomfortable situations in life all the time, and when you are met with discomfort, don’t stop, but keep going and eventually it will stop feeling uncomfortable.
In other words, get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Now where to start?
Remember, to start making these changes, you want to accept that it will be uncomfortable. All that we’ve listed above will be uncomfortable at some point but they are necessary if you want to stay consistent.
Highlight the one that you feel is holding you back the most, and make an action plan. Commit to changing this aspect of you life, slowly every day and check in with yourself monthly to see how much progress you’ve made.
Growth is not linear, but you will slowly get better if you commit yourself to changing and not giving up.
Need help staying consistent?
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