– A number of people will admit to me that when things get busy for them then their health and fitness will take the back burner. Therefore they are not being consistent enough for results to really show through.
– Some may even get slightly embarassed or frustrated about the fact they are not getting the results they want even though they know how to get there and what to do, but it is just not working out for them for one reason or another.
– You may have done this diet and that, read about all the ‘no sugar’ eating recently, come up with an exercise regime, and set yourself a goal to reach by this time next year.
However, the key to reaching that goal may just not be quite realised yet – there may be a missing link to the goal of reaching your best body shape, your greatest fitness achievement, your healthiest weight.
Being accountable to someone or something for your workouts and nutrition could be the answer.
“Accountability is the acknowledgement of responsibility for your actions with the obligation to report, explain, and be responsible for the resulting consequences”
This will keep you consistent, and consistency is often the biggest downfall to peoples goals.
Imagine if you had to report back to me everyday what you were eating, what you had done in the gym or at home.
Jonny Wilkinson always imagined he was being filmed and someone was watching over what he was doing, therefore he always had to be on the top of his game with his training and nutrition because he couldn’t let anyone down, or he couldn’t let himself down more importantly.
No one Always feels motivated to go to the gym or eat healthy. No one. But we are more likely to get ourselves into good habits if we have to report it back to someone. Recently, I got a client to record a food diary at home for 7 days. They lost 5lbs. So with no actual changes other than to have to right down what they were eating and drinking they managed a significant weight loss. This shows that just the mere consciousness of having to write down what you are eating and show it to someone else will deter you from eating unhealthy foods and instead encourage you to reach for the healthier option.
Strategies to be consistent
1. Over committ
To be consistent, you need to commit more to your goals, you need to view your goals as important, as a priority.
We all make half-hearted promises to ourselves, only to get frustrated and break them soon after. How many people have broken the New Years Resolutions already? Why do you think this was? Did you really think about what it was you were wanting to achieve from the resolution? OR was it a half-hearted attempt at trying to do something ‘good’?
Set up goals with friends to get extra accountability and to open up a consistency contest. With your friends who can go the longest without skipping an exercise day? Who can cook the most meals from scratch at home? Make these ‘doing’ goals. Who can do this, who can do that’? Focus on and reward yourself for what you do, not necessarily what you achieve (at least to begin with). You have immediate control over what you do, but not what you achieve.
2. Under promise and then over deliver
I learnt a valuable lesson from a client the other week. I had set this client a set of tough goals to achieve. The client only just achieved these goals. I was under the mind set that I had set her goals that were challenging and that she would feel great for thus achieving these goals. However, I was corrected and told her motivation would come from achieving above and beyond what I had hoped for. That would create much more satisfaction and motivation. And she is so right and I am so wrong. Doesn’t happen often, but Ill admit defeat.
Therefore set goals that you feel confident that you can over achieve with. This is not to say, set really easy goals, that are not going to make a difference, but so you can go out there and feel great for that sense of over-achievement.
Ask yourself ‘on a scale of 1-10, how confident am I that I could do this everyday for the next 30 days’. If you score anything under 8 then find a way to make that promise smaller or easier to achieve and then work from there.
Instead of saying I’ll go to the gym 5 times a week for the next 6 weeks, put two gym dates a week in the diary and then do your best to get the gym more often when you can.
3. Get help from at least one other person
Im going to be totally honest now and admit something to you. I am struggling with my fitness at the moment. I am probably the most unfit I have been in all my life. (all 27 years of it). I know how to train, I’ve been doing it and reading about it all my life. I know how to eat well – (plus I can cook and my partner can cook even better than me.) However, I am struggling. I know exactly why I am struggling. I have no commitment, no focus, no goals, no accountability. I have always played sports until now, therefore had a focus, a commitment, a goal, I had the accountability of my teammates or coaches. I don’t have that now. Therefore, to get back on track, I need to make myself accountable to someone and something. That is exactly what you need to do too.
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