The start of a new year is a great symbolic date to start a new chapter in the book of your life. If you’re a gym rat like me, you’ve seen many years of the same old cycle: New gym members sign ups and get started enthusiastically on January 2nd, never to be seen again after January 24th… But why would you throw in the towel so quickly? Below are some of the reasons:
1. You expected it to be a sprint but found out it’s really a marathon. The “I want it now” mentality doesn’t work when you’re looking to make serious, long lasting changes—working on small goals, adding one positive habit at a time instead of locking up all your bad habits away at once is much more sustainable, but it takes time and patience.
2. You spend your entire paycheck on supplements, but tour diet is shit. Supplements are exactly what their name suggests—supplementary, optional, not food. Focus instead on eating whole foods (with the least amount of processing; for example, eat whole oats instead of “Honey O’s” cereal or eat a grilled chicken breast instead of chicken nuggets).
3. Believe. In yourself, in the process, in your coach. Believe you can do it—what you tell yourself is what’s going to happen. So tell yourself you’re good for nothing, and that’s where you’ll go. Tell yourself you can do it, and you’ll find the strength to get up and move on each time you fall.
4. Don’t overthink things. Ever heard the saying “mowing the lawn while your house is on fire”? That means, don’t get too attached to or affected by counting calories, macros, exact meal times or the numbers on the scale. Focus on the big picture, and take actions EVERY DAY. And have fun with it!
5. Stop looking at food as punishment or reward. When you keep telling yourself you can’t have something, you’ll only end up wanting it even more. If you’re making good choices most of the time, don’t sweat it. And if you’ve reached a landmark, celebrate with a fun activity instead of Pizza and a whole keg…
6. Track your progress. In a positive way, that is. Record your achievements at the gym each time, and try to improve your performance while also focusing on recovery.
7. Your social environment is not supportive. Your boyfriend keeps telling you you’ll always be overweight. Your mom keeps pushing cake in your face when you come over to talk about problems at work. Your friends say you’re super lame because you don’t down 12 cocktails on Friday night. Perhaps it’s time to have that talk? Or, perhaps it’s time to surround yourself with positive social support instead.
8. You don’t know why you made your resolution in the first place. You know your what—you want to lose weight, you want to change your body’s composition, you want to be leaner, you want to gain muscle… but why? The deeper you dig here, the more likely you’ll be to stick with the plan—and the more likely you are to follow an appropriate plan that takes into account your specific needs.
If you find this helpful, please share with your friends so they can be as successful as you are on the road to achieving their goals!