Right now you probably have or at one time had a goal that was health and fitness related. The focus of that goal may have been weight loss or just improved performance. No matter what the goal, sometimes it may seem like you aren’t making progress towards that goal. Sometimes you just feel “stuck”!
I’ve put together 5 tips to help you get unstuck, bust through that plateau you are sitting at and ultimately help you reach your health and fitness goals!
1. Maintain a Positive Attitude
No one likes the “Negative Nelly” who is always quick to point out the down side to everything. When you have come to the point when you have decided enough is enough and you are ready to start making some positive changes in your health and fitness life, you don’t need anything negative bringing you down.
I am going to suggest that you eliminate as much negatively as you possibly can from your “news feed”. This can come from a number of sources; negative self-talk, social media, news media (TV and online), and sadly and most prominently your “friends” and family.
While it may not seem like a significant thing, every little bit of negativity that you read/hear does have an impact on you and your attitude toward others and more importantly towards yourself. Do what ever you can to eliminate those negative influences and replace them with positive and more encouraging ones.
Action Item: Pick up a Personal Development Book – Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
2. Keep It Simple
Don’t be that person who suffers from “paralysis by analysis” and never actually gets started because you feel like you need to have it all figured out first. Just START! Once you have started, don’t try to change everything all at once. Start with simple changes that won’t overwhelm you. This is most prevalent on the nutrition side of thing, where most try to perform a complete 180 on their eating habits. While this may work in the short term, for most; is very difficult to stick with and as a result they give up and revert back to the eating habits of old.
On the fitness side, the same principle applies. While you may have a goal to complete a 1/2 marathon, you don’t want to go out on day 1 and try to run the 13.1 miles! You half to walk before you can run (no pun intended…) and if you try to start at a place where you simply can’t keep up, you are only setting yourself up for failure.
Yes, you will be sore. Yes, you will be uncomfortable during the process. Yes, it will feel like progress is slow.
It will be worth it!
Action Item: Pick a start date or change 1 thing within your current routine.
3. Conscious Eating
Far too often I find that people under-estimate their total calorie intake simply because they aren’t tracking their nutrition. MyFitnessPal is a free resource that you should be leveraging on a daily basis until you’ve reached your goal. This app will give you a no-nonsense breakdown of the food you are eating. You can see total calories broken down by all of the important nutritional facts, protein, carbohydrates, and fats. You can also see many of the other micronutrients including total sugar intake (one that I tend to keep an eye on…) on a daily or weekly basis.
The key to all that I mentioned above is actually tracking!
Once you start tracking, you’ll be able to see exactly where you can improve or where you are doing exactly what you need to do in order to see those results you are after.
Start tracking and you’ll automatically become more mindful of what you are eating. Keep in mind, as with a lot of things, consistency is key here. You don’t need to be perfect each and every day! In fact, it is pretty tough to hit your exact caloric and macro-nutrient goals on a daily basis. There will be some variances from day-to-day and as long as you are within a 1-5% range of your goals for the day, you are doing great!
Action Item: Create your MyFitnessPal account and start tracking today!
4. Minimize Cardio
To be clear; “cardio” in this context implies LISS (low intensity steady state) cardio. Common forms of LISS are; treadmill, stair climber, stationary bicycle, etc… Low intensity steady state, as the term state, is a form of cardio where you maintain a similar pace and as a result a consistent heart rate throughout. LISS is not bad, nor is it bad for you! However, spending a hour performing LISS every other day may not be the best use of your time.
Many people cardio themselves to death and wonder why they aren’t seeing the results they expect. While there are a number of factors involved here; if LISS is your main form of “working out”, I would suggest that it is an area that you try to minimize.
I can hear it already; “But, I love my treadmill/bike/elliptical!” I am not telling you to stop LISS cardio completely, especially if you enjoy it and it keeps you moving. I am simply suggesting that you begin to incorporate other forms of fitness in your routine. I promise you’ll see results!
HIIT (high intensity interval training) is the most common form on cardio and one that I would recommend as well. It consistent of short bursts of training will minimal rest in between. This means your heart rate is constantly going up and down, you are burning more calories over a shorter period of time and it’s just a lot more fun!
Action Item: Replace 1 of your traditional cardio sessions with a HIIT workout! Need suggestions? P90X3, Focus T25, Insanity MAX: 30, 21 Day Fix or 21 Day Fix Extreme
5. Set Proper Expectations
When you are first getting started on your fitness path, you are generally the most excited and ready to go all out! After the first couple of workouts, the soreness sets in, you are craving something that you’ve eliminated from your nutrition and now, you’re not so excited about that workout you have on the schedule.
If you tell yourself from the beginning that scenarios like this are going to happen and decide how you are going to respond when they do come before hand, you are more likely to push through them! Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that this is a shift in habits that have been ingrained for a long period of time and what they are doing is changing those habits, which is TOUGH and it takes time to replace those old habits with new ones.
The pace of weight loss is going to vary from person to person and with that frustration can set in when you aren’t seeing the results you expect in the timeframe you expected them to occur.
Healthy weight loss takes time!
The process is slow at first, it may be 2 weeks or more before you begin to see changes that are noticeable. Most people attribute progress by the number they see on the scale, but that is typically the worst measure of progress in the first few weeks. Focus on the following:
- How are your energy levels?
- Are your workouts improving?
- How are your clothes fitting?
- Are you less “groggy”?
- Are you more confident in yourself?
You need to give yourself at least 9-12 weeks before you will begin to see results that you, yourself, are probably expecting. If you tell yourself this in the beginning, you’ll be more likely to stick with it. Commit to a full 8-12 weeks of a program and the results you are after will be waiting for you!
Action Item: Write down your goals and set a reasonable timeline to achieve them! Keep them in a visible spot to reinforce your commitment.
There is no Wagon!
This is a quote a saw recently that I felt was appropriate to include in this post.
Read it and then re-read it and answer the following questions;
- What does that mean to you – Falling off the wagon?
- What does being “on” the wagon look/feel like to you?
“You didn’t fall off the wagon. THERE IS NO WAGON. No track, no road, you’re not “out of the groove” or “off the rails”, “up a creek” or any other metaphor we use to say we’re struggling. You’re where we ALL ARE: living a real life, that comes complete with easier time and harder times. That’s where you have always been and where you always will be.
The wagon symbolizes perfection, or your idealized standard of where you “should be”. And it’s not real.
There is no standard timeline for getting healthy, for changing your life, for growing, and if you expected a steady rate of linear change, let it go. There’s no wagon pulling off into the distance.
Whether you’re struggling a lot or a little in this particular moment … If you’re struggling, you’re TRYING. You’re putting in effort. That’s good, it means you’re alive.
We’re all struggling together, in our own journeys with our own resources and tools. But no one out there is immune to it, no one is getting a free ride on some wagon. So use your support network, ask for help, and help yourself where you see it’s possible.
Screw the wagon, you don’t need no stinkin’ wagon.”
Need a Coach?
If you need to find someone that will hold you accountable, answer your questions, help you, and PUSH YOU for the entire duration of your workout! Luckily for you, that’s what me and my team are here for. If you don’t have a coach yet and want one, I’d love to be your coach and help you through a fitness program. I am available to help you reach your goals!
Email Me: coachchris@yourfitnesspath.com
Connect on Facebook: fb.com/coachcoburn
YouTube: https://youtu.be/coachchriscoburn
Instagram: @chris_coburn
Twitter: @yourfitnesspath
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