Does this sound like you? It’s Sunday night, you have all fresh fruits and vegetables in the house, you are determined to cook all week and not eat out, the alarm is set for 5:30 a.m., and you are determined to workout six times this week for one hour every day. Sounds like an excellent plan, doesn’t it? After all, last week you didn’t go for so much as a walk, you ate out for lunch with your friends everyday, three times your family had pizza because you were too tired to cook, and you had a kids birthday party on Saturday. Forget all that because you are suddenly not that person any more. No matter what this week is going to be the start of a new life…or is it?
What I have learned from my clients and time spent coaching people through lifestyle changes is that it doesn’t happen overnight. Your lifestyle is years of habits that need to be reprogrammed. Rarely are people successful modifying every apsect of how they live without first learning what are their pitfalls, how to make the right changes that work for them, and how to deal with curve balls thrown into their schedule.
Let’s look at a few things I work with my clients on:
1. Start a food journal of what you eat as it stands this week. Don’t worry about making the food substitutions. Just get into the habit of recording what you eat on a daily basis. After a week of food history, you can go through your days and find spots where you can make healthier substitutions to what you already do.
2. Begin a workout schedule that is less than what you want to eventually do. What I mean is that if you want to work out six times a week, right now exercise four times a week. If you have an hour a day to workout, begin with 30-40 minutes a day. Do this successfully for three weeks before you bump up your time.
Why do I say this? Most people burn out on over aggressive workout plans in about three weeks. That gives your body enough time to start feeling the energy depletion and the food fueling issues if you aren’t eating to support the activity. Blend one TOM rearing it’s ugly head, the unrealistic expectation that you haven’t lost ten pounds, and you have a recipe on how to quit exercising.
3. Each time you have an occassion to eat poorly, don’t think of it as a failure. Get out your journal, say to yourself, “This is a good learning experience. What will I do next time to make better choices?” Example: If your co-workers and you go out everyday for lunch, simply saying you are just going to tell them no is not a plan. A plan is to have a healthy prepared lunch with you, one day a week you will go out with them to a restaurant you know you can order something healthy, and a good reply to give them when they come by your office laughing and giggling on their way out the door.
I hope these tips help you think about starting a lifestyle of fitness and healthful eating.