What’s Missing? I know how to get in shape so why am I still not in shape?
Does this sound familiar to you? You go to the gym consistently at least four times per week, and you have done for years. You’re pretty savvy about nutrition and you can tell carbs from protein and their different benefits in the body? You have tried all the diets and while they seem to get you in shape short term the long-term benefits leave you back at square one or in a worse position than you started.
To be honest, this was me for many years, even as a long time personal trainer I have been subject to quite substantial weight gain and loss over the years, which no doubt has done nothing for my metabolism. But none of these diets, quick fixes, detox’s, 30-day challenges have ever gotten me the long-term results that I was hoping to achieve.
There is usually one main thing that is going on here and hands up I am guilty.
Consistency
That thing is consistency. As a fitness professional, I consider myself pretty consistent with my workouts. However, if I am honest, things get in the way; the twins are sick, I’m sick, we have a mini break planned, we have a holiday planned, kids are on half term from school thus sucking up my workout time.
Now it didn’t take a genius to work that out but many of us do assume ourselves to be more consistent than we actually are. That’s because most of us don’t treat our daily lives like a science experiment and record every workout that we do and every morsel that we put into our mouths. Now don’t get me wrong I am not suggesting that is what you need to do to get into shape, far from it.
Accountability
But for most people the missing puzzle piece here is ACCOUNTABILITY. If we have someone or something that we are accountable to, research shows time and time again that we are drastically more successful at achieving our goals. If we have to report what we have done or what we haven’t done, we are so much more likely to do what we need to do even when we are not feeling so motivated.
Solutions
So if this article resonates with you, the logical solution would be to get yourself an accountability buddy, this could be a friend who comes to train with you in the gym or a friend who you check in with on a weekly basis to discuss different goals for the week ahead. You could also set up your own small group, social media makes this easier than ever. You could set yourself weekly do-able, concrete goals and support each other along the way. For example, you could all commit to eating more veggies and share photos of this on a facebook group. Once you have mastered that habit, you could pick the next goal. Notice here that I’m choosing
If you are interested in professional support to keep you accountable and give your nutrition and fitness some direction, then the next Cohort of Nutrition coaching will be launching very soon to find out more take a look at the packages page on this website.