You have an idea in your head of how you want to look and feel. But these 5 bad habits can kill your progress.
Habits really are the cornerstone of our success. Even my boy Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
On the flip side of this, our bad habits can lead us to our downfall.
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Failure does not usually come from one event, it’s a culmination of all these small little decisions over a long period.
It’s not a single meal leading us to gain weight, but rather consistently overeating for months.
It’s not a single missed gym session that’s causing us to not have the body we want. It’s the not having shown up for weeks.
Knowing this can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s comforting to know that all our hard work won’t be wiped out on a single slip up. On the other hand, we then have to acknowledge that our success won’t be immediate and that we can’t instantly reach our goals.
So here are 5 bad habits you might want to avoid.
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#1 Surrounding yourself with the wrong people
There is a saying that we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with.
On top of this, research shows our weight can be influenced by the food and fitness habits or our friends and family. The people we surround ourselves with are a key part of our environment and it’s been shown that our environment is one of the biggest factors that determine our success.
Are your friends and family supportive of your goals or is it time to say goodbye to those Negative Nellies?
Life is tough enough and we’ll always encounter obstacles. What we don’t need is more naysayers holding us down.
Are those around you telling you it can’t be done, that you will fail or that you shouldn’t even try?
Or are you surrounded by positive people who propel you forward, give you energy and help you along your path?
Nothing is better than having someone that you can share your fears and doubts with, bounce ideas off or just know that they are there to cheer you on.
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#2 Not having a set routine
I used to believe that routines were boring and stifling. However, developing routines can actually help us feel more in control.
Having a routine can be particularly important when we are trying to establish healthy habits.
I have seen that the most successful ladies in our studio are the ones who set out their training times. They make it an appointment they have to keep and plan things around it. Scheduling that hour a few times a week becomes “their thing” and as a result becomes routine.
Routine can be an anchor for us
There’s a real comfort for a lot of our ladies in knowing that no matter what’s going on in their day that they will be kicking off their day with a workout or heading out to our studio that evening.
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#3 Jumping from program to program
We can all be guilty of acting like a magpie and jumping from one shiny object to the next.
We can be guilty of searching for the silver bullet or the “next best thing”. This could be jumping from one workout program to another, from one class to the next, or from diet to diet.
Quite often what we are doing now doesn’t compare as good to what we could be doing. Far away hills and all that!
Buts it’s this hopping from idea to idea that’s causing our progress to halt. Often it is our impatience that leads to our goal being pushed further out of reach.
Consistency is key.
Let’s pick whatever plan we want and see it through. It might be 28 days, 6 weeks or 12 months. Whatever it is, see it through and then make our mind whether it works or not.
Pick your plan, follow it through and then reassess
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#4 Not planning meals
“Fail to plan and plan to fail!”
Without good nutrition it’s unlikely you are going to hit your goals and one of the easiest ways to nail down your nutrition is meal planning.
Meal planning really is a fantastic way to save time, energy and money. Instead of it feeling restrictive you will enjoy the peace of mind you have by removing the daily stress of thinking about food.
Only buying what we need for our planned meals can save us aimlessly wandering through the shop aisles and the overspending that comes with that.
Planning out our meals is also a great way to control our portion size and reduce the likelihood of us overeating.
We’ll also ensure that we are eating a balanced diet and hitting our protein requirements.
You’ll also find that only buying what we need for our meals will help reduce wastage.
Meal planning doesn’t have to be complicated. Have a look at how your week falls and plan your meals around your schedule.
Plan your treats. Plan out your busy evenings. Planning will reduce your stress around nutrition.
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#5 Having cheat days
You may be asking what a cheat day is.
Typically it’s one day of the week where you “go off track” and eat whatever you want.
The thinking behind cheat days is that it’s a reward-based approach to dieting that can help you stick to a prescribed diet by allowing planned indulgences.
I believe for the majority of people cheat days don’t work.
First off, separating foods into categories like “good” or “bad” encourages feelings of guilt and shame with food. Once we make something “off limits” it suddenly makes you crave it even more. For some, this can create a very unhealthy relationship with food
Secondly, it can lead to some people binge eating for days and fall completely off track. This can also make it harder to reset because now you are craving simple carbs and sugars.
Finally, it is very easy to grossly overindulge on a chat day and undo any calorie deficit we created earlier in the week.
As we know, we need a calorie deficit for weight loss and your body looks more at the calorie deficit over a week rather than any one individual day. We could have created a small deficit each day from Monday to Saturday but then a day of overconsuming on Sunday could lead to that deficit being undone.
Cheat days can work but they do need to be done right!
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Hopefully you have spotted some habits you can change here and fast track your progress.
Let me know what ones you identify with and how you are going to change them.
Chat soon
Adam
P.S. – Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help you
- Download my FREE 21 Day Kickstart Program
You can kickstart your fitness at home with our simple day by day guide to get you back on track. Click HERE for your free download
- Join the Small Group Personal Training Program
Come and take a 30 Day Trial here at our private fitness studio designed for women over 30. Click HERE for more info