Easing Into It

Have you ever found yourself thinking, “That’s it! I’m done with feeling this way. Starting tomorrow, I’m working out every day for an hour. I’m following a meal plan, and I really don’t care how it affects my social life. I’m just going to make it happen.”

We often find ourselves committing to major change when we’re really fed up with our current situation. If you’re starting from a place of desperation, be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. Even if you’re feeling really inspired and motivated, consider easing yourself into your new habits. I recommend this for sustainability, injury prevention, for motivational reasons, and for general sanity!

Consider these tips to improve your chances of success:

Choose a plan that gets incrementally more challenging over time. For instance, in the first week, try 30 minutes of exercise three times. In the second week, increase it to 4 times per week. In the third week, boost each workout to 35 minutes, and in the fourth week, try 45 minutes. You’ll reduce the risk of injury, and avoid becoming demotivated by doing the exact same thing week over week.

Focus on one nutritional change at a time. Eating more vegetables and drinking more water are the two easiest ways improve your nutrition. Rather than focusing on what you’re avoiding, think about adding these in for change that feels more positive and less restrictive. You’ll likely end up crowding out less healthy choices, so the change will be doubly positive.

Keep it simple. It’s easy to get caught up in what the latest research says about the best time of day to exercise, the exact type of exercise to do for best results, which vegetables are highest in sugar, and so forth. Work out at the time of day that fits your life. If you’re not a morning person, exercise at lunch or in the evening. If you’ve hear that running is the best cardio, but you hate it, then don’t do it. Try a dance class or something you like.The best plan is the one that you’ll stick with. Do what works for you rather than what’s trendy.

Check in with yourself on a weekly basis. What worked well? Did you encounter any obstacles along the way? How can you plan for success going forward?

Be gentle with yourself. It took time to get out of shape, and it will take time to get back into it. Let go of judgment to create the mental space for real change to happen.

Setting Goals & Keeping It Real

Last week, we talked about creating your Personal Health Vision. Armed with a picture of where you want to end up, the next step is to draw out the map to get you there.

In my days as a personal trainer, the number one obstacle I have found people creating for themselves is choosing the fastest possible timeframe to achieve their goal. For instance, it is commonly understood that a healthy rate for fat loss is one to two pounds per week. This is realistic when exercise, nutrition, stress levels and rest are all at optimum levels. One would have to exercise for about an hour a day at an intense level as well as chopping about 500 calories from their diet to create the required calorie deficit to lose two pounds in a week. And it will probably only work if you’re also sleeping 8 hours a night and don’t find your days to be particularly stressful. Talk about pressure! It isn’t hard to see, then, why achieving your weight loss goal can easily become a source of stress in your life rather than an energizing journey. So if you’ve tried this aggressive approach before and found that it just wasn’t for you, consider a new plan.

Once you’ve articulated your Personal Health Vision, become aware of what’s required to get there. Be honest with yourself about it. For instance, if you want to lose 20 pounds, it would take ten weeks of extreme dedication to get there. The steps include regular intense strength training, regular intense cardiovascular training, and healthy nutrition. The level of commitment required to lose 20 pounds in 10 weeks is incredibly overwhelming for most people. You might start off feeling really strong and motivated, but a few weeks in, resolve begins to wane and many people give up entirely.

Rather than trying to change everything about your life in one fell swoop, choose some specific habits that, once embraced, will lead you to your goal. As a matter of fact, consider these habits themselves to be the goal. Make a list of all the healthier choices that will help lead to your goal, and then from that list, choose the top three things you feel ready, willing, and able to address. Some common healthy habits that will help you to live better include:

• drinking 2L of water each day
• consuming 7 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables
• choosing lean meats and substitutes
• bringing your lunch
• eating out at restaurants less frequently
• sleeping for 8 hours each night
• exercising for one hour most days of the week
• choosing physically active ways to get to work
• ordering a regular or black coffee instead of a double-double
• reducing night time snacking

I’m sure you can think of a few more that apply to you!

Once your first healthy habit feesl firmly rooted in your routine, choose another one to work on. When you make the behaviours themselves the goal, you’ll be amazed at how sustainable the changes are, and as a result, how quickly you resemble your Personal Health Vision.

Your Personal Health Vision

Oh, January…so we meet again!

People are talking about resolutions, and gyms everywhere are packed. It happens every year. Unfortunately, most people who are just getting started in January will fall off the wagon by Valentine’s Day. I’m not trying to be pessimistic here. I’m just telling you what I see every year. I would be so happy to see people’s new healthy habits stick, and so today’s blog considers the first step in making sure that you don’t become another statistic who ends up making the same resolution next January. Let’s make it stick this year, and then in 2012 you can focus on something like learning Spanish or playing a new instrument. How fun would that be?

Many people approach fitness goals like this, “I want to lose 20 pounds by April 1st. To make this happen, I’m going to exercise five times a week for one hour, and follow a nutritional plan that I found on the internet. I will take measurements once a month to make sure I’m on track.” This sounds like a solid start, but today I’m suggesting that you back it up one step. Take some time to create your Personal Health Vision. Go beyond the number on the scale, and describe the healthier you in detail.

Consider the following 10 questions to get started:

1. How does my healthier self feel about herself?
2. What are her energy levels like?
3. What gives her energy?
4. Where does she direct or spend her energy?
5. What’s a typical day in her life?
6. What specific improvements in quality of life does she enjoy as compared to me now?
7. What does she look like?
8. What motivates her?
9. How does she deal with obstacles?
10. What makes her different from the present version of me? Or, what traits has she cultivated that have led to her success?

Trust me, it’s worth taking this first step. There will be days that your SMART goal might not resonate with you. Whether it’s stress, fatigue or general inertia, we all need something to cut through the excuses to keep us on track. Your Personal Health Vision will help to do just that. These questions go a little deeper, and the answers will serve to remind you that this is actually your journey. Lasting change starts with self-inquiry. When you’ve taken the time to better understand yourself, you’ve taken a giant step in the right direction.

Stay tuned next week for some tips on ensuring your goals are realistic.

Be well!

Are You Committed?

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.”

-Kenneth Blanchard

Who isn’t interested in being in good shape? I’ll hazard a guess and say that most people are interested in being fit. Few, however, are committed. If your level of commitment falls short of what’s required to achieve your goals, reframe your plan so that your commitment and goals are compatible. We’re bombarded with messages that tell us we can go all the way in one or two months. For most people, this isn’t realistic. Fitness happens in stages. It makes a lot more sense to improve your lifestyle in 10% increments and actually be able to sustain the change than to fantasize about transforming absolutely everything about your life in the next few weeks. Aim for that next stage – the one you can truly commit to – and before you know it, you’ll have the following one in sight.

Keeping It Simple

There’s a lot of noise in the world today. We are on information overload. Miracle fat-loss remedies are dangled in front of us at every turn, and before you know it, we start believing that that’s exactly what we need to succeed – a miracle. Today, we’re setting the record straight as I share with you my top simple tips for becoming the healthiest, fittest you.

1) Be honest with yourself. This tip is two-fold. First of all, be honest about your current habits. There’s this little voice in our heads that tell us that we’re already doing everything right. We eat healthy food, work out, sleep well…”It just doesn’t work for me.” Nine and a half times out of ten, this is simply not true. We eat more than we think, we have more treats than we think, and we miss more workouts than we realize. So first and foremost, get real. The second half of this honesty thing has to do with your goals. What about your lifestyle are you prepared to change? Is your resolve strong enough to resist temptation at social functions? Can you stick to your guns when people pressure you? (Because they will!) Choose goals that make sense for you.

2) Exercise between four and six times per week. Research has shown that people who manage to exercise for 5 hours per week are happier with their bodies than those who don’t…regardless of their body shape or size. If you can’t manage that much, strive to get as close to it as you can.

3) Crank it up a notch. Exercise hard. If you stay in your comfort zone, you’re basically telling your body that it doesn’t have to change to keep up with your workouts. Get outside your comfort zone to shock your body into changing.

4) Eat often… and eat more vegetables. Eating every 3 hours or so is best for hormonal stability, energy levels and portion control. The vast majority of people do not eat enough veggies. Have some at every meal.

5) Maximize the value of your food choices. Choose nutrient-rich, lower calorie foods for the bulk of the volume of what you eat. (Eat more veggies!) Minimize foods that don’t do you any good. Those 100-calorie snack packs may at first seem like healthy choices, but remember that they’re still empty calories. Better to have some almonds and an apple, or veggies and hummus than a snack pack of Oreo cookies.

6) Recharge. Aim to do something relaxing for 30 minutes every day. It doesn’t much matter what it is. Just make sure it’s relaxing for you. You might choose to take a leisurely stroll, read a book, or take a hot bath. This is vital for hormonal balance, as well as for our general sanity. Relaxed people are more likely to make healthier choices.

Keep it simple to succeed!