From my experience of helping other people with their health journey (and from my own experience), I find that the issue with keeping a good nutrition and workout routine it’s not starting it or understanding the principles why those will lead to results. No, the aspect many of us struggle is keeping it going for the necessary time until we achieve our goal AND maintain it after we achieve those objectives.
So… how do we stay consistent in our health journey?
1. Don’t go “all or nothing”
An “all or nothing” approach is not a good one when it comes to being consistent. Mostly because when we start something we always have high levels of motivation but around day 4 or by the weekend we face challenges (usually a meal or a day out of plan) and decide the week is ruined so why bother. In the meantime, we have 2 or 3 days where we don’t even try to go back on track with our goals because we’ll “try again next week”.
Try to change that mindset. After that meal/day that wasn’t in your plans, remember why you started and what your objectives are. Sometimes life happens and we have setbacks but it doesn’t mean we should wait for Monday to try again.
Aim for baby steps and progress, it will make easier for you to keep your nutrition on track and to stick with your workouts.
Keep your why and your goals visible. You can do this with a sticky note on a strategic place (like your workplace computer) or by changing your phone background to an image with your objectives.
For example, if you want to start a regular exercise practice don’t set immediately as an intention to workout 5 days a week. It’s better if you decide to start with 2 sessions of exercise every week and after a month (or before if you feel ready) increase to 3 sessions per week. Do this until you reach your goal and it will be easier to keep up with it.
A similar model can be used for nutrition. Instead of starting your first week by making all the changes at once why not set a weekly aim? On week 1 you replace that hot/cold drink from a coffee shop with a healthier alternative (you may allow yourself 1 drink as a treat). On week 2 you keep what you started on the previous week and you’ll make sure half your plate is filled with greens. And so on.
These are fairly generic examples but the point is: set a realistic goal and break it into smaller ones to be achieved and maintained progressively.
2. Track your progress
This one ties closely to the previous tip. Tracking the habits you’re implementing can help you a lot in keeping consistent with them.
For nutrition, you can register what you eat in a food diary or in an app. And when writing down avoid labelling what you eat as “bad” or “good”. Instead, try to note down why those particular foods are beneficial for you (physically and mentally), what do you like about them. Everything we eat plays a different role in our wellbeing. Have a mindful reading when looking at your diary and don’t beat yourself up for eating that slice of chocolate cake. Over time you may notice your choices change and you walk towards more balanced nutrition that works for you.
Monitoring your progress in exercise can follow a very much similar process. Whether your goal is to do a certain number of repetitions, run a specific distance or be able to exercise X days per week, tracking will help you see every step you take in the direction of your goal. For example, if your objective is to be able to run 5km, you can start by running 1km and increase it a bit every time you workout.
If you decide to monitor your progress you’ll be amazed by how much you can accomplish from one week to another (trust me, been there done that). Watching your evolution written down will give a boost of motivation to keep you going for the next week, you’ll feel excited to see what you can achieve next!
And if you find yourself in a time when you can’t see an evolution in numbers, don’t give up. Sometimes we have rough days/weeks and keeping up with everything may be challenging. So if you didn’t see your number going up but still showed up for your goals, that’s still progress.
3. Get an accountability buddy
This tip is a great complement to the previous two. Some people are great in keeping consistent on their own but many others find it hard. Get someone to be with you along your journey. Someone who cares about your improvement, that can provide motivation and even some tough love when you need it. If you’re tracking and monitoring your progress, that person can help you look at those records and focus on the positive bits to get you going.
It can be your partner, a family member, a friend, or even a support group. That person may have had a journey like yours or may be on their own mission.
Whoever you choose as an accountability buddy, make sure it’s someone you can open up and be honest without feeling judged.
Having someone with you on your journey can greatly increase your chances of successfully reaching your goals.
So these are my top 3 tips for achieving consistency in your nutrition and workout goals. Yet, these tips can work for everything in your life really! Whether it’s a project, a side hustle, a hobby… These principles can be applied to it as well. Consisty is key for anything we want to achieve in life.
Thank you for reading!
I hope you find this post interesting and that it provides you with useful information.
I’d also love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to drop a comment and I’ll be more than happy to read your feedback and reply.
