You don’t have to do it all .. all the time

You don’t have to do it all .. all the time 🙏🏻

As we approach what is traditionally a busy and hectic time of year I think this is an important reminder. The all or nothing mindset is one of the biggest issues which keeps people from making meaningful progress towards their weight loss and fitness goals. Your health and your approach to nutrition and fitness don’t need to be all or nothing. It’s about learning when to do what, how to do things, when to accelerate, and when to put on the brakes and not beating yourself up about it.

When life is going to plan maybe you will workout 5 times a week, track all your meals, eat ‘healthy’ and stick to your calories, hit your steps, prioritise 8hrs of sleep etc. But then life happens, you get busy, or ill or work takes over and you miss a few workouts, or overeat or eat something you don’t deem as ‘healthy’ and suddenly everything seems to go to pot. Your motivation disappears and you feel defeated, frustrated and discouraged. Somehow one meal or day overrides weeks of progress. You’re hard on yourself and start to fall back to old habits and progress stalls. You think ‘f*ck it’ and don’t even bother trying to be ‘good’. Then after a while, you are unhappy with your weight and the whole process starts again.

It doesn’t need to be like this – it’s not black and white. It’s not a very healthy mindset to have for long-term, sustainable progress. Think about why you want to improve your fitness or lose weight. Ultimately it’s to live a healthier and happier future, so you can enjoy life. That means you’ll have to learn to manage life and all it entails, and incorporate some of that enjoyment into your new habits and weight loss journey. This means you’ll need to accept that sometimes you’ll do things that don’t fit perfectly into your fitness/weight loss goals, and that’s ok! It’s not about perfection, it’s about consistency.

Recognise that sometimes it’s ok to indulge or to not exercise, and dial down your expectations during busy/stressful times. Practice a little self compassion and understand that progress isn’t linear and that being able to incorporate these times is actually progress itself. If you are making things too restrictive then it won’t be a long-term sustainable plan for you. Focus on consistency not perfection and with a little patience you will reach those goals.

🤗

Xx