As you already know, this is the time of year people start diet and exercise routines with the best of intentions, and then usually anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months later, something happens and they quit…. Then try again at some point in the year or the next January, and so on. The on and off again roller coaster of results.
If the previous paragraph describes you, then I have good news – you can easily get off that roller coaster and get results this year. This can be the year you stick to your new year’s fitness resolutions!
How??? One simple word – CONSISTENCY
I have worked with thousands of people over the past 20 years and I have found that the number one thing in common with all the people who have achieved the best results, more than the best routine, or hardest worker, or who sacrificed the most, and so on, is that the people with the best results were the ones who were consistent. The ones who consistently do their workouts and who consistently eat decent (while still cheating!).
If you want to make this the year that you stick to your new year’s fitness resolutions, you have to make exercising regularly your top priority, even over your diet.
Priority Shift
Start with a priority shift. Remember, if you eat bad all the time and you don’t exercise, you will go backwards in your health and weight. The key is to make exercise a priority. You are going to cheat on your diet at some point, and I totally encourage you to cheat. If you don’t, you are ultimately setting yourself up for failure because if you don’t intentionally cheat, you will do it at some point and then throw in the towel completely. So, start with exercise consistency as the most important part of your health and fitness journey. Your diet will come and go, but if your exercise is consistent, then you will always be either moving forward or staying the same, instead of going backwards. See when you place all of your results on your diet and don’t exercise, when you fail on your diet, you go backwards with your results because then you aren’t dieting or exercising. If exercise is consistent, then when you are eating good and exercising, you will be moving forward and when you are eating bad, you will at least not go backwards because your exercise will keep you moving forward.
Your Default Settings
Back to the priority shift. You have to change your default settings with exercise. You have to make it like your job. Let’s say you work Monday through Friday 9am-5pm. Your default settings with your job is that you go to work to work every day Monday through Friday, except for when you call in sick or take time off intentionally. You don’t wake up on Monday morning and say to yourself, “I think I’ll go to work today.” You already have work planned. It’s your default setting. You need exercise and diet to be the same. You have days you workout and eat good as your normal default setting and it’s already in your routine to workout and eat good that day – unless you get sick or decide to take a day off or decide to cheat on your diet. Then after the intentional day off, you are back on your plan. With work, we don’t miss a few days due to sickness or vacation and then say “well I missed so much work, the damage is done, I’ll just quit working…” But for some reason we do that with our workouts and diet. So, if and when, you miss, the key is getting back on your plan.
Don’t Aim for Perfection
Remember, you don’t have to be perfect with your routine. You don’t have to eat good all the time. You just have to never completely quit! I cheat on my diet very regularly. Probably more than most people. The difference is that I never totally quit. Most weeks I exercise 5 days per week and take 2 days off and cheat on my diet at least 3 or 4 times per week. But there are some weeks where life happens, or I travel, or holidays, etc. where I miss some workouts and I cheat more than normal. But after these weeks, I don’t quit, I just continue back to my normal default settings.
If you stay consistent, you will not only get results, you will keep them! Our bodies are designed to where you have to exercise and eat good (not great) most (not all) of the time. No one gets a pass. But for some reason we think our health is optional. As we all know, when we quit for months or years at a time, our bodies don’t just freeze and pick up where we left off.
So, make this the year you are consistent. Instead of trying to do great and then quitting, try to do good without quitting. Instead of 100% perfect diet and then quitting, try to eat good 80% of the time and bad 20% of the time, but doing this consistent without quitting. And never give up on your exercise – it takes the pressure off the diet!
Final Thoughts
I have used these principles and many more listed in my book, Calorie Budgeting 101, to get and maintain results myself and help thousands of others over the years, so I know without a doubt it works!
To easily get started and lay the groundwork for your routine, message me about our 6 Week Total Body Transformation – which can be done in person at Hoover Fitness or remotely if you don’t live in the area.
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