Making small daily improvements are the key to long term sustainable results
In our society today we are all seeking quick and easy results without much effort. Whilst this is achievable for some, long term results (i.e. for the rest of your life) are often elusive for those who seek these quick and easy solutions.
There is no magic pill, potion, twelve week shred program that will instantly make you the way you want to be. A classic example of this is the contestants on some of the popular weight loss shows who show huge amounts of weight loss. The only problem is this result is not sustainable.
If you want to lose weight and keep it off, start by making small daily improvements to your day and watch over time the things you can achieve. Here are some small changes below that you can make that can have an impact on your journey. Regardless if your journey is about weight loss, getting fitter, being ready for an event or just being more active.
- Not enough time in the day.Schedule time for yourself in your diary. Make this non negotiable. I often hear from parents that they don’t have time for themselves. Whilst this is correct, who is the one who decides what time gets given to what activities? YOU! If you get out of bed 1/2 hr earlier every day, it gives you an extra 3 1/2 hours a week. imagine what you could achieve with that. If you wish you had more sleep – go to bed earlier and switch off all devices. Going to bed each night at a reasonable time will give you the extra sleep you desire and your body will thank you for it.
- Not eating the right foods or making poor choices.Schedule time for meal preparation. I spend most Sunday afternoons cooking my vegetables for the week. I steam everything (I believe the healthier and tastier way to eat), place them in air tight containers and then put them in the fridge. Each night when it comes to dinner I just re heat and cook the meat I am having with it. Takes me about 40 mins to do a weeks worth. Before all the parents scream I can’t do this, I say how can you not afford to do this. It would add some much more time to your evening if this was done ahead of time.
- My kids take all my time up and I have no time for myself.This is always a contentious topic. Parents will argue that they don’t have time in their day to exercise, eat right and basically they focus just on their kids and forget about themselves! Big problem here is that your kids are taking the lead on how to look after themselves from how you yourself look after you! If they see you eating poorly and being sedentary, guess what? They will mirror this activity. I see this all the time. Your number one priority should be looking after yourself.Your children are like sponges when it comes to learning behaviours from their parents. Look after yourself and your kids will learn to do the same. If you’re busy running the kids around to different activities during the week, find a way to work in some exercise whilst they are busy. 1/2 hour a day can make a huge impact on your health plus you are showing your kids the importance of looking after themselves as well.
- Work is so busy I can’t leave my desk even for lunch. Sitting at your desk for hours on end is now consider as dangerous or if not more than smoking. With the advent of computers on every desk and our jobs circled around the digital age we have become even more sedentary in the last few years than ever before. Taking half an hour to go outside get some vitamin D from the sun, stretching your legs and blood pumping around your body is not going to be the end of the work when it comes to work. But your ever expanding waist line will if you become more sedentary.Just think about it in these terms, you drive or commute to work lets say its an hour at least. Then you’re spending up to 7-8 hours a day in the office and then the commute home – another hour. In just one day without counting sleep and watching tv of an evening, the amount of time sitting still is close to 10+ hours. Almost have your day! Scary! No wonder our society is getting more and more over weight. Take that half an hour get outside. Even better make an hour lunch break a priority. You will feel better for it, your health will be better and in the end your productivity for your boss will be too. They will thank you for it.
If you’re looking for more guidance on what you can do as far as making changes to improve your health and fitness, come along and join one of our group personal training programs, or if you would prefer the singular focus of one to one personal training or even if you are not local to where our studio is located sign up for one of our online personal training programs and watch the results start to happen for you.