In the autumn-winter period, many people tend to gain a few extra kilograms. It’s understandable: during the cold season, there’s a desire for more comfort food and less physical activity. Plus, the goal of “losing weight by summer” seems so distant.
To eat right and continue exercising, it’s important to set a goal, instill healthy habits, and not lose motivation. This article will guide you on how to achieve that.
Where do your habits come from?
A habit is something you do every day without thinking, following a programmed script within you. How is this program created? Let’s break it down.
If we delve into the habit, we’ll find three main components: knowledge, skills, and desire (or need).
Your habits are influenced by the knowledge you accumulate throughout your life from various sources: learned in childhood, read in a book, saw someone’s example, or heeded advice.
Skills also play a role. If baking vegetables comes easy to you, you know recipes for tasty salads and stews, they are likely part of your diet. And whipping up a conditional “healthy” pastry won’t be a challenge either. However, if you don’t have the skill or inclination to cook them, where would that skill come from? When there’s no time to cook, food habits change: it’s easier to buy ready-made food, snack on a chocolate bar on the go – eating on the move becomes the norm. The third reason for the formation of a habit is your desire or need.
Let’s not put off addressing habits and start working on them right now.
Exercise "My New Habit"
Write down the habit you want to adopt. You can write several, but remember that introducing more than three at once won’t be effective. We are generally wired to focus on one thing.
If your thoughts are occupied simultaneously solving work, health, home, family, or study-related tasks, approach the introduction of a new habit carefully. It’s more effective to implement changes one after another because sometimes it takes a year or more to form just one new pattern.
Write how often you want to apply this habit. For example, every day, once a week, monthly, or yearly. What will trigger its launch? What emotion, new knowledge, or which person gave you the desire to change? What routine should accompany it? Help yourself: imagine what will motivate you not to abandon the implementation process and think about creating comfortable conditions for yourself. How much time will the new habit take (30 minutes a day, two hours a week)?
Don’t forget to allocate time in your schedule. Track your results: notice, or better yet, record how your well-being changes and what emotions the new experience evokes.
Goal Setting.
Goal setting is an excellent tool for working with motivation. It’s important to set realistic and achievable goals without tying them to a specific weight or a certain appearance. The more unattainable your goals and expectations are, the less chance you have of achieving what you desire, which can adversely affect your overall progress.
A goal you can strive for and achieve in the shortest possible time might sound like: “no sweet soda today, only water” or “this week, I’ll go to bed an hour earlier.” Such small victories are incredibly invigorating, and over time, within a month or a year, they can change many things in your life.
Goals become more specific and tangible when you write them down or speak them out loud: in notes, voice messages, or sticky notes around the house. Revisit or listen to them from time to time to remind yourself what you’re striving for.
How to Stay Motivated
Journal
Set aside a few minutes at the end of the day to document how it went for you. What did you achieve, and what steps did you take to accomplish it? Why did the day not go as planned, and how did you cope with it? How do you feel? Are you proud that you dedicated another day to working on your own transformation?
If you don’t enjoy writing, try recording videos or audio. Documenting your progress daily serves as evidence that you can revisit in case of setbacks or stress. By acknowledging your achievements and capturing your feelings, you change your attitude towards workouts and a new diet.
Managing Motivation
Photos are a powerful motivation tool because, unlike mirrors, they don’t lie. Take photos from the side and front before starting your workouts and after 30 days. Optionally, take a few photos during the process. However, it’s best to keep the scales out of sight.
Record a short video at the beginning to remember why this transformation is essential for you and the significance your achievements will hold. If you feel close to giving up, play this recording and remember that you are the guru who inspires you.
Like-minded Companions
Facing challenges is easier in good company. It’s easier to train, celebrate achievements, overcome difficulties, and endure bad days when someone is there for whom it’s just as important as it is for you.
Seek support from a family member or friend, join an online support group, or find a fitness center near you. If training together in person isn’t possible, create a chat for like-minded individuals on WhatsApp and organize group video workouts. There’s no need to go through it alone. Joint efforts toward change are excellent!
Planning Guru
A crucial success factor is the daily routine. Many prefer to work out in the morning, knowing that an important task is already done, and the whole day lies ahead. Starting the day with a workout is an excellent way to genuinely change your lifestyle.
Try setting the alarm a bit earlier before bedtime (and place the device away from the bed to force you to get up to turn it off) and prepare your sportswear. You’ll feel more energetic in the first few days, making it easier to cope with early mornings. However, you can choose to work out at a time that suits you.
Determine the days and hours that are most convenient for your fitness sessions. This will help establish a meal plan on workout days and rest days.
On Sundays, plan your menu for the week, go shopping with a prepared list, allocate time for food preparation, and cook in advance when you have time. Planning, preparing, and cooking ahead will reduce the chances of deviating from the plan during the week.
Turning Setbacks into Progress
There are days when all you want to do is bury your head under the covers and not get up. Such days are inevitable. Feeling a setback approaching, reread or listen to your list of goals. Think about the person you want to become. Recall why you embarked on this journey and what motivated you. Has anything changed now? Most likely, not.
Everyone has bad days. But it’s essential to call things by their names: an unsuccessful day is just that—a day that didn’t go well.
It’s time to get out of bed and go for a walk or do a workout. Get a dose of endorphins, and your mood will lift immediately, making the upcoming day seem not so challenging. Focus on just one day, don’t worry about the future. Go to bed earlier if you can. The next morning, congratulate yourself on deciding to make changes and moving towards your goal.
Long-Term Changes
If you revert to old habits, everything you’ve achieved gradually fades away. This is why diets often fail. You grit your teeth, endure hunger for a month, and rejoice—freedom at last! Previous habits return because you are infinitely happy to stop enduring deprivation, as was the case during restrictions. A couple of months later, you find yourself back where you started.
Changes must be constant, so setting goals and adopting the right mindset are crucial. Focus on what you can achieve, and remind yourself of what you aspire to. Following this sequence of actions makes your path easier—you establish a routine that leads to the emergence of healthy habits. Once workouts and balanced nutrition become habits, you achieve the desired lifestyle changes.
