Sustainable Change

I’ve found over the years that most people freak out when they think of everything they need to change or give up in order to reach their goals. It’s not as hard or as scary as you might think….

What I educate my clients on is a lifestyle, as the motto says – It’s not just a fitness program, it’s a lifestyle. For some people, cutting everything at once and sticking with a lifestyle choice works, others may need to go one step at a time.

Take tea or coffee for example, do you have a couple of sugars in it? Instead of dropping sugar all together, try cutting out one serve of sugar so you can give your body time to adjust to the new taste. Same goes for alcohol: If you’re having a couple wines or beers each night then just cut one out for a while and see how you feel. And the big one, chocolate. By now you know what I’m going to say so starting tonight whatever your ‘guilty pleasure’ is, cut the serving in half.

While what I outlined above is a slower approach, if you prefer to just cut out the foods you know you shouldn’t eat and create a new lifestyle for yourself now, then by all means go ahead. I’ve seen it work in both instances, it comes down to you and why you want to achieve your goal.

If you find you can’t live without that certain food/drink after cutting out a portion of it, instead of running straight back to it, ask yourself, ‘Why do I need this?’ or better yet, something I have my clients ask themselves every day, ‘Is this bringing me closer to my health and fitness goals or pushing me away?’ Once you have the answer for this then the choice becomes simple.

If there’s a reason behind why you’re doing what you’re doing, try and work it out so you can replace the habit with something more constructive, like exercise, reading a book (my new favourite activity thanks to my kindle), or spending time with friends.

This week’s task:

Write out everything you eat and drink for four days, two days during the week and over the weekend (yes, the weekend are still counted and are by no means ‘days off’). Once you have a list go through and ask yourself ‘Is this bringing me closer to my health and fitness goals or pushing me away?’ From there make changes where necessary.

If you would like me to take a look at your list once you have done it feel free to email me: andrew@a2zpt.com.au and I’d be happy to help.

To a happy and healthy lifestyle

Andrew