As a fitness and wellness coach, my goal is to improve our members’ ability to run, play, eat, sleep and live their life to the fullest. Even those times when progress is hard to see, it doesn’t mean that it’s not there, and we always find something to be proud about!
That being said, there are a few things that often get in the way of my clients (and sometimes myself) reaching their goals. So I ask that you consider getting rid of these 5 things:
- Stop making unrealistic goals.
I know we all want to reach our fitness goals, but setting the bar too high does nothing but disappoint and discourage. Healthy weight loss/gain goals are only about 1-2lbs per week, according to the Center for Disease control and Prevention. Our personal trainers like to go with 1-2% of your total body weight, if you want a faster track to losing or gaining. If you have access to a body fat scale, be sure to monitor body fat above all else. As long as it is going down, you can rest assured knowing you’re getting results.
2. Stop jumping to the next health craze
Personally, I am not a fan of many fitness crazes. But, if you are looking for some dietary restrictions, stick to them. It can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 90 days to know if the nutritional path you’re on will work or not. Jumping ship too soon won’t give your body enough time to adjust, and you may never know if the path you are on really works. 90 days is a long time to wait and then to find out the nutritional plan didn’t work. Do some solid research before you commit. Or, see a Dietician for help! They take the guessing games away. If your looking for a great Dietician, send us a note and we can refer to some great Dieticians!
3. Stop Thinking you can out-exercise your diet
Planning to burn even 1000 calories a day to lose weight, still won’t yield weight loss results if you are over-eating by 1200 calories of your respective goal. The scale may even continue to go up! (and try to stay there!!!)
All that time and energy without seeing “the scale move” can be really depressing. That’s why it’s important to make sure your food intake and your exercise plan match your goal. For a fast and easy tool to tracking your macros, try myfitnesspal.com. For Level Up Members, you can even sync your myfitnesspal account to your Trainerize account and have all of your stats in one place! Not sure if your exercise regimen matches your goals? Click here to schedule a Consultation.
4. Stop thinking you can lose weight without exercise
You can eat a bare minimum of 1200 calories per day, and still not see any progress towards your goal. If you are not building muscles and burning calories, then your metabolism could still be moving at a slow rate. Based on your activity level, you may even be under-eating, slowing your metabolism even more! If you are not burning a sufficient amount of calories on a daily basis, thne your metabolism may still be sleeping. Regardless of whether you are looking to loseweight, gain weight, or just build muscle, it is important to make sure your food intake and your exercise plan are fully optimized to support your goals.
5. Stop body-shaming yourself and others
Speaking poorly of your body does nothing good for you. Sometimes we often think motivates us, but really it just tells us that we shouldn’t love who we are today. Appreciate all of the hurdles that you choose to jump over with each day to get to a better YOU. The YOU that you are today is worthy of all things love. Try paying yourself a compliment! What did you achieve towards your goal this week? Think of something you can work on to help you get closer to your goal next week and get excited about it!.