Progression not Perfection!

I came across this article by Rowena Cherry that I think sums up how many people feel about their exercise and training when they first start out and supports my views on being realistic with your goals. I also think Rowena explains the use of the 80/20 rule very well. Enjoy the read... :o)

Getting Started: Perhaps you are successful with your healthy eating and exercise program but this time of year is a challenge for you? Or perhaps you’ve not quite got there yet making the changes you need to achieve your goals. Either way, you need a strategy that will work; something that enables and supports you in making your dream happen.

Can your expectations actually affect your performance? Absolutely. You really have to believe you CAN do something, before you can make it happen!

Goal Setting: Setting realistic and short-term goals is important. Knowing that health and fitness is about progression, not perfection is another. Most of us are not magicians and cannot change the patterns of a lifetime over night. It’s just too much all at once and is just too hard to maintain. It sets you up for failure not for success.

Sometimes the requirements of eating healthily (the selection, the planning, the shopping, the preparing, the pre-packaging etc) can seem overwhelming and deep down you might think you just can’t do it. Or perhaps your 50lb+ weight loss goal just seems such a huge task. Success strategies here would include taking a larger weight loss goal and breaking it down into smaller chunks – a 10 lbs weight loss at a time for example or changing just one thing about your eating habits per week to make the changes more gradual and more manageable.

Over time you will get to where you want to be and you’ll also enjoy the process of getting there and feel good about yourself while you are doing it. Think of your health and fitness as a continuous journey – a pleasurable one that you will be on for life.

It can also be useful to think of this journey as traveling along a pathway that meanders. In other words you don’t always go in a straight line to get towards your final destination – there may be detours on the way. And that’s normal and that’s OK as long as you are still moving forwards.

The 80/20 rule! So often clients start off highly motivated and wanting to go all out to achieve their goals; they want to go for 100%. That’s great – except we are looking for a long- term strategy that is going to work. Most of us (and our lives) are not perfect – so hitting 100%, 100% of the time can be very stressful and may not even be achievable. Things happen that ‘eat’ into your healthy eating and exercise time. Work intervenes and you have to travel, your kids get sick, a friend needs your help…….all of a sudden you haven’t prepared your healthy snacks and you’ve missed 3 of your workouts and feel like you are slipping, your motivation takes a dive and its hard to scramble back.

So you need a strategy that is flexible and realistic -one that is do-able and keeps you feeling good about yourself and your achievements. One that keeps you motivated. I encourage my clients to be 100% committed to an 80/20 rule. That is, we agree the goals and they aim to achieve them 100%. If they achieve 100% then that’s wonderful but they can still be proud of themselves and know that they are still moving along their fitness journey pathway in the right direction if they are achieving a minimum of 80%. That leaves a little flexibility for things that happen in life - the birthday party you want to attend, the work lunch that is catered. Of course, that DOES NOT mean you go crazy the other 20% of the time either!!! And you can still make educated and healthy decisions and choices at the party and at the catered work lunch. The goal is to keep you moving in the right direction towards your goal and to keep you positive about your achievements. That way you stay motivated and the results continue to happen. You have to be honest with yourself about keeping on track.

Keeping it up: Let’s consider MINDFULNESS (literally ‘paying attention’) for a moment ……..what other strategies can you use to help you out? If doubt exists in your mind about one of your goals – try putting up a mental ‘STOP’ sign in your mind’s eye. Literally, visualize the big red traffic stop signs that you see every day on your route and make this a signal to yourself that you have to STOP and re-group your thoughts and your actions.

Over time you will learn to replace those doubtful or negative thoughts with positive ones. Mental imagery IS a learned skill so you need to practice it before it becomes more automatic. Once it becomes automatic and you set realistic and reachable goals you absolutely WILL achieve them.

Also think about your PERFORMANCE i.e. what you are actually doing, while you are working out, while you are eating healthily etc, rather than the outcome itself. In other words be PROCESS oriented and focus on the specifics of what needs to be done to get to your goal. Enjoy your time training because you are enjoying moving your body or for the number of calories you are burning, or for the great feeling you have when you’ve “Just done it”!! rather than focusing on the 50lbs you still have to lose. If you are worried about not succeeding, then you’ll surely fail, so you need to re-frame your self-talk and make sure it is positive. If you think you can, YOU CAN, if you think you can’t, then YOUR’RE RIGHT!

Focus on what you ARE doing and imagine yourself how you want to be (stronger, leaner, more energetic, able to get into your jeans comfortably etc)

Remind yourself until you accept it, that health and fitness is an on going journey, the path is not a straight one, its all about progression – not perfection; exercise and food is about quality not quantity; more is not always more and that moderation in terms of healthy eating and exercise habits may in fact get you there faster :o)