One of the most common mistakes I see women make with their health and fitness is trying to take on too much at one time, especially when they overindulge and they notice their clothes are getting a little tight.
It’s tempting to want to go in the complete opposite direction with our food intake and exercise, to hit the treadmill for an extra 30-60 minutes every single day and vow to eat nothing but grilled chicken and boring salads for the rest of the year.
We often make the mistake of thinking change has to happen overnight with a major overhaul. We think we must be perfect all the time or it doesn’t count and we have to start all over.
This all-or-nothing mindset just leaves us struggling. It adds to our frustration. It makes us think that we’ll never be successful, so why even try?
I’ve seen this over and over and I’ve even given into it a time or two myself. Rarely does a complete lifestyle overhaul last very long, and it usually leads to overindulging on the very foods we eliminated accompanied by a major drop off in exercise when life gets chaotic.
The answer isn’t found in another insane workout program or strict diet plan. We’ve already proved that that doesn’t work for 99.99% of us long term.
What does work is the implementation of small habits done consistently over a significant period of time.
Booooorrrrring, right? That’s so not sexy or complicated or revolutionary.
I get it, I really do. I’m in the I-want-all-the-results-yesterday club. Patience is a virtue that I don’t possess in great quantities, and trusting the process is hard. Waiting for results is hard. Feeling like you’re doing everything right and not seeing progress is hard.
But you know what else is hard?
Killing ourselves in the gym and following a restrictive meal plan only to gain back the weight and then some a few weeks or months later.
So let’s stop this vicious cycle. Let’s try a new way. Or in this case, an old way that we just don’t want to admit works. Because small habits can equal big results.
What are some examples of habits to take on?
1. Swap out one soda with a glass of water per day.
2. Add a 10 minute walk every day.
3. Add an extra cup-sized serving of veggies to one meal per day.
4. Do 3 sets of bodyweight squats or push-ups before bed or after waking up.
5. Join a fitness or social group via meetup.com, running club, trivia night at a local bar, etc.
6. Do a few yoga poses or some stretching before bed (I like these books for ideas >>> Yoga Bible and Big Book of Yoga).
7. Eat just enough food to satisfy hunger without feeling “stuffed” (80% fullness).
8. Go to bed 15-30 minutes earlier.
9. Eat a palm-sized serving of protein at each meal.
10. Write in a journal 3 things that you’re grateful for each day (I’m really digging the 5 Minute Journal)
The snowball approach of behavior change is to take on one simple habit at a time for one to two weeks and not worry about anything else. This concentrated focus allows for the most mental bandwidth to be spent on doing one thing consistently and nailing it (rather than working on several things and not doing any of it well enough to see results). After the habit feels easy to accomplish every day, add another.
You may just find yourself improving other areas of your life as a domino effect of tackling just one small key habit. And it will feel much easier to maintain over the long haul, even when life gets a bit chaotic. No willpower needed, it’s just something you do, like brushing your teeth.