Shifting your mindset to get you in the best shape of your life
The mindset most people adopt when undertaking a fitness journey whether that be a weight loss transformation , putting on some muscle or getting fit enough for their first marathon tends to be that of viewing it as a set of task that will get them to an end result, whilst this is inherently true it may not be the best way of view things for getting the results you want and keeping them for the rest of your life. Through this article i'll detail the process of shifting your mindset to set you up to make the changes that you want and keeping them after reaching the end goal.
The start in the shift in mindset comes from starting to view your goal as becoming the person you want to become instead of a result that you want to achieve. The later has an implied end point which health outcomes shouldnt , and also leaves you starting your journey looking at the peak of the mountain instead of taking it step by step.
The first step is to take stock of your current habits especially in regard to nutrition and exercise.
What does a week worth of training look like for you ?
-
How many times are you going to gym ?
What is the quality of work like when you are in the gym ?
Are you pushing yourself week to week to improve ?
What does a week of eating look like for you ?
-
Are the meals you are eating in adherence with the goals that you want to achieve ?
Are you over indulging more than once week ?
How many times a week are you drinking and whats the knock on effect on your nutrition that night and the following days?
Whats your activity like throughout the week ?
-
Whats your weekly step average ?
Do you do any sport or other physical activity?
From there i would like you to imagine what the aforementioned behaviours and habits would look like for you in the kind of shape that you want to be in. For context if you are currently pretty sedentary i.e under 10k steps per day , averaging 2 or less gym sessions per week and eat ok during the week. The place you would need to get to to get in the best shape you have been in in years is 2-3 gym sessions per week , 10,000 step average per week , and 1-2 meals off per week.
The well intentioned and keen for success reader will now desire to immediately jump to the habits and behaviours set above. Whilst this is as I said well intentioned it is rarely sustainable for long enough to elicit the result that you want.
Start with biting off what you can chew , what is the smallest possible change you can make to your current routine in the direction that you want to go in. It may be so small that initially it feels trivial , take that step and hold that habit for a week or two then step by step taper your self up closer and closer to the standard set above.
As you work through this process , as a by product you will start to see the results you were looking for and you will be able to maintain them because you have slowly integrated these things into your day to day life. Not only that but once you reach your end goal you will now have found yourself in a position where these once insurmountable results are relatively easy to maintain.
