The Secrets To Fitness Success In The New Year
Let's get real for a second. Let's talk about the C and A word: Commitment and Accountability – and how that relates to your fitness goals.
Acknowledge yourself as being committed to your health and fitness whenever you take ANY small step forward. Some days, your small step forward might be journaling or telling a friend how the day was a struggle. Accountability in the form of taking fitness classes, having a personal trainer, or fitness tracker are some ways you can stay on track.
People rarely fail because a lack of willpower. More often, what we see is a failure of focus... or, not knowing what step to take next to keep your momentum going. The truth is, some weeks you'll have room to make health and fitness more of a priority, and other weeks, it will be less of a priority. That's totally normal and expected. That’s just how successful habit change works in real life. I’ve seen it countless times in clients who ultimately ended up being successful in reaching their goals.
So, an important thing to do is to keep adjusting your effort based on what's happening in life, on a week by week basis, so you can keep moving forward. We suggest you use a “system of lights” to gain some perspective on the level of stress in your life:
“RED” means, “There is something in my life that demands immediate attention outside of my health and fitness.” This can include: deaths, divorce, injuries, newborns, March and April for accountants. During these times, even doing the absolute bare minimum to avoid gaining weight is a huge win.
“Yellow” means, “I’m coping, but health and fitness are not going to be my top priority.” This can include: stressful jobs, relationship trouble, high school kids picking colleges. **Most of us are in yellow most of the the time**. Progress is possible but it’s going to be slow.
“Green” means, “I’m good to go and I can make training a high priority for a while.” Green-light situations are rare, but they are when we can expect the fastest fat loss.
Dan John is the man who created this light system. You can find more information about him here
http://danjohn.net/
Which light are you in? What does that mean for how you'll do the habit over the coming weeks?
If you are looking for a coach to keep you accountable and committed, I’m here for you. If you still have more questions, I’m in the Mission Valley area of San Diego, give me a call or email me! I'm a personal trainer, and I'd love to answer any question you have about fitness and dieting.