As May looms and summer is on the horizon, I want to recommend that NOW is the time to hunker down to those habits & practices that may have gotten a little loose over recent weeks.
You know, by now, that January & February are full of plans, action & discipline. March is pure grunt, grit & determination……or falling off the bandwagon for some. April can bring complacency. And May begins to frighten us with how fast it arrived and how very close to summer and the middle of yet another year it is!
What? I’ve left another year pass; is the thought that might crop up for you regarding your health, fitness & weight goals.
My advice; today; is to take action TODAY; not tomorrow, not Monday morning, but TODAY.
STEP ONE
Get back into preparation mode.
Make a list TODAY of what foods you need in the house, what meals you will prepare every day for the next week……including lunch………what weight-loss goals you know you can achieve over the next six weeks. I promise, if you TAKE ACTION TODAY, by mid-June you will thank yourself. You will fit better into your clothes; you will feel more energised & fitter; you will feel motivated to continue your significant progress for another six weeks of summer.
Funnily enough, that will still only bring you to the end of July; with August the busiest holiday month of the year and you a lot lighter & brighter facing into it than you are now.
STEP TWO
Solidify your good habits.
Do you see how breaking your goals down to do-able size is effective……….that one bite of an elephant approach pays huge dividends here. Don’t get in your own way this year. Plough through the uninspiring days to find that the habits you make (and yes, sometimes you have to force yourself to soak your oats overnight!) become who you are & how you operate. Go back to your January habits and take no prisoners with regards complaint, woe-is-me, excuses. Weight-loss will not come to you. You need to chase after it; actively! Complaceny in our current life leads to weight-gain, not even weight-stability.
STEP THREE
Stop focusing on your weight.
I’m not kidding here. For a weight-loss coach to say, that may seem a bit contradictory I know, but the clients I have had the greatest success with, for the long-term, were those who ‘got-it’ that food is simply the means to fuel an active body. That’s the design of the thing! The body is designed for motion – we are kinetic beings – food is simply our fuel. When you finally understand this, in your core (pardon the pun), that exercise is the means of strengthening our body, especially vital at middle-age and that the more you exercise the more food you get to eat – you have arrived! This is the beaming light at the end of the weight-loss tunnel. You will not need to diet for life. When you become a fit & able body you will get the reward of being able to eat more & stabilise your weight.
STEP FOUR
Set your exercise goals TODAY.
How many steps have you been achieving consistently? Do you even know? What should you achieve? Do you know that? Attach a number & then aim to achieve it. This can be achieved in denim as much as in lycra; in a suit as well as in running shorts. Movement and activity; all-day-every-day, is vital for health, longevity & weight management.
If you have not begun an exercise regime, then there’s no time like the present. Walking is my number one recommendation; most can do it. If you are already exercising, then let’s see that become consistent again. How? By planning it…..TODAY….. in you schedule for the week; that includes today!
STEP FIVE
Measure your success.
No, not on the weighing scales necessarily; but against your plan for the week. Re-visit it a week from today. Have I achieved my step count? Did I have the meals I planned? Did I exercise? In other words; hold yourself accountable……to yourself……..be your own group support! Record, focus & then repeat in a week.
Before you know it…..it’s May….you are back on track……the summer is now something to look forward to more positively. The old-fashioned notion of getting bikini-body ready is open to interpretation here …you may wish to rock a bikini (why not) but it’s the bikini of the fit, well-nourished mind that wins out. If you feel great, you are going to inevitable look great, bikini or otherwise.
In six weeks, your reward will be that your habits are solid again and your weight is dropping. In twelve weeks, your reward will be the ability to relax into a well-earned holiday, without the fear of ballooning the weight back on again. As a fitter person, of solid habits, you will find yourself actively active and eating well on holidays, with little discipline or restriction involved.
The freedom to enjoy exceptions to your plan will be well-earned &yours by then!