It is extremely easy to decide that we want to improve our health and
lose weight, about as easy as deciding that we want to win the lotto.
However, how often do we make this decision and then look back months later and
realise that we have made no change at all?
Once we have set a goal of losing weight & changing our health for good,
the challenge of completely revolutionising our diet and exercise plans can be
extremely daunting, therefore we often decide that not changing is the easiest
solution.
Once we have some rhythm and momentum behind us it is easy to keep the ball
rolling, yet the fight against inertia is a constant struggle and making those
first steps of change are often the most difficult.
So, what can we do to tip us over the edge from thinking about changing to
making actual steps in the right direction?
One thing that I like to do is to use a weekly challenge.
These challenges do not have to be anything as extreme as ‘this week I will
completely change every aspect of my life’.
Start with small and basic changes which can become a part of your daily life,
such as:
? Eat breakfast every day
this week
? Try one new vegetable this
week
? Make my own lunches rather
than buying pre-packaged
When you breakdown your larger goal of weight loss into small, incremental
changes like these, it is suddenly a lot less intimidating to make those first
steps.
You might also notice that all of the above challenges are ‘positive’, in that
they add things to the diet rather than take anything away.
Quite simply, I find these challenges easier to achieve.
Setting a goal like… ‘I will not any sweet food this week’ or ‘I will eat
less than 1,800 kcal every day’ requires motivation and willpower to be
consistent through the week and as soon as you slip, the challenge is out of
the window and you fall back into old habits.
Motivation for trying a new vegetable though only has to last whilst you are
doing your weekly shop, and if you lose the motivation and don’t do it today,
you can just do this tomorrow instead and still get a sense of achievement.
A final tip for setting these small goals and sticking to them is to write them
down.
They do not need to be displayed in a fancy manner as part of your shrine to
nutrition, a simple scribble on a scrap of paper will do.
Writing down your challenge makes it physical, a real thing in the world which
you can see and touch.
This takes away some of the excuses of ‘I wasn’t that bothered anyway’, as if
you have taken time to write it down and put this into the world then you
obviously care enough about achieving it.
The sense of accomplishment is also much greater when you get to draw a huge
line through your goals which you have achieved.
Use this great method of the Accountability Mirror by David Goggins,
therefore every morning and evening you reminded of what priorities were
when you wanted to change.
So, if you decided 6 months ago that you wanted to change and jumped on the
scales this morning to find that everything is completely as it was (if not
worse), then giving yourself a small challenge for the week could be the thing
which revives your motivation and momentum.
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