Health & Fitness – Turning Over a New Leaf

Fall Back into Healthy Habits

We’re now well into Autumn and those resolutions you made in January now seem like a distant memory. But don’t despair, you’re not alone with a measly 9.2% of people achieving their New Year’s Resolutions (according to entrepeneur.com last year).

With Summer behind us and the cooler weather now here, this season is the perfect time to get back on track with those health and fitness promises you made to yourself a little while back. Sure, the end of daylight savings may make it a bit darker in the mornings but most of us are still waking up when we were so there’s an extra hour for activity!

You’ve probably heard it all before but to see a change you need to be consistent with your fitness and nutrition. To create good habits, often out of bad ones, you need to be structured in your routine.

Breaking bad habits

Firstly, you need to identify a bad habit and then try and change it. An example of a bad habit would be sitting down in front of the television and eating calorie dense chips. To change this, I suggest swapping chips for a healthier lighter snack, so you still get the TV time, but your weight loss efforts are not being jeopardized by doing so.

My challenge to Coastbeat readers is to identify some of your bad habits. Once you’ve done this, focus on changing just one or two to start.

Creating new habits

Good habits have a positive impact on your life and, once established, can often be as hard to break as bad ones. Creating new habits requires patience. Don’t expect it to happen over a few weeks. An example of a good habit would be to take a glass of water to bed to drink when you first wake up. On average it takes someone doing something 66 times before it becomes a subconscious habit, so be patient.

Personal trainer Jen McCulloch with a client

Don’t change too much at once

This is a common mistake and the reason most people fail. You start going to the gym five times a week, change your diet to food you’ve never eaten before and don’t enjoy, and you may even stop going out for meals or drinks with friends for fear of getting off track.

Then, you get to week three and binge on wine, ice cream and pizza because you’re still not looking like a supermodel! I’ve observed that most people find it easier to work on good habit changes when not implemented all at once. Remember, one thing at a time.

Keeping it simple

The fundamentals of fitness and nutrition have hardly changed over the past four decades. We seem to be looking for complexity in places where it’s not required. It’s easy to overcomplicate things and then feel unmotivated or disheartened when you don’t see results.

Keeping on

Don’t be unrealistic about your goals and if you’re unsure about what is achievable, seek advice from someone experienced. Also, don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone is on their own journey.

Focus on your progress

Stop concentrating on an end goal and instead focus on the here and now. Ask yourself – are you in a better place than you were three months ago? If the answer is yes, then know that your changes are having a positive impact on your life. Keep doing what you’re doing!

Want to know more or need a helping hand? For a free personal training and health consultation to see how you can implement some good healthy habits into your life, you’ll find me at Coffs Coast Health Club, Moonee Market. Alternatively, contact me on Ph) 0431 141 701 or E)[email protected]