Here are the main issues I’ve seen over 12 years of coaching clients who have fitness struggles on a weekly basis:
1. They aren’t organized with nutrition – ie they don’t plan or prepare any meals. Or they do some and then give up halfway through the week.
2. They don’t eat adequate food/calories, so cannot remain full throughout the day, leading to late-night snacking, bingeing, and other poor habits.
3. Poor food association. They associate highly palatable high-calorie foods such as chocolate as “bad” therefore demonizing them and themselves after eating it.
4. Having a f**k it moment, and not dealing with that correctly.
5. Food environment – having foods around them in the house or at work they simply cannot resist (see me with Haribo Strawbs Pencils and Jelly Beans).
6. No backup plans – when things go tits up, ie get stuck in traffic/at work/kids doing something annoying, they get caught out and the rest of the week goes tits up with food.
7. No weekend planning or consistency with food.
8. Always “reset” on Mondays instead of straight away when food choices slip.
9. Don’t make the effort to move enough so they can have more food allowance – more movement, more food!
10. Try to do everything perfectly. There is no such thing as perfect, yet many people try to be – which is completely pointless.
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There’s a few there, but some quite consistently seen habits that if they are sorted, life becomes easier. Nutrition shouldn’t be a chore, it should make you happy, healthy, stronger, fitter, and leaner. Figuring out a routine for 90% of the time that works for you is paramount to success.
We’re all different in lifestyles, but our bodies are almost all completely identical in how they work.
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In conclusion, the overall underlying fact in all of this is that learning to be consistent is essential. Figuring out how to work with the fitness struggles and allowing for these things to happen to us, but taking the steps in getting back to your newly created normality will make you successful in the long run.
