3 things I want you to remember about fitness

I get asked a lot of questions each week from clients, people looking to become clients and those who follow or interact with me on my social media channels. The questions tend to focus on areas such as motivation, nutrition and my tips or secrets for weight loss and overall fitness.

To help you, here’s 3 things I want you to remember:

1) Motivation. “How can I stay motivated every day and stay on track with my plan to lose weight?” My answer – you can’t. It’s not realistic to think you will always be motivated. You won’t. Accept that you won’t always feel like training. You won’t always want to eat healthily. You won’t always feel like sticking to the plan. It’s normal. It’s part of the journey. Accept that you won’t always feel like doing it. The point is to do it anyway.

I coach my clients on the importance of self-discipline. And let me be clear – discipline DOES NOT equal restriction. These are two very different things. When I talk about discipline, I talk about giving yourself a little extra push here and there, especially when you don’t feel like doing something. For example, setting an alarm to wake up early to exercise, versus hoping that you will magically feel motivated when you wake up the next day. Discipline means holding yourself accountable and not making excuses. For example, if you’re on a weight loss journey, it means stopping half way into consuming a family-size bar of chocolate and eating just half, knowing that eating the entire thing may hinder your progress. Discipline is the bridge between your goals and achieving them. So, remember that you will not always be motivated. It’s normal. The point is to do it anyway. 

2) Nutrition. I get asked a lot of nutrition questions on a daily basis. Some questions frustrate the hell out of me to be honest. “Do carbs make you fat?” “If I cut out carbs, will I lose the weight?” “Will protein make me bulky?” “Is keto or intermittent fasting the key to weight loss?” The answer to all of these questions is NO. I find people are often looking for shortcuts to lose weight. There is no shortcut that will work in the long run. You may be successful in losing weight quickly on a fad diet, but you are not likely to sustain it. Why? Because the healthy habits, the lifestyle choices you make and your daily habits won’t be there to maintain it.

The media has also helped to cultivate this unrealistic reality of how to get fit and lose weight. As a professional Marketer, I understand exactly how and why the media and social media platforms post language such as ‘quick and easy ways to lose weight…’ or ’30-day weight loss’… ‘6 week body transformation.’ It’s all click-bait. To engage you and drive up readership numbers and engagement statistics. Unfortunately, it’s created a false narrative around fitness and health and people start to feed into it (no pun intended!)

If you want to know my opinions and recommendations on these types of nutrition questions, take a look through my previous blogs on my website. I break it all down so you don’t have to. Stop looking for shortcuts. Do the work. Follow a plan and build healthy habits you can stick to on a daily basis. Remember, it’s about building a long-term lifestyle of sustained good health, not a short quick-fix solution that will serve you now, but not later.

3) Secret to weight loss. I hate to break it to you, but there isn’t one! There is no secret ingredient that’s going to help you lose weight. There is no secret exercise to give you abs. There is no secret to weight loss. It’s all about doing the work. And doing it consistently. One session here and there isn’t going to do it. You’ve got to be consistent and do the work often.

Going back to the motivation point earlier, it’s about creating small habits daily and sticking to them. Eat healthily when you can. Opt for healthy alternatives when you can. Don’t feel bad if you slip up and fall off your weight loss plan. Just get back on it the next day. Try to exercise more. Move your body more frequently in the day. Walk more. Try and get more sleep each night. Drink more water. Lift more weights. Do these things consistently over time, and then you’ll see results. I’ve been in the fitness industry for a long time. Trust me, if there was a secret way to lose weight, or build muscle or burn fat, I’d be selling it to you and making a fortune! Remember, there is no secret to weight loss. You have to put in work. Don’t take shortcuts. Do the work. And do it consistently.

I coach people on how to live stronger, happier and healthier lives. I give my clients all the knowledge they need to make smarter choices. I help people to understand that there are no shortcuts that will be long lasting. I teach my clients about the benefits of regular exercise and movement on a daily basis. I show them how to be stronger. I guide them through the mass media myths and coach them on how to build positive daily habits to live a long, happy and healthy life.

If I can help you too, feel free to get in touch. I’d love to help.