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When we struggle to stay the course, we often classify ourselves as “unmotivated” or “lazy”. In our time working with hundreds of active adults, we’ve come to learn a person’s success is largely based on one of three foundational elements.
If you’ve had a hard time staying consistent with your fitness routine and diet, it’s likely not your fault. But it is within your control.
Essentially, what it comes down to is this…
If you want to change your body, you have to change your life.
Becoming a lean, strong, and healthy individual means adopting a better lifestyle that supports your journey. Let’s discover how to adopt that lifestyle.
Successful Clients Tip #1 – Have clear goals, values, and priorities
During our free consultations with people, most of them know exactly what they want to accomplish:
“I want to lose weight.”
“I’d like to have more strength and energy.”
“I want to have better control over my eating habits.”
Realizing those goals comes at a cost. In order to look and feel better, we need to exercise more and eat better. And in order to do those things, we need to be willing to give something up.
We refer to this as “The Cost of Getting Lean”. Adding better fitness and nutrition practices into our lives means that it’s going to cost us time. For most of us, this means we will have to be willing to give something up from our current lifestyle.
If you’re not willing to say “no” to something in your current lifestyle and routine, it’s unlikely you’ll have the time and space to say “yes” to healthy fitness and nutritional practices you’ll need to be successful.
Successful Clients Tip #2 – Progress, not perfection
We have a saying here at Forge…
“Perfection is the enemy of progress.”
Time and again, one of the major obstacles we’ve seen people encounter along their fitness journey is feeling like they need to be “perfect”. While it’s admirable to want to put your best foot forward, being perfect – especially with fitness – is an illusion.
By trying to be perfect, you set yourself up for failure from the beginning. In reality, implementing sustainable fitness and nutrition habits is a trial-and-error experiment.
Our most successful clients were far from perfect. The top performers did 80% of what they intended on doing, and still exceeded their own expectations (some even lost 25lbs+ and have kept it off for several years).
Shifting your focus from being perfect to simply trying to be a little bit better each week is a recipe for building sustainable practices that fit within the context of your life.
Successful Clients Tip #3 – Have a supportive home, work, and social environment
Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of a successful fitness journey is the role our environment plays. Our environment is everything that surrounds us – the people, food, schedules, layout, etc.
If for instance:
We don’t have the emotional support of our family and friends…
Our home lacks the cooking essentials for preparing consistent meals…
There’s no ability for us to take 30 minutes out of our work day…
…then it’s unlikely we’ll be able to sustain the habits we’re looking to put in place, regardless of how much “willpower” or “discipline” we have.
What to Do Next
Before you decide to embark on another attempt at your fitness journey, make sure you have a solid foundations in place.
Here’s how:
1. Know what you’re willing to give up
You don’t have to give up everything you love to be successful, but you do have to give up some things. To see a very simple outline of what you’ll need to do to reach your goals, download this infographic – The Cost of Getting Lean
2. Focus on making progress
Success compounds over time. Instead of looking for the 100% improvement in a few weeks, focus on getting 1% better every day. Doing so will alleviate a lot of limiting thoughts and emotions that tend to accompany (and sabotage) a person’s fitness journey.
3. Build a more supportive environment
Have a honest conversation with your loved ones, friends, and co-workers on how they can best support you throughout this process. And, if needed, enlist in the help of a professional to keep you on track.
Want help becoming the leanest, strongest, and healthiest version of you?
Most people know that exercise, eating well, sleep, and stress management are all important in looking and feeling their best.
Yet most struggle with applying this information in the context of their busy, sometimes stressful lives.
That’s why we work closely with our clients to help them reduce body fat, gain strength, and build lean muscle so they can improve their health…regardless of what they have going on around them.
For an in depth look of what this approach looks like, schedule a consultation by booking an appointment below.