How to protect yourself from making excuses and get the body you want

Let’s imagine a typical New Year scenario: You’ve made the decision to lose weight and get into phenomenal shape. You believe that your health is important to you and that your quality of life can be improved through diet and exercise. You feel that this year it will be different: the changes will stick and you’ll become the best version of yourself. You can see it and you can feel it!

Does this sound familiar? We all start out with great intentions and high expectations, and usually, the first week goes well: you make the time to exercise, eat all your vegetables and proteins, and avoid sugar, packaged snacks, alcohol, and sugary drinks. And trust me, after week 1, you’ll step on the scale and find that the number has gone down! You’re making progress towards your goal and that feels good.

But what often happens is life gets in the way. Maybe you catch a cold or have to travel for work. Summer is the season to be partying and you get a few tempting invitations for after-work drinks. A slice of cake and a few cocktails later, and the discipline you started out so strong with seems to be gone.

What’s happened to my discipline?

Your diminishing discipline is based on science. A few bad food choices and your insulin levels are likely to soar, causing your energy levels to dip. Because of this, you’re less likely to exercise the next day and more likely to eat badly again. And so the cycle continues.

How do I stick to my health goals?

Here are a few tried-and-tested tips to stick to your goals:

1. It takes at least 4 weeks to start a habit. And habits stick. If you can keep your exercise routine and healthy eating going for 4 weeks, you’re more likely to stick to it for the rest of the year.

2. Create incentives that aren’t food. Whether it’s an item of clothing you really wanted to buy or a spa treatment you wanted to indulge in, give yourself a non-food reward to work towards.

3. Get your friends and family involved embrace Loss Aversion. Take this an example – You do not like losing money right? Tell them what your goals are and how you’re planning to achieve them. Give them R1000 to hold onto, if you’re accountable to them to reach your goals, and you feel supported, you’re more likely to get there. If you do not reach your goal R1000 is there to KEEP! So stay focused or you end up losing R1000. You can use many other incentives other than money – so be creative and make it meaningful so that you can’t afford to lose it!