It’s always interesting to hear why clients embark on a health and fitness journey, maybe for the first time or more commonly they are making yet another attempt at improving their lifestyle.
This week I wanted to highlight some of the common mistakes people make when setting goals and how these can be turned around to enable you to ensure long-term results.
OUTCOME VERSUS BEHAVIOUR
Outcome goals are where most of us start. It gives us a reason for embarking on a path to change, but it is a wish list in reality. Changing your behaviour is what will get you the results.
We actually have little control over the final outcome, but we have total control over our behaviour. A good example of this is in the case of injuries: I’ve had many clients over the years who have booked Pilates lessons with me to help relieve back pain.
This is a good, positive step, but as soon as the pain is alleviated, they stop and go right back to the kind of lifestyle that caused the problem in the first place.
Permanently changing their behaviour would have brought about a permanent outcome. How often have you seen this with diets? People drop a vast amount of weight only to put it back on again when they “finish” that diet.
Permanently changing their eating habits would result in permanent weight loss.
Outcome goals aren’t always realistic or sustainable either: losing that amount of weight, maintaining that amount of exercise or trying to achieve goals in too short a time period are good examples of this.
Yes, outcome is the reason and inspiration behind the decision to change, but changing your behaviour is what will get results.
POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE
Always focus on the positive things you can do to get what you want rather than the negative things you shouldn’t be doing. As soon as you identify the bad habits that you will have to give up, it all starts to look like a chore, a struggle, a battle you will have to fight.
It is psychologically counterproductive and sets you up for failure. Identify positive actions you can take to get results and you will find that quite often the bad habits start to disappear.
For example, if you take the time to plan a really appealing menu for the week and ensure that you eat your three meals a day with plenty of water, you are far less likely to eat unhealthy snacks so you needn’t even have to think about giving them up: it is something that will almost certainly take care of itself.
Instead of dreading getting up earlier in the morning to exercise, take some time to find something what makes you feel really good and concentrate on the benefits.
ENJOY THE JOURNEY
This will have so many benefits. A good example here is following a healthy eating routine, preparing healthy options, challenging yourself to eat something different every day for a month and also learning the correct exercise techniques.