How to keep your results long after the challenge is over!

How many times have you gotten great results in a 6-week challenge, only to see them slip away after the challenge is over and you’re back to handling everything on your own?

I get it! I’ve been there! The extra accountability that comes from a challenge or while working with a coach is absolutely fantastic to see quick progress! But so often, women find it hard to keep their results after they’ve finished their program.

But why? I find that things like challenges are like training wheels on a bike - it’s good to have the “bumper pads” but they don’t actually teach you to ride the bike. So if you don’t do the work to learn that balance, you’ll fall as soon as the training wheels come off. 

So, what do we do? Do we pay a coach forever or do a never-ending cycle of challenges? Or do we invest in ourselves ONCE to LEARN how to change patterns, behaviours and habits for GOOD?

It’s like the old – “give a man to fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll never be hungry again”

So what is it that we need to nail to sustainable results, no more yoyo-ing, and not having to constantly be relying on external accountability? Here are my steps:

UNDERSTAND WHAT ROLE FOOD PLAYS IN YOUR LIFE

Do you see food as fuel, nourishment and pleasure? Or do you see it as a method to cope when your emotions are peaked? If we can separate food from our emotions and learn to manage high-stress times without smothering our emotions with food, long term sustainability becomes EASY.

If food is the only tool you have to ease emotional or stress, you will feel like we have no choice but to continue that pattern any time you feel triggered. My recommendation is to do the work to understand what triggers you and how you currently use food as a coping mechanism. Then ask yourself – is there something else I can do to overcome acute emotions that doesn’t involve eating 5000 calories in 45 minutes? Am I managing my stress and triggers well? Or am I in a vicious cycle of masking emotions with food? Are there other things in my life that I can do that make me feel great that i could use to help with my stress?

Once we build up the skill of creating space in the moments between feeling overwhelmed and turning to food, resisting the urge to mask emotions with food will become much easier.

MOVE IN A WAY YOU ENJOY

Physical movement has such an impact on our psychological health. Moving your body in a way that you enjoy, and can see yourself doing 4-5 times per week indefinitely will yield much longer-term success than trying to force yourself to do something that you hate and can only sustain for a couple of weeks before giving up. There is no one “right way” to exercise. The best way is the way you enjoy and can consistently do. Ask yourself - what is your favourite way to move?

BUILD HABITS FOR WHEN MOTIVATION INEVITABLY FAILS
At the beginning of a new program, you will always feel that surge of motivation. But what happens when you hit week 3 and that enthusiasm starts to fade, and it gets hard to get out of bed or the couch is just too comfy, or your workweek was just too big?

Enter: Habits. These are your commitment to yourself to enable success, which may be like a “checklist” at the start, but will soon become part of your daily life and it will become as habitual as brushing your teeth or having a shower. Some habits that will set you up for success are:

·       Moving your body in some way every day (as in EVERY day, 7 days per week, even if its just a stroll some days)

·       Eating a protein source at breakfast, lunch & dinner

·       Eat at least 1 piece of fruit and at least 3 cups of veggies/salad every day

·       Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night

·       Walk at least 8,000+ steps every day

If you can do that as your baseline, you’ll easily sustain your results!!

SET GOALS THAT MATTER TO YOU
Setting performance goals is a great way to sustain results. It means there’s a purpose to your efforts OTHER than body composition/fat loss, which will drive higher commitment and increased likelihood of adherence. Think about something you’ve always wanted to do (e.g. run a marathon, building strength, get great at yoga etc) and then set a plan to achieve it! Nothing is impossible, it’s only impossible if you don’t even try)

If you can master food, movement, mindset and habits you can say GOODBYE to feeling like your results slip away as soon as you’re on your own. This is what I teach in my 12-week coaching program. I’ll teach you not only how to get amazing results and the body you’ve always dreamed of, you’ll also learn how to sustain it by us digging into your relationship with food, breaking down your past patterns and creating a long term strategy bespoke to YOU so you can continue seeing great results long term!