I've worked with hundreds of women over the past few years in my career as a fitness coach and one of the biggest struggles I hear from my clients is how they want to commit to changing their health but they feel like they can't stick with it long term.
Life gets busy and fitness often seems to be the last on the long list of "to-do's." I get it - as wives and mothers there's a lot that is expected out of us. We have to keep the house in order, we have to keep our kids in order, we have to make 3 {healthy} meals a day, bring home the bacon AND somehow manage to stay fit. There's a lot on our plates for sure to making it all happen and often fitness is low on the list of priorities.
As a busy mom myself I've struggled with this from time to time and here's how I have been able to stay committed and stick with it once and for all!
1. Get Accountability
Make daily dates with a friend at the gym or home or join an accountability group online with a Coach to keep you on track. For me, this has been the biggest game changer! I've been a part of accountability groups for a few years now and what I realized is that when I'm surrounded by other motivated women who are on the same journey as I am it keeps me accountable and committed to what I set out to do! Just knowing that I'm expected to check in daily with my group and my coach makes me want to make everyone proud! If I have to post in my group that I skipped my workout or that I ate terrible all day I know I'm going to feel terrible too - SO I JUST DO IT! Community and support are EVERYTHING on this journey. Knowing there's others who have your back and can relate to you makes your commitment so much more enjoyable!
2. Find Your Why
Your "why" is your driver. When you think of why you're doing the workout, why you're eating healthy each day it motivates you to keep going. I want you to really dig deep and think about this one. Everyone will say their why is that "they want to get healthy for their family." But think DEEPER than that! Why do you want to get healthy for your family? How will you feel when you fit into your jeans again? How will your marriage change? How will your confidence change? How will having more energy impact your family? Will you live a more fulfilling life because of it? Will the course of your kids life be impacted by your actions? Will you influence your family to be healthy as well? Will losing the weight motivate you to do more with your career and possibly even earn you more money? Think long term here and how this could impact your ENTIRE life if you make these small habit changes.
3. Make it a priority
Like I said previously, I know how much you already have on your plate but its time to prioritize. If getting healthy or losing the weight is extremely important to you it will come BEFORE other things not after. You will ALWAYS be busy. You will ALWAYS have a lot to do. I can almost guarantee that is never going to change. So you might as well stop making excuses and figure out how to make it work and here's how:
Get very clear on your list of priorities - for me my priorities have always been in this order.
1. God
2. My family
3. My health
4. My career
Everyone is going to have a different list and order of priorities but you need to decide what yours are and if health is one of them it should be in your TOP 5 for sure! Anything and everything else should come after these. For me, my health and fitness come before cleaning the house, doing the laundry, going out for girls nights, PTA meetings and anything else "extra' that might come into play. I was once told that if we say "no" to good things it leaves room to say "YES" to the most important things. Learning to say "no" to people and things in my life that weren't serving my top priorities was something I knew I had to do if I wanted to make significant changes. Decide what your priorities are and schedule your time according to those!
4. Find something sustainable
Find a program or a plan that is going to give you sustainable lifestyle habits and results. Don't start a diet that is going to be a quick fix. Don't deplete or deprive yourself. Don't do insanely long workouts that leave you feeling drained. Commit to a plan that is REALISTIC with your lifestyle! The biggest problem I see women make is they over commit and over extend because they think going ALL IN is the only way. This leaves you drained of energy and feeling like a failure when you "fall off the wagon" and have to constantly start over. There's a better way!!
Look for a plan that is going to be a long term lifestyle change that you truly think you can make work. The biggest indicator of success is seeing others make a commitment for the long term (typically 2 or more years). If there's people that have committed that lifestyle for that long before you its likely that you'll be able to as well!
5. Invest
I know you're already thinking "but I don't have the money, I'll just do it on my own." That was ALWAYS my thinking as well. I felt that I could get the results I wanted on my own and I didn't need a plan or a guide. And honestly, if you're are SUPER committed and know what you're doing - you probably can! But my guess is that if you're reading this its because you've already tried your own plan before and failed before. There's absolutely no shame in asking for help or guidance and a specific plan of action that will yield results. What I found is that when I invested money into a program I was 100% more accountable to make it work and follow it as closely as possible because I didn't want to waste my money!
Are you a mom that is needs some added accountability + a plan of action that gets you long term results you would be a great fit for my Body Back Bootcamp. Click here to learn more!
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