How many people, when they start trying to get fit or lose weight, stick with those changes? Not many, I’d wager. I have friends who’ve tried diets; some of them even worked, until the diet ended and they went back to eating badly. I have friends who’ve tried starting to exercise (myself included) who’ve let themselves do so less and less until they just give up entirely. I know people who’ve thrown out their TV, or microwave, in an effort to be more active or eat better, only to buy a new one weeks later.
The one thing in common with all of these people is something J.D. touched on recently in his recent How Fat is Too Fat? post on his Get Fit Slowly blog:
The actual weight isn’t that important to me — it’s the slow, sure lifestyle change.
As soon as you start focussing on weight or size, you are looking at a result of a problem, not the cause of it. If, like me, you are overweight, that’s not the problem - that’s a symptom of the problem. Not eating well, not exercising enough, drinking too much … these are the potential problems. The trick to making changes is to make them sustainable.
If you like going to the gym, you probably already do and are probably already in decent shape. If you hate going to the gym, unless you start enjoying it, you’re not going to stick with it. If you can’t stand running then, however determined you are, starting running is not going to become a new part of your lifestyle unless you learn to like it.
The same applies to just about any change you make - cutting out carbohydrates from your diet when you really like pasta isn’t going to work, because you’ll drift back to what you like. A temporary low fat diet may help you drop a few pounds in the short term, but as soon as you stop you’re going to put them back on, because there was no permanent change to your lifestyle - just a temporary change.
There are three ways to make sustainable changes to your lifestyle: Do More Activities You Enjoy, Learn to Enjoy More Healthy Activities and Learn to Dislike Unhealthy Activities.
Do More Activities You Enjoy
This sounds obvious, but most people start improving their health and fitness by doing things they hate. No wonder they don’t keep at it. There’s a huge number of people who buy exercise bikes, running shoes, rowing machines, just after new year because they’ve decided to do something about their health - and most of these things just sit and gather dust for the following year(s). And why? For the majority of people, there are plenty of things they could do that they actually enjoy.
Enjoy country air? Go for more walks. Enjoy cooking? Go to more markets and buy fresh food. Like both? Walk to markets! You should be aiming for half an hour of strenuous exercise, several times a week - but that doesn’t have to be the same thing every time. Got children, nephews or nieces? Take them to the park. Got a mother-in-law? Go running when she’s about to visit!
The trick is to do more of the healthy things you like - a year from now, you’ll likely have stuck with the change.
Learn to Enjoy More Healthy Activities
It’s quite possible that you don’t like anything that you could do more of that is more healthy. It’s unlikely, but possible. In which case, the best thing to do might be to find more things you do enjoy, or learn to like things you currently don’t like.
Running’s a good example, as that’s what I learned to like in the last year or so. I disliked the fact that running is lonely and a bit boring. Solution? Run with someone else, where there is an awesome view (the seafront). If running alone, I still run in places that are definitely not boring, but with music (or the radio). Problem solved - I now look forward to a run, instead of dreading it.
The same applies to just about anything. Intimidated by the gym? Go with a friend. Don’t like eating vegetables? Try new recipes until you find some you do like. Always skipping breakfast (very unhealthy, that)? Find a breakfast you enjoy. Ideally one that’s either dead simple to make (e.g., cereal) or you enjoy making (me, I like poaching eggs, not that I can do it properly).
Learn to Dislike Unhealthy Activities
This might be one of the most powerful and easiest ways to improve your lifestyle. Do you spend your evenings watching TV? Do you drive to the shops when you could easily walk? Do you microwave your dinner instead of cooking with fresh food? Do you eat 2 dishes because you don’t know how to cook anything else?
These are all habits that definitely fall on the unheathly side of the line, and all easily rectified. You don’t have to give your TV away or bin your microwave, but do be more conscious of the time you spend watching TV, and the meals you eat. Awareness is a good thing - you might find yourself shocked (and hopefully appalled) by the amount of TV you watch, and the type of foods you eat - good! Actually thinking about it - reflecting on it - will inevitably lead to you wanting to change it. You will find yourself wanting to watch less TV and finding other things to do (and some of those things might even be healthy). You will find yourself looking in different aisles at the supermarket for your dinner. You’ll find yourself walking to the shops to get a pint of milk, because when you stopped for a moment to think about it, you realised you didn’t need to drive and the walk would do you good.
There are some things you can do, pro-actively, to help with this. If you can’t cook, go on a course. If you watch too much TV, start writing down how much and what you watch. Same for driving - start writing down where you drive and why. Make sure you actually look at the logs, or they’re worthless. These are good starting points to help you change the problem, if you make use of them. And once you’ve started (i.e., aware of the problem), you’ll find yourself fixing it and liking the change.
A Shortcut!
Cheating … it’s wonderful. And with everything above, there are very easy ways to cheat your way to success. Top of the list, and by far my favourite - make friends with people who already do what you want to be doing!
You spend a lot of time with friends. If your friends are fit and healthy, there will be plenty more opportunities for you to do healthy things. If your friends live in the pub (or ice cream parlour), then you’ll have less opportunities. If you have friends who like to cook, you can learn from them. If your friends only eat baked beans on toast, the reverse is true.
I’m not suggesting you ditch your current friends, of course, but adding to your current group of friends with people who can help, motivate and support you with your lifestyle changes is always going to be a major plus and make any lifestyle changes you do make far more sustainable.
