5 reasons why professionals don’t have the body they want

It can be difficult to take advice from an actual fitness model or a professional athlete because at the end of the day they don’t have the demanding job and responsibilities that you have. They have the entire working week to dedicate to being in shape. This is why this post has been written for the working professional by a working professional.

Here are some of the things you already know about your lifestyle:

You need to

• Eat less junk food
• Drink more water
• Get more sleep
• Exercise more often

At the same time knowing this doesn’t make the task any easier. Today there seems to be more diet pills and fad diets that will all claim to get you the body you want. Unfortunately this is often also accompanied by an abundance of misinformation.

So where are you going wrong? Here are some of the reasons why you haven’t been able to make progress with your health goals.

1. You stop eating bad foods but you don’t replace them with good foods.

Yes it’s great that you have stopped eating a Twix for breakfast, but unless you replace it with something substantial, your cravings for bad food will only get worse. One approach is to pick the replacement food from the beginning e.g. I am going to replace all chocolate with blueberries.

2. You think the only way to exercise is to spend hours on a treadmill

If you know you hate the gym then don’t join one. Find an exercise you enjoy doing. It can still be the gym but it doesn’t need to be. Sign up to a class in anything from kickboxing to dancing or even better again why not create a routine where you take the whole family out for a walk every week. Spend time finding something you enjoy doing because if you don’t like your workout, you just won’t do it, it’s as simple as that.

3. You don’t set goals

Set a very clear goal of where you want to get to, either set a measurement goal (dress size/waist line/weight) or an activity goal (distance/speed/time). Making changes to your lifestyle can at times be difficult, so it’s important to remind yourself what is in sight. Don’t be disheartened if it goes in the wrong direction, that can happen, just take an honest reflection on your routine and look for areas that could be improved.

4. You have surrounded yourself with the wrong foods

If your kitchen still has more sweets in it than fruit and veg then you are setting yourself up for a fail. We all know the phrase ‘Out of sight out of mind’ well the same applies to food. There is never any reason why a household needs a regular stock of soft drinks. Take 5 minutes out before your next big shop to create your shopping list.

5. You decided to go from 0 to 100

Going from being a couch potato to taking on an extreme diet and working out 5 times a week is a recipe for disaster. If you want to make long term changes that last you need to build a solid foundation. The starting point for everyone will be different, but any improvement you do make should become a staple in your lifestyle.

For example if your diet currently doesn’t contain any fruit and vegetables, you should set yourself a goal of adding one portion of them to your daily intake. Once this become routine after a week or two, then up that to two portions a day. The same applies for exercise.

I believe the goal should not be to be skinny but it should be to be healthier, fitter and happier.

Resources that will point you in the right direction

To help with the abundance of misinformation that is out there, here are two reliable sources for food, nutrition and exercise.

Examine.com is an independent organization that investigates the science behind nutrition and supplementation.

Simple Science Fitness is a website which contains everything you need to know about fitness and nutrition. This is a must read!

If you have any questions, comments or additional advice to offer then let me know in the comments

Remember it is easier to change a diet than to go on one.