When it comes to our bodies so many of us are trying to make an improvement.
- To lose weight.
- To lose fat.
- To build muscle.
- To be more healthy.
- To have more energy.
- To eat better.
- To look better.
- To feel better.
- Even all of the above!
There’s many reasons why you might want to make an improvement.
- You’ve put on 10kgs.
- You want to feel stronger.
- You want to keep up with your kids.
- You want to do your best to avoid a family history of disease.
- You want to look hot (be honest – you do!).
But many of us struggle to firstly, make or get started on the improvement, and secondly, keep up the great work once we have started seeing results.
What does it take to be successful at achieving your health goals and maintaining them?
There are so many factors, so much science, so much hearsay. Let me simplify it for you into the 4 pillars that I believe are key to success. The 4 pillars I standby with my own health and fitness.
Exercise
Nutrition
Mindset
Accountability
Individually, each of the above provide us with a necessary benefit. But together they work synergistically to maximise and maintain results.
Let’s look at fat loss (to look hot!) as an example. You need to exercise. We want to build lean muscle mass and lose body fat. Exercise will kick this off for us. Exercise also increases our MBR (metabolic rate) and helps to ‘fire our engines’ internally so-to-speak. (More on this in a future blog).
We need to ensure we have the right nutrition. To lose fat we need to be intaking less calories than we are outputting. That is, we need to be in a calorie deficit. Our carb, fat and protein intakes (Macronutrients) need to be at certain ratios and we also need to ensure we are getting the right amounts of fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Your mindset is the next pillar of success. A healthy approach to fat loss includes a positive, healthy relationship with food, your scales and the gym. It’s being kind to yourself and knowing this is not going to happen overnight (geez, we’d all be supermodels otherwise ;p).
So you have your exercise program, your meal guidelines including calories and macros and you are feeling pretty positive about the whole fat loss experience. But you start to get complacent. You have a couple of late nights at work and some of these pieces begin falling apart.
That’s where accountability comes in. You have to have some form of accountability to keep you on track. To ensure that, even if the pieces fall apart slightly, you are pointed back on the right path (and kicked up the a$$ if that’s what you need!). Accountability can vary for all us, but simply, having someone or something to be accountable to will help.
Each of the pillars form an unstoppable foundation. Think of a building. Without the necessary foundations that building will not be stable, will not be able to withstand the elements. Some pillars will take more work than others, and this will vary for each of us. I promise once these pillars become habits you will reach your goals, you will maintain your results and you will look pretty damn hot too ;p
