Struggle Sticking To Healthy Eating Or An Exercise Routine? Want To Know Why?

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This episode is 11 minutes long.

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This episode was published on May 30, 2022.

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from The Health and Sport Show

Have you ever tried to get a new healthy habit into your life? Only to start well, but after a couple of months find yourself losing motivation, momentum and progress eventually falling all the way back to square one? You’re not alone!    Today we’re going to unlock a simple secret that will help you maintain progress and enthusiasm even when you just can’t be bothered!  Hello everybody and welcome, welcome, welcome to the health and sport show! My name’s Tom Butterfield and today we’re going to talk about why motivation and will power can’t be relied upon.    ‘I just don’t have the will power;’   ‘My motivation isn’t strong enough to do it.’   ‘It becomes too difficult after a while.’   I hear these statements all the time, and maybe you’ve said them yourselves. Congratulations folks, you’re human!!   Motivation and will power are fluid and they change every day, and can be different from situation to situation.    If someone asks us to go for a run…. Good chance we’ll have the will power to say ‘Not today thanks!’    If someone offers us a chocolate eclair….. Good chance we’re inhaling it in less than 10 seconds!    However, if someone offers us a chocolate eclair every day…. There’s a great chance that we’ll say no on some days too, especially if we’re trying to cut down our sugar intake.    So, it’s not that we don’t have any will power or lack motivation, we have to be aware of the times when it’s lacking and alter our behaviour appropriately.    We need motivation for our ‘Uphill habits’, things that are difficult to start, but easy to stop. - we talk about these in a previous episode. Downhill habits, such as chocolate eclair eating requires no motivation to eat them……for me anyway!......it takes motivation and will power to put on the breaks to stop the ‘downhill habit’.    To explain how we can help ourselves keep a new healthy habit going we’re going to need a graph…. I’ve put a link to it in the description for this episode. Go Find it, and i’m sure it will make this next part easier to follow…. Or you can grab a piece of paper and draw it yourself..  https://www.canva.com/design/DAFCTcMjA3w/K4X1ePN2T0vEbN-5vaYj7Q/view?utm_content=DAFCTcMjA3w&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishpresent (Graph Example) On the X axis (horizontal axis) of the graph we have ability…. Our ability of skill to cary out a specific tasks. On the Y axis we have Motivation..   Now label the top of the Y axis as ‘high motivation’, and the bottom of the Y axis as ‘low motivation’.   Next label the left end of the X axis as ‘Hard tasks’, and the right end of the X axis as ‘Easy Tasks’.    Last we’re going to draw a straight diagonal line from ‘high motivation’ on the y-axis, down to ‘Easy tasks’ on the X-axis. This line is called the ‘Action Line’. Any area of the graph above this line means the task gets done, anything below that line means no action is taken.    We done? ………………Excellent   So how does this simple graph help us keep a healthy uphill habit going? Well lets walk through a couple of key concepts, and then we’ll do a couple of examples together..    The Goal is To Take Action - We seem to feel that if we’ve set ourselves a goal of cycling 50 miles, and we ‘can’t be bothered’ to do that then the only other option is to stay at home until we do feel ‘motivated’. This all or nothing approach is why so many people end up back at square one. What we must do is use this graph to change our goal to fit our current level of motivation. As we scale down the difficulty of the task eventually it will match our current level of motivation taking us above the action line….SUCCESS!    Of course the concept of what’s a hard or easy tasks is going to differ from person to person…. For me a 13 mile run qualifies as a hard task, whereas a seasoned ultra-marathon runner would see that as relatively easy. So there are no wrong answers here, as long as you answer honestly.    Example One - ‘A half mile walk’ - I want you to run your finger along the X-axis continuum to how difficult you think this task might be…. Once you’ve done that move your finger vertically to indicate the level of motivation do you currently have to go out and complete the walk? Is your finger above the action line? If so, then there’s a good chance that you’d go out for that walk.     Example Two - ‘A 100 mile Bike Ride’ - Do the same as before, what’s the difficulty of the task? What level of motivation do you currently have to cycle 65 miles? There’ll be a few of us above the action line, but the majority are likely below the action line on this one. Let’s assume that ALL of us have fallen below the action line. What can we do to get ourselves above it?  Can we change our level of motivation? Not really, i someone gives me a life or death alternative sure, that changes things….. It’s much easier to change the difficulty of the task… so wherever your finger is with regard to motivation slide it horizontally along the page until your finger is above the line.  For me personally, it would probably fall around the level where a 12 mile bike ride would be. I’ve not been out on my bike for ages, and that’s about the time i’d be willing to give for a bike ride at this moment in time.  For you it might be higher or lower, and that’s fine. It’s individual, and we’d get different answers on different days i’m sure. This is due to the ebb and flow of motivation.  The key is to be flexible enough to change your plan if you’re having a bit of a ‘meh’ day….. do yourself a favour and celebrate the action you take, don’t beat yourself up over the session you didn’t do. That’s not going to help you.  By getting out there and doing the thing, it’s another inch closer to turning this from a new healthy habit, into a habit that comes as easy as brushing your teeth. Consistency is key.    Next time you’re weighing up whether you want to do the thing or not, prioritise taking action over sticking to your plan. Visualise the graph, give yourself an option that gets you off the start line.  In summary, All or Nothing is no way to build a life that suits your needs. It’s unsustainable and will no doubt end up with you back at square one because motivation and will power will vary from day to day. If we can keep the habit going then we have a much better chance of making it stick permanently. So being flexible and creative in your approach can help keep you above that action line.      https://youtube.com/channel/UCQXAka99a6MdZexeEJaMZbA https://m.facebook.com/elevatehealthuk https://www.elevatehealthuk.com/ https://instagram.com/elevate_healthuk?utm_medium=copy_link   ABOUT THE HOST TOM BUTTERFIELD I have always been interested in sports, unfortunately injuries and poor training decisions curtailed my dream of becoming a professional football player. I have always been very passionate about helping people and I get a real kick out of seeing people improve and make progress towards a chosen goal or aspiration. I have been actively learning and implementing knowledge for over 20 years with the aim of improving the level of service I can offer to my clients. This has included formal qualifications such as: BSc (Hons) in Sports Sciences Masters in chiropractic PGDip in Diagnostic Medical (Musculoskeletal) Ultrasonography 14 years clinical experience helping tens of thousands of members of the public to improve their health and wellbeing. Unofficially I have digested countless information in the form of audiobooks, books, videos, seminars, and countless conversations with experts within the health and wellbeing niche. I aim for at least one hour a day. The day I stop learning is the day I pack up my stuff and go home.   CONTACT METHOD <a...