Break Your Bad Diet and Fitness Cycle

How do we go about Breaking the Bad Diet and Fitness Cycle we find ourselves in?

Okay, so you may have seen the last video that I did, and I went pretty deep in it. We touched on some of the things about myself, so it was quite personal,

But the reality is it was about starting out, doing something, I guess really about getting over the fear of starting something, because we can become more and be where we want be and be who we want to be potentially, and actually surprise ourselves in getting where we want to get to. 

It doesn't always mean this at the beginning, that we have to do this. Sometimes, like myself, right now it's the summer, there's been beers, there's been barbecues, there's been more food than I know what to do with, crisps, there's been everything. And we all get that element, there's no good, bad, or ugly about those things. Are they taking me close to my goal?

Probably not.

But the bigger thing is I've got into that cycle and that routine of, I guess, like some people may be doing here, being ultra prepared during the week, and we do so well during the week, and we're not drinking, we're not eating bad foods, and you've been there, and then bam. Friday night, or maybe Thursday night, because the sun's out, Thirsty Thursdays come along. And we're soon to just sabotage this plan, because we're like

"Oh, this is gonna be amazing. We're gonna have so much fun. It's gonna taste great. I'm gonna feel so good after eating this."

All those different things, those thoughts we go through. The positive things, with the crisps, the chocolate cake, the beer, the whatever it is, the nice meals out.

And then the next day, like "Why did I do that? It wasn't conducive to my goals. I'm never gonna get to where I wanna get to."

You beat yourself up, and you're feeling really low. You'll feel pretty terrible. If you're anything like me, you can accept it, you've got to a point you can accept it. There's a lot of people, because I deal with people, who come in, and they feel terrible, and it's almost enough to make them stop completely.

But all we have to do is break that cycle, because it is, it's a cycle, it's a habit, it's the relationships we have with either foods, or training, or whatever it is. And that stems from a long time ago.

This isn't counselling, but, if you think back to when you were younger, what did you get when you behaved? Probably some sweets. What did you get for your birthday, a cake to celebrate; When you went to the cinema, probably sweets again, popcorn, all those fun things. And they're all nice positive thoughts, we have these emotional connections to pretty bad things. And rightly so, parents out there, I can see why this happens, because often it stops a world of pain.

But long term, sometimes this can happen, and we do, we have that emotional connection to food. So it can be really tough to break that cycle.

And if you're trying to achieve that goal, and if you're trying to better yourself, it can be tough. There are certain times of the day, you get to an evening, you're stressed out, and now with our own connections, we'll have a glass of wine, because that's gonna relax us potentially, or a G and T or a beer with the guys, because I can forget about work or stress, this that and the other.

But once again, when you're on a journey trying to feel healthier, fitter, or trying to change your body, then we can then get into that flip side of that and the negatives come in, and it can be really hard. So it's about balance.

My granddad used this phrase since he was young. If you've listened to some of the stuff, you've probably heard this before. It's "Everything in moderation." And somewhat it kind of is right to be honest, for me, but then I also believe there are peaks and troughs within training, mentality. But we got to be positive about it.

Whatever we're doing, we're doing for a reason.

Now, if we're going to break the cycle of being that midweek hero to sacrifice it on the weekend then you've got to start thinking about things differently. Don't look at your overall diet as not eating food, as restricting yourself from things.

Look at it as balance. Am I getting enough veggies in my diet? Am I getting enough protein in my meals, if that's conducive to what you're trying to achieve? Am I getting a nice wide variety of foods that keep it interesting? Different things about, am I taking on water, but actually am I having a treat now and then so I feel good, I feel happy? I can carry on doing this long term and not always being restricted.

Because if you start to get into that cycle of things, life becomes really nice, it becomes a nice place to be. So when you go to have a night out, that meal, that sweet, that cake, whatever, you can enjoy it, because you know you've got it in balance.

You understand nutrition, you understand what it really is about. It's not a case of "I can't eat anymore or I'm gonna be well off my target," and you throw it out of there.

So here's the thing. I think once you start to understand and get a bit of an understanding around nutrition, and what dieting for a lot of people is, then life becomes better. Life becomes easier. So I'm just gonna chuck out some myths, just bust some myths as they call it, to make things a little bit easier, make life a little simpler.

So first things first. Let's attack some of the big boys.

Carbohydrates. Are carbohydrates the devil?

No. Do they help us, give us energy, supply us, feel it's good? A lot of the time yes.

If we eat too many carbohydrates, are we gonna put on weight? Yes. But that is the same with any of the macronutrients, proteins, fats, alcohol if you include that.

So let's just be aware. Carbohydrates aren't the devil, and they can be fantastic for you.

Fats. There's the other belief that fats make you fat.

No. Too many fats will make you fat, along with an excess consumption of calories.

In fact, some fats are really good for you. Nuts, seeds, you might get some good oils, from your fish oils, avocados, little things like that, you've seen advertised as good. Yes, they are good within the correct consumption. Too much of that?

Yes, that will make you fat, so be aware of that.

Breakfast. "If I don't eat breakfast, my metabolism's gonna be shot. I need to have at least a speed up biscuit, it makes me lose weight."

No. You don't have to have breakfast. In fact, for some people who eat a little fast, it's quite nice for their bodies to have that little bit of time for their digestive system to relax a little bit. You don't need to do that.

"Ah, I can't eat after six PM. Anything I eat after six PM is just gonna sit on my stomach, it's gonna turn into fat. I can't eat after six PM."

Wow. If you live a life where you can stop eating after six PM and it's really conducive to your life and everyone's happy about it, then fine, go for that, because it's gonna stop you from eating as much probably, because you've got a smaller window for eating.

But it isn't gonna sit there and turn into fat just because you've eaten after six PM.

Your body is not completely aware of the time by the way.

"Should I be having supplements every single day, because that's gonna make me a superhero?"

No. Supplements are supplementing your diet, so you've got to get your diet intact first of all. If you don't know what you're consuming and you don't know what nutrients are going into your body, then just chucking extras because they're easier doesn't make you into the world's best body shape.

You need to be supplementing alongside getting the other things right. Yes, they can be helpful, but it isn't the answer. No magic pill or shake or whatever is the reason you are losing weight. It's about that calories in versus calories out. Is it as simple as that?

No. There are a lot of other factors, environment, all the other things around us that affect us to lose weight. But overall, that is one of the overarching things.

So this is it. This is me, coming out and saying I'm at a point where I've been training for a long time, as you can imagine, but I'm here to try and break that cycle. It's going back to basics in some respects. It's understanding what I need to be doing in terms of my training, my eating habits, that's gonna get me to where I'd be happier or where I'd feel happier.

And this doesn't mean I'm gonna go "That's the end of chocolate, that's the end of drinks, that's the end of socialising, that's the end of my life."

This means getting things dialled in a little bit, take back some of the excess fun stuff I've had over the summer, being real, getting things, not just going Monday to Friday being a superhero, the rest of the weekend thrown away.

Looking at the whole plan, looking at the week, the month, whatever it is, getting things planned out a little bit because without a plan, good luck. You need to have a little bit of a step-by-step, understanding it, getting things in control, breaking the cycle, feeling good, and creating a new cycle.

So these are only some of the things. There's tons to know, and education, knowledge is key. But also getting it from the right sources, someone you can really trust, that's the main element.

Because if you were to read off Instagram, Facebook, and believe every other myth or story somebody's telling, there's often a chance they're trying to sell something off the back of it. So find somebody you can trust, you can believe, get that knowledge, and learning rather than just following a step-by-step plan is key. So that's gonna get you a longer time, happier life, going from there.

The next thing is, don't get suckered in to that whole Facebook, Instagram, whatever else it is you're following. Don't always strive for perfection. It's very rare it's out there. If someone does get to what you see as "perfection", visually, on an image, it may only be for one day, and they take a hundred shots and then they post it throughout the year.

Strive for being a little bit better than where you are now, potentially. Being a better you as you may see it. If you know you've got flaws, like we all do, nearly every person in the world does, just go "How can I improve this? How can I make my life better?" And be thankful, be grateful for when you are doing better.

So it's about, as I said, breaking that cycle.

If you are the person that goes home and has that glass of wine every single night, and you're struggling to lose weight, because that's the thing what you want to do, and you don't believe that's very conducive because you actually turn one glass into a bottle, then let's try to reduce that. Let's maybe have two or three nights off that glass of wine.

Are you then being a little bit better? Yes. Are you more likely to get towards your goal, your target? Yes. So, yes, probably not perfection, you might not be six-pack ready, abs ready, and whatever, but you will be a little bit better than where you maybe were. And that's gonna make you happy, if you allow yourself to be happy.

So it all starts really with an honest assessment. Looking at exactly where you are right now. Taking some of the worst habits, and work pretty hard at just trying to change those, and just bring in maybe one good habit.

It's what we do with our clients, we start on a four week program, and go working through habits. We're not trying to do everything at once. If you try to do that, you're probably just gonna fail because you put yourself under so much pressure.

So look at the bad habits, kick the worst one, bring in one good habit, and maybe just try that week by week. And you know what happens is you start to get snowball effects of feeling good about yourself, start to get really positive, especially if you start to add training in, because you get all the endorphins coming in from there, you start to feel better about the food you're putting in to your body, and it has that massive snowball effect.

You feel fantastic by the end of it, and you've broken the cycle, created a new one. That's all you need to do.

Josh Phelps - The Unit Fitness Gyms

Personal Trainer & Gym Owner (Huntingdon, Godmanchester, Alconbury Weald)

[Check out Josh's full video on our You Tube channel here: https://youtu.be/MFhqdrsPuTQ]