Do you find yourself unable to be consistent with your macros? Do you go for a while and then fall off? Or are only able to hit them a few days a week? There are a few reasons this MIGHT be the case!
- Your “consistency” habits and your regular day to day life habits are totally different. If the things you do on a day you hit your macros and check all the boxes of things to do- fiber, water, veggies, steps etc. are VASTLY different than the things you do on the days you don’t (typically, days that are your go-to, or fallback, or “easy”) then there is ALWAYS going to be this yo-yo effect because reverting back to our “norm” means not hitting and our “norm” is much more comfortable. This is the “diet” mindset idea- that when we’re being “good” and “on” we don’t eat sugar, we eat blandish food we don’t enjoy, we push ourselves to the point of exhaustion doing workouts we hate etc etc, so that when we get tired or frustrated or just totally discontent with how restrictive our plan is, we revert back to the “norm” which is TOTALLY different. We have to find a balance. No, we cannot do what we’ve always done if we want to see different results, but if the only way we see results is in a way of life that is frankly miserable and lacks things we love and find comfort in, then it’s not going to stick. We have to enjoy food, allow ourselves rest, and make our new habits worth keeping day in and day out, even on our “off” days.
- Our reason why isn’t good enough. If the only reason we’re doing this is to be skinnier, it’s probably not enough to carry us through motivation-wise. Yes, body composition changes can be VERY motivating, but honestly, usually not enough. Being healthier, working towards an athletic goal of some sort, doing it for mental health, making sure we don’t lose bone density after menopause, being able to run around with our grandkids, etc- these reasons are SO important to remind ourselves of. Have a really frank conversation with yourself on why you’re doing this. The chances of being successful are so much greater if we have an attainable, trackable goal that our nutrition must support.
- You’re trying to do EVERYTHING at once. When we feel the motivation strike, we often jump into the deep end and try to do it all- hit our macros, drink our water, get our veggies, workout 6 days a week for 90 minutes, get 15,000 steps, cook every day, make long to-do lists, etc etc. And capitalizing on high motivation is a GREAT thing, but trying to do it ALL, if this isn’t already our norm, usually backfires, because it becomes overwhelming very quickly, and because we picked it all up and one time, we tend to drop it all at one time. Fighting that urge to do it ALL, and instead work your way through one thing at a time. Start with hitting your macros every day. Just that. Then start to play with it a little bit to hit that fiber goal. Then water etc, etc. And then start to tackle movement. Steps are the BEST way to track our movement. Start there. And when you do add workouts, don’t aim for 6 days a week. Aim for 2 or 3. And work from there. Some of these things are already part of your daily routine. And that’s great. You already have those habits built in. No need to drop them to focus on others, just add to the ones you already have, one at a time.
You CAN do this and when find success it’ll only bring you more motivation to continue. Steady wins the race.
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