How To Balance Your Life With Your Fitness Goal

Maintaining the balance between your fitness goals and literally everything else can be quite difficult at times. But I am a firm believer that we tend to overcomplicate everything ‘health & fitness’ which puts pressure on our relationship with friends, family and loved ones. 

'Just about everyone that I have come into contact with when starting a fitness journey for the first time has sat down with the notion that they are going to end up on a strict diet with a rigorous training routine and a personal trainer that yells and cusses at them and won’t take NO for an answer, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Think about this for a second, what does the word ‘diet’ mean to you? Low carb? No junk? Perhaps eating a lot of salad?.. Whatever it is, the word diet is closely followed by a feeling MASSIVE change, a change that very few can actually maintain for longer than a few weeks.

Picture this. You’ve decided you want to lose some weight and tone up, you get a brand new diet and a training program to follow but before long you have friend's birthdays, engagement parties, weddings and every celebration under the sun popping up and you’re left with one choice – scrap the diet OR restrict yourself to your strict diet.

Sounds absolutely horrid right?

A good friend of mine Stephen Foster (PRO Trainer canfitpro) has posted on his instagram account a few times, “The best diet is the one you stick to.” And I couldn’t agree with him more if I tried.

I believe everything that encompasses a health and fitness goal should be sustainable.

Sustainable to a point where if you have to eat healthy to reach your goals, your eating habits should be ‘compatible with your family, your social gatherings and even when eating out.

I often say to new clients if you can’t maintain this style of eating and training after we’re finished what’s the point in even starting? And that a question you should ask yourself before committing to a new plan “Is this sustainable for me?”

 It is entirely possible to lose a bit of weight and tone up whilst enjoying life.

Here are a few simple tips:
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1.Eat Healthy Monday to Friday – Eat What You Want On The Weekends
Sure, if you pig out on the weekends it will slow your progress, but you’ll still be moving forward as 5 days of hard work is not undone by 2 days of crap eating. Just be sure when you go out and indulge that you make it a habit of getting straight back on track the following Monday.
 
2.Train 3 to 5 times per week for 30mins
Read this article here for how I train my clients. It’s important to keep yourself accountable when training, it’s very rare that I come across people who are able to train without having someone there expecting them to turn up whether that be a personal trainer or training buddy. 30mins is all it takes if you are training smart then you can enjoy time out with the family and/or friends.
 
3.Take Your Starting Measurements and Before Photos
This is more so for staying on track comfortably. A huge motivating factor for people is being able to see results. Who doesn’t get pumped up when a shirt is fitting a bit better? So it makes sense to set yourself up to see as much progress as possible by taking A LOT of different ‘starting measurements.’ Check out this article here on some different ways to measure progress
 
4.Look For Protein When Eating Out
A dish higher in protein is going to be more beneficial than a plate of fries. It will also assist in helping your body recover from exercise. Look for dishes with chicken, pork, beef and even legumes. These will also keep you fuller for longer and you’ll actually feel better about eating it.


So if you are going to do one thing today do this, make your approach to your fitness goal as convenient as possible and work it around your other commitments. If you can't you may have to read this article.

 

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