At the gym, you will hear us talk about the importance of paying attention to nutrition. You might even be participating in a New Year’s challenge focusing on gaining consistency with eating healthy foods. Hopefully you’ve seen the nutrition pyramid depicting the importance of nutrition when it comes to getting the most out of your workouts(Take a look to the left when you walk through the door, nutrition is the base of the pyramid).
By paying attention to nutrition, addressing behavior change, and focusing on consistently fueling with real foods, we get the best results in the gym. Outside the gym, we gain so much more. By paying attention to nutrition long term, not just during a 4- or 6-week challenge, we have the best chance of achieving a life free of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes.
Many of us look at nutrition and exercise as a means for losing weight. That’s an awesome goal. When we examine the previous statement where it says “addressing behavior change” that is the piece that often gets overlooked. So, let’s talk about this.
Think about past measures you have taken to lose weight. Many of us have tried a quick fix: Enrolled in a super restrictive challenge, or followed a fad diet to lose weight. There are so many methods out there aimed at losing weight quickly: Many versions of juice cleanses, detox diets, challenges that eliminate certain macronutrients, and even things marketed as “magic pills”.
Following the quick fix, what happens next when you want to actually maintain these results? Regardless of the amount of weight you lose on any given quick fix, it is tough to maintain these results unless you have taken the time to truly build mindfulness, develop and adopt healthy habits when it comes to food choices. This is the piece that many people find kind of boring. This is the stuff that takes time.
From the beginning of your journey in 2019, it is important to look at where you want to be 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, a year from now, and where you want to be beyond that. Where do you see yourself 5-10 years from now? What does age 75 and beyond look like for you? Challenge yourself to avoid putting so much pressure on yourself to lose weight and change body composition quickly. Challenge yourself to think of it this way… When you are 75, you likely will not care, or remember how long it took you hit your weight loss goals. At age 75, you will be empowered by knowing that you took the time to learn habits that are allowing you to be the healthiest and most functional 75 year old in your community.
It is for this reason that we encourage a long term approach with a nutrition coach as an accountability partner. Together, with your nutrition coach, you will avoid the many quick fixes out there. At this facility, any challenge that you will be invited to, comes with the offer to continue your nutrition coaching at the end to stay on track with long term goals. With an accountability partner and by taking a more long term approach, you will learn about balance, flexibility and sustainability. Remind yourself that you are not doing this for a quick fix. You are doing this to allow you to live your best life, and to give you the opportunity to be the healthiest version of yourself, for the rest of your life. Using a New Year nutrition challenge and/or committing to your health and wellness related New Year’s resolutions, 2019 could be your best year yet!
Chris Robinson