TRANSFORMATION BEGINS WITH ONE CHANGE!

TRANSFORMATION BEGINS WITH ONE CHANGE!

On a very basic level, a lifestyle change starts with the question, ‘will the reward be worth the sacrifice?’ The sacrifice (or perceived sacrifice) being the effort you have to make, time you will have to devote etc and the reward being how much better you’re going to feel, look and perform as a result. When you’re starting out (or even an old hand at something but stuck in a routine), what seems to be a relatively small change for some may seem overwhelming to you! ‘Just start by running 5km’ or ‘just exercise for 30 minutes per day’, or ‘just cut out bread,’ may not sound like much, but when you’re venturing into the unfamiliar, uncomfortable territory of change, they can seem like pretty big sacrifices. Ironically, often we put the pressure on ourselves:- we focus so heavily on the outcome, the perfect body, that we feel we need to do as much as possible as soon as possible to achieve it. It’s all or nothing, and if our bodies and minds don’t like it, we must just toughen up, right?

So, it’s day one of the NEW ME quest and you decide to ‘just run 5 km’ having never run before (or the last time you ran was in the school cross country). When you hit the road, within minutes, your heart rate is maxing out, your back starts to ache, your lungs feel like they’re going to burst-you’re feeling physically and emotionally defeated. You wake up the next morning, unable to walk, and decide, this running thing is not for me, or, you soldier on, convincing yourself  ‘I can do this’, but I will do it tomorrow, which somehow never seems to arrive.

Every successful transformation I have been involved in starts from humble beginnings. It starts with a focus on a process not an outcome. Yes, outcome goals are important, but the process is going to get you there. The key component of that process is to plan a course of action that will develop an unwavering belief in your ability to achieve at what you set out to do. This may initially be the smallest possible baby steps:- For some people it starts with 1 exercise per day, yes, that’s about 1 minute per day, others can handle more. If you are not 90 to 100% confident in your belief to do any more than one exercise per day consistently, then that is your starting point, and that is perfect! (Just know it is the starting point of a progressive process).  As you grow in confidence and belief; you start feeling more energetic and stronger; exercise starts feeling more like a reward, not a sacrifice, one exercise will become two and then three and before you know it, 5km will be ‘just 5 km.’ I have seen this happen time and time again-I have applied this principle with clients, from body transformation winners to those that have gone on to run the Comrades Marathon, and it works!  

So the message is:- stretch your comfort zone, step out of it sometimes, challenge yourself, but don’t thrust yourself so far out of your comfort zone that the sacrifice outweighs any reward and you don’t know which way to turn! This will only cause you to revert back to your default setting of inaction and procrastination (we all have this setting). So, make a small change, but do it NOW-change only happens NOW, not tomorrow. Be confident that the change you make, whether it’s one exercise a day or deciding to eat one extra portion of vegetables is something you feel confident about achieving. This is day one of YOUR transformation story, we look forward to hearing it!

Ashley Galliard August 2016

THREE PRACTICAL TIPS TO UNCOMPLICATE HEALTHY EATING

THREE  PRACTICAL TIPS TO UNCOMPLICATE HEALTHY EATING

1.       Stop restricting everything.

By constantly telling yourself ; ‘I’m not allowed this, I mustn’t touch that; out with the foods I enjoy and in with the boring healthy  stuff….’ You’re creating a very negative mindset around food, with rigid dogmatic rules and relentless self-sacrifice! Rather, start by making a list of all the healthy foods you ENJOY, and build your plan around those foods. You will end up eating a lot less rubbish without the negative mindset that comes with restriction.

2.       Allow yourself some rubbish, but plan for it.

The unplanned consumption of junk food is associated with feelings of guilt, lack of self-control and failure, which usually then leads to eating more junk food, more guilt and a downward spiral of self-loathing. The solution is not complete restriction, because that in itself can be negative as we’ve seen. I believe the solution is to plan your consumption of junk food. I’m not talking about planning every detail of every meal, but there are for example times of the day in which low grade foods are less harmful  (and sometimes even helpful) to our bodies- eg simple sugars after an intense workout replenish glycogen stores and assist in the process of protein synthesis. If you are craving sugar, hold out until you’ve worked out! With planning and practice, in time, strategies become habits. Pretty soon, eating rubbish becomes nothing more than an occasional indulgence that you may even use to your advantage and absolutely definitely with no guilt attached! (note, I do not mean to diminish the power of sugar addiction, and whilst the above may apply to those who are simply trying to reduce sugar intake, if sugar is a trigger that may derail your progress, you would likely do better to find a strategy that excludes simple sugars.)

3.       Stop aiming for perfection

There will be times when you won’t have access to the best quality ingredients. You may only have access to mass produced GMO vegetables and not the preferred home grown organic varieties for example. Don’t stop eating vegetables during these times-any vegetables are better than none at all! Similarly, you may be invited to a function at which the healthy food choices are few and far between, in such cases the best thing to do is to plan ahead and have a healthy protein rich snack before you go, eg lean biltong or a small handful of almonds. This will help you feel satiated and resist those tempting treats. If you forget to eat before, hey, it happens, don’t deprive yourself if you're hungry! There will likely always be options that although not ideal are more suitable than others. For example choose protein sources like chicken or fish from a platter rather than a sandwich, pastry or other carbohydrate rich snack. Sometimes you do the best you can with the circumstances you find yourself in with the knowledge that you have choices and control over those choices. In the grand scheme of things these occasions are generally few and far between and are not the deal breakers in your overall health journey, so just ride them out the best you can.