Switching things up too quickly
A lot of people are impatient and have a very unrealistic idea of how long it takes to get the results they expect. After a few weeks, or even a few days of following an exercise programme or eating regime, if they feel like it’s not working as fast as they expect, they end up making a drastic change such as doing a new diet or exercise programme, instead of just making a small adjustment.
Believe me, I get why people do this but if you break it down, you can see why it’s a problem and stops you getting results.
The following scenarios explain this better:
Let’s say Susan’s goal is to drop body fat.
She starts eating in a way that burns more calories than she is taking in (calorie deficit). Week 1 she loses 1 kg so is really happy. Week 2 she loses 0.5kg and still feels okay but is slightly disappointed. Week 3 she loses no weight and decides that the diet is rubbish and doesn’t work for her so binges for a day or two. Once the binge is over, starting at square one again, she decides to start a different diet.
- Instead, all that she needed to do was make a small tweak such as reducing her serving of bread for dinner each night or halving the amount of glasses of wine she has in a week. This would have been enough to keep her progressing for another week or 2.
Sound like someone familiar?
Another example is the guy that goes to the gym 3 days per week and is trying to build muscle; mainly his chest and arms. He’s been following a program for 8 weeks but hasn’t increased the weights or reps or sets. He noticed progress in the first 2 weeks but then nothing since. He read somewhere that you should always switch up your training, so, he completely changed his routine, once again noticing a small change for the first 2 weeks but then nothing after. He’s been doing this for 2 years and not progressing much.
- All he needed to do was after 2 weeks in, was increase the weight by 2.5kg or add 2 reps or an extra set on each exercise and that would be enough to stimulate new growth! Then repeat the same again after 4 weeks.
How to overcome this?
You MUST decide to have a mind-set that you are going to stick to a plan for the long term! All this quick fix non-sense never really works in the long run anyway. If after a few weeks of following something religiously there is no progress or not as much progress as before then make one small change.
- It could be changing what you have for breakfast each day.
- Or slightly increasing the weights on an exercise.
- Or increasing the distance of your run by 500m.
BUT whatever you do, do not change the whole diet or exercise programme! Believe me you will end up doing this for the rest of your life and end up believing that no programme works. It’s not them that doesn’t work it’s YOU!
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