The Power of Habits

I have a saying that I use with some people:

"Most of what we do in life is a habit."

That's to say that the majority of people (not all) are in the career they're in, not because they actively chose it but because they've ended up there, they eat the food they eat because "it's just what I eat" and heck, some people are with their life partners because they seemed to "end up with them." They're living by their habits.

High aspirations, I think not...

If you repeat something often enough it becomes a habit rather than a conscious thought.

I saw a quote recently:
"Nobody ever wrote a plan to be broke, fat, lazy or stupid..."

And that's exactly my point. Much of the life we posses has come to us not by proactive mapping of our life, aspiring to various milestones along the way and moving along stepping stones towards an end goal. instead, they have come as a result of our habits; habits that we haven't intentionally chosen with an end goal in mind. But what if we looked at these habits and made a conscious effort to amend them in order to impact our future selves?..

By proactively choosing your desired outcome, you can put in place some conscious actions which eventually, become your habit.

It was Aristotle who said:
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."

Start with something obvious - your physique. Do you look exactly how you want to look?

You look the way you look not by accident or chance, but because of your choices, lifestyle and habits.

If you can actively change your mindset, alter your actions I guarantee your body will follow. Here's what I mean....

THE POWER OF 21
It's said that in order to form a habit, you need to do something 21-28 times consecutively (depending on who you ask). The key part here is consecutively. Too many people try to alter their eating habits and weekend one comes around and shock horror they've picked up on the term "cheat meal" / "treat meal" and they're knocking back McDonalds like it's about to go out of business. At this stage you cannot have a cheat meal - you do not have the habit of healthy eating yet. Therefore, this isn't a "cheat meal" - it's simply your normal habits rearing their unwelcome face again.

PLAN OF ACTION
If your current diet is your issue set that as your 21 days to focus on it. Some people may call it a "detox" but I look at it from a different point of view. Don't do it with the intention of detoxifying your body (as if that's just a 3 week process), do it with the intention of switching your mindest and, as a result, your bodies setting to healthier habits.

ABSTINENCE MAKES THE HABIT GROW STRONGER
For 21 days, allow yourself no treats, no alcohol, no sweats, nothing that you probably describe as "exciting" or "fun". You're not a dog - get your excitement elsewhere - not from food. "But it's boring not drinking"... I tell you what is boring: trying on clothes and nothing fits properly, being in a group of friends and feeling conscious of the way you look, feeling uncomfortable every time you might need to reveal certain body parts in front of people, looking at yourself in the mirror and not liking what you see - THAT'S boring!

WHAT TO EXPECT
Week 1 - Immediately you will have the "forbidden fruit" feelings. Just because you've consciously said, "I can't have it", you want it even more. This is natural and will only last a couple of day. Change your mental approach and rather than say "I want it and can't have it."
Say: "I CAN have it... but I choose not to."
Week 2 - Now you ACTUALLY want it. Week 2 is the tipping point. Most people can make it here fairly comfortably; it's those that strive to conquer week 3 that actually change their habits with any longevity.
Week 3 - Defeat week 3 and you're there. You should really start to notice a change in what your body is saying to you. For instance, if you've managed to swap your daily bowl of (not so) Special K for 21 breakfasts of eggs and turkey then your desire for the old breakfast should have depleted. You probably aren't craving alcohol by now and, you might EVEN be considering adding on week 4... GO FOR IT! The longer you can abstain during your habit building phase the better!

SUSTAINABILITY
Don't worry - this isn't forever.  But... It's not a short-term fix; it's an intensive period designed to adjust your bodies cravings by adjusting your thoughts and actions. This should allow you to take better control of your eating habits and build an awareness of your habits and eating cravings or desires. You may even choose to re-visit this technique later in the year if for some reason you've fallen back into old habits (often after Christmas, a stag/hen do, a holiday or even a festival).

This isn't designed to be sustainable for the rest of your life. You are going far beyond what you would do on a daily basis. For these 3-4 weeks you might even live what you consider to be an unsustainable lifestyle. That's fine - it's just a few weeks!

If you DO manage to make significant changes to your habits then that's great. You can now move on and apply the same method to other less desirable habits. For instance:

- How often you visit the gym
- Drinking habits
- Smoking
- Sleep patterns
- Attitude and positivity
- Confidence through self affirmation

The possibilities are endless! Go forth and explore the power of 21!!!

Here E.T / Eric Thomas aka: "The Hip Hop Preacher" talks more about "The Power of 21"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBtz7TUwkdA

UFC Commentator and all round spiritual guy, Joe Rogan puts it slightly differently (including some rude words) but take note, particularly his points on the benefits of exercise and his final point "The brain is the general, the troops are the body..." Spare 4 minutes and watch this
http://educateinspirechange.org/health/need-motivation-exercise-get-shape-listen-joe-rogan/

Don't forget, you can follow me on www.Twitter.com/MichaelD_PT www.Twitter.com/MichaelD_PT and www.youTube.com/user/BigMikePT

There is literally NO excuse for eating badly

So before you read the headline and think I'm either unrealistic, militant, a moron or all three, read on.

I'm not asking you to never eat a chip again, never touch alcohol again and never touch another Haribo (I know I could never fully say "bye" to my friend Mr.Haribo).

What I AM saying is there is ALWAYS a choice. So when people say: "I know I'm going to eat badly this week because of...." then that's fine. But that's your choice.

Make the choice: Do you want to carry on optimising your training 100%? Or do you want a beer? Do you want to continue to make steady progress in reward for all of your hard work? Or, do you want some chips?

Neither is necessarily the "wrong" answer. But don't tell me how badly you want to lose weight the day before you eat a tub of Ben and Jerry's because you had organised to go the cinema so it was inevitable.

Obviously there will be times where you turn to the dark side and eat something from the less desirable list. But, use a little forward planning, know when these are and then avoid other easier and less appealing slip ups.

For instance, you're heading out for a meal with your partner and you're looking forward to a drink before hand and probably pudding after. Fine, but knowing this is coming you can't just grab some breakfast on the way to work which ends up being a croissant and a coffee, grab a sandwich and a bottle of coke at lunch and then some sweets for an afternoon pick-up. If you're booking in some slip-ups, you need to be flawless before and after.

Here's some ways to spot these hurdles and some choices you can make. Do them all and you're a far better person than me. Avoid the majority and you're likely to be doing better than you are now:

"I have to go out for dinner"

That's fine and no one would expect you to stay in and never venture out for food. There's usually a varied menu at most places you visit and, if you really want to focus on your food choices, you can ask for a tweaked version of the listed meal. For instance, if you're at an establishment that seems to believe chips are an essential addition to any meal, then simply ask them to trade the chips for additional vegetables. No one will blink twice at the request and you won't even be faced with the temptation of chips on your plate. Of course, there will be some restaurants that you deliberately visit for an unhealthy food option such as a pizza place or your favourite burger and beer combo. But... if that's the case be sure to consider that as a treat to yourself and not a "go-to" dinner. Also, be sure to make sure your food before this meal is outstanding. If you can, try to exercise that day. Exercise has been heavily linked with improving decision making around food choices.

"I was in and out of meetings all day"

This is a common one and often an excuse for "grabbing a sandwich on the go". Instead, why not prep your food the night before and eat it in instalments between meeting. You must get 5 minutes surely? Another idea is to have a casein protein shake just before your meeting. It will keep you fuelled and alert through longer meetings and also supply protein to your body over a prolonguied period. Finally, if it's not a bit Captain Keeno, why not make healthy protein snacks? 1) Your boss will love you, 2) You can eat healthy snacks throughout and not be forced into picking at junk.

"I don't have time for breakfast in the mornings"

Simple. Wake up earlier. Breakfast doesn't need to take hours to create. You can make and eat a nutritious breakfast such as scrambled eggs with mushrooms and turkey (my favourite) in a matter of minutes. There's no excuse! If you're tired in the mornings then go to bed earlier. Or, just stop moaning, get up and make your breakfast while you're tired and get on with it. You want to be in better physical shape? But not as much as 15 minutes more sleep? You obviously don't want it that badly.

"I don't have time to prepare my lunch"

Prepare it the night before. Either cook extra dinner and put that aside for lunch the next day or just take the time to prepare your lunch before you settle down for the evening. You DO have time, it's just a case of identifying the time and addressing the issue in advance. Remember: Tupperware is your friend!

"I don't get home from work until late"

Your problem is similar. The solution is: preparation. While you're happy to wait a few minutes for your microwave meal to cook or for your take away to be heated and delivered this time could easily be spent cooking a quick meal such as grilling some basic meat that you had ready to use. It's perfectly manageable; it's just a case of if you can be bothered or not.

"They only serve junk food"

If you know that you're heading somewhere with poor food options, perhaps even your workplace, then you'll need to prepare your own food. The easiest option is to take left overs from last nights dinner. Failing that, you'll need to find 5 minutes either the night before or in the morning to throw together something to take with you.

"I had to take clients out"

Often people will use client entertainment as a green light to let lose with food and drink. While you don't want to make people feel uneasy or appear boring and unable to let your hair down, ask yourself: would they ACTUALLY care if I didn't drink? If you can avoid mid-week drinking or drinking for the sake of it on a regular basis this will have a huge impact on body composition and dietary choices. If you think you might be pressured into drinking why not drive and use that as your excuse for not drinking? They're unlikely to put pressure on you throughout the evening to drink then. Just as above, if it genuinely is unavoidable, take this into consideration with your food and exercise regime in the time before and after your client night out.

"I'm flying that day so can't control my food options"

This one is tricky but again, if you REALLY don't want to let things slip you have choices. many long-haul flights won't allow you to take food produce into another country. However, if you eat the food in the air they won't mind. This means that you can prepare all of the food you want and eat on-board. Alternatively, make sure you're fuelled pre-flight by eating ahead of time and even having a casein proteins hake or bar on flight or just before hand for high quality, slow releasing nutrients.

"My family won't eat healthy things if I cook it for them"

Firstly, if they're children, yes they will. Children learn from their environment and only understand from experience. If you don't make a big fuss about it and even try to make interesting meals with fresh produce then they can be enjoyable and the children won't think anything of it. If the problem (child) is a little older or your partner is the issue then either try to cook something a little more diverse (millions of options online) or cook separate meals. Don't suffer failure as a result of someone else's narrow mindedness.

As I said, you're unlikly to stick to all of these examples in your life but, be aware of them before they arise and plan around them where possible rather than accepting them and falling at the first hurdle. All it takes is a little foresight and a hell of a lot of will power... That's all!

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (@MichaelD_PT) and YouTube

"I'm not getting any results?..."

Here's one I hear a lot:

"I go to the gym 'X' times a week, and I'm not getting any results!! How come?.."

Rather than a blog, you could write a book on reasons why you might be lacking significant results, but here are some of the most common reasons why people don't get the results they feel they deserve:

"Variety is the spice of life..."
Have you been going to the gym and doing pretty much the same thing each week or worse still, each session? There you have a problem. No matter how much you sweat at the time, or even how difficult the weights still are you need a change. Change can come in the format of a new gym programme, a new style of training, pushing yourself further in classes, adding resistance in suitable classes (spin and body pump etc), new classes all together or even just a few small tweaks to your current gym programme. For further reading see a previous blog post: "Do it the same but different".

"Lift now, talk later..."
Do you go the the gym with a friend or a group of friends? Or with the purpose of socialising while you're at the gym and then leave and happily boast "I've been at the gym for an hour and a half today!" As you tuck into a treat for all of your hard work? Imagine you have a stopwatch and you only turn it on when you're ACTUALLY exercising. Now be honest, how much of your time at the gym is spent exercising? If it's hugely outweighed by activities other than exercise then this is a problem. Stick in your headphones, buzz around the gym, keep talk to a brief "hello... I best get on" scenario and watch the benefits follow.

"Food glorious food..."
Too many people see a gym membership and attending a class as a green light to eat like food it's going out of fashion. If you wear a heart rate monitor at any point you'll know exactly how hard it is to burn calories and how much effort it takes to create a calorie deficit. The gym is a great way to lose weight, gain muscle and improve your body in the way you want to. But it needs to be complimented by your diet; for both aesthetic reasons (weight loss or gain) and for "fuelling" purposes. If someone gave you a Ferrari and you filled it with Diesel petrol, it would still probably run for a little but not at it's full potential. Your body is just the same.

"I want to lose weight, not lift weights..."
Everyone, repeat EVERYONE should use some form of resistance machines or free weights in their programme. For women who fear the bulky repercussions, fear not, your probably couldn't get "big" if you tried. No matter your goals, lean muscle growth will help you. It's also a great way to improve your every day life offering joint stability, improved posture (if performed correctly), improved metabolism, protection of organs and assisting in every day activities which may require a little strength.

"I just don't see it"
What if you ARE achieving results? How do you know?.. One problem when gauging success is that you see YOU everyday, so will often struggle to see these gradual improvements. Try keeping a weekly picture diary, same place, same time of day, same lighting; and compare images of yourself week on week or month on month. Or, try taking measurements and re-measuring each month. A centimetre here and there may be hard to spot but you can't argue with a tape measure! Last point, don't live and die by the scales. Your body goes through many stages while exercising and your total body weight is not always the most accurate guideline for success. Keep an eye on your weight but don't panic if it's not constantly moving in the direction you want it to.

"One for the top and 4 for anywhere else..."
Is your training specific to your goals? Where did you get your ideas, training structure and choice of exercises from? Do you even have a plan when you enter the gym? If you go to the gym and "just do a bit of everything" or "Jump on whatever machine isn't being used"; or, if you picked up your ideas from watching people or use a programme one of your friends has, then it's unlikely you're going to get the results that you want. Training is a science and if you try to wing it, it probably won't work. Seek advice from a trainer perhaps, have a taster with them or even a few sessions where you can tweak your own sessions and learn more for the future.

"Ah, push it, p-p-push it real good..."
Could you have done one more repetition? Then why didn't you? Sure, when lifting weights, safety can be an issue during the final repetitions (especially for those who train alone). However, time and time again i see people cutting themselves short because they didn't quite fancy pushing themselves. It's essential to make the most of your exercise time. While it's never advisable to constantly train to the point of failure or until you throw up; have you ever made yourself sick through exercise? No? then you probably have a little more to give. You need to change your frame of mind and, as I tell my clients "Your body and muscles will decide when you've had enough - not your head!"

"I'm going to have a rest day..."
Now I love sleep as much as the next sloth and the importance of rest should never be underestimated, especially among regular exercisers. However, there are a lot of people who could perhaps be described as "overly tuned" and will avoid the gym if they have any kind of mild muscle soreness, cold, aches and pains. Basically, if they're not 100% they will "have a rest day." You're body is much stronger than you give it credit for and if you decide to avoid the gym every time you're not quite right or stiff from a previous session, then it's unlikely that you'll progress past a certain point. Don't be afraid to "over train", it's a status that is over used in conversation and very difficult to actually reach. "Over training" once in a while can shock your body and boost your results. Try it this week - I DARE you to over train!

"I'll do anything.. but not that!.."
I once told a client "Your problem is that you want a flat stomach, but you don't WANT to do the work required to get it. Until you WANT to work, you won't get whatever else you want."

The problem is that we live in an instant society where generally, if you have a problem and you have some money you can fix it NOW! The body, in this respect is still very traditional and if you want something impressive, the way to get it is hard work and persistence. If you have a target or an image that you want, you must do EVERYTHING you can to achieve it. Giving it a bit of a go and not being completely honest with yourself in terms of diet and exercise will only do so much. You must be willing to try new things and give your body 100% of your effort. Did you need ALL of your last meal? Did you work as hard as you possibly could have last time you went to the gym? Think about it...

"All the athletes drinks them..."
A final short one, please, please, please don't drink endless sugary sports drinks "like the athletes do" and wonder why you're not losing weight! These drinks are meant for recovery purposes and should not be relied upon for "energy" nor consumed on a regular basis. Don't think of them as "sports drinks", think of them more as a liquid meal.

To summarise...
There are multiple reasons why you might not be making the progress you feel you deserve. The last point is "honesty", if you can honestly, HONESTLY say that none of the above point apply to you in some shape or form and you STILL aren't making any steps int he right direction I'd be very surprised. Be more conscious of your behaviour and remember that your progress isn't just impacted in your gym hour, but is also heavily effected by your every day way of life.

Follow me on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/MichaelD_PT
and YouTube: www.YouTube.com/user/BigMikePT

Healthy eating tips - a realistic guide

When it comes to nutrition and specifically, nutrition advice,I ALWAYS say,

"It needs to be sustainable."

By this I mean people's approach to dieting. It's unrealistic to ask the average person to know the exact content of every meal, weigh out each ingredient for home cooked meals and avoid completely some of the naughty things they enjoy eating. Unless you have a nutritionist, a chef and don't keep a regular job then for many, this isn't a realistic way of life.

For the average person, nutrition management can be significantly improved at your diet issues in much more general terms and taking the following measures to control any poor eating habits...

Portion control...
We've grown up hearing "finish what's on your plate" and "Don't let that go to waste!" and had this conditioned into us from an early age. It's a hard habit to break but an easy one to control - don't put it on the plate. It's often said that the body takes 20 minutes to realise that it's full so inevitably we often eat too much and feel over-full shortly after.

My advice to my clients that struggle with portion control is:
Plate up what you'd usually eat, then, take a third of everything and take it off the plate. If you're GENUINELY hungry 20 minutes after dinner you can have some more. If you find yourself cutting this third from every meal then you've cut your daily calories by a third (aside from snacks) How easy was that!?!..

If lunchtime sandwiches are your downfall, make yourself some wraps, less carbs and there's no way you can stuff all the same filling into that, simple, but it works!

Cheat days ( I prefer "treat" days)...
If you're told "Never do this..", "avoid this at all costs..", "You're not allowed this.." then you'll soon resent your diet and fall off the wagon.
So dangle yourself a carrot. Tell yourself that if you can control your eating habits for just 5 days then you can have a "cheat/treat day" where you eat something a little naughty. This means no mid-week drinking, takeaways, sweets and other naughty bits, knowing that Friday or Saturday is going to be your day.

You'd be surprised how much better things taste when you have them less often. And if you can't control yourself for just 5 days then you have to take a serious look at your will power and commitment to be healthy.

Food preparation...
If you decide to "just pick something up" for lunch or while you're on the go then you'll be hard pushed to find anything that you can classify as mildly "healthy". Seriously, take a walk around your local BP petrol station and try to piece together a worthwhile on-the-go meal. Don't be fooled by pasta "salads". Using the word "salad" doesn't make it healthy!

For this reason, food preparation is essential! Preparing fresh food for the day ahead or tomorrow's lunch will have huge repercussions on your health. It might mean a few less minutes in bed but it's well worth it.

If you seriously can't bring yourself to do it the cook too much at meal times. Cook too much for dinner and use it for lunches later in the week.

Hunger scale...
If at times you find yourself eating for eating's sake then try using a hunger scale. Before you eat, stop and think, "Out of 10, how hungry am I?.." If the answer is 1-5: You don't get to eat, 6-8: it's meal time, 9 or 10: you've left it too late; sure you gota eat but be aware that you've gone too long without food.

By using this scale, this will firstly stop you eating just "because you wanted to" and also make you more aware of your hunger, eating patterns and habits. Often people eat through habit and not hunger.

Drink, drink, drink...
The brain can, at times, have difficulty differentiating between being hungry and being thirsty. When you feel hungry make sure your first reaction is get a drink of water. Have a drink and wait a while if you're still really hungry then go for it, if not, stick with the water for a little.

Most people don't drink enough during the day as it is and this can seriously slow down your metabolism. So, even if you do decide to eat after, adding to your daily water intake will do you some good.

Eat more...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just said eat less, BUT, there's a large proportion of people who need to eat more, or at leats more often. It's imperative to NOT skip meals, specifically breakfast! The body likes things to be regulated. It likes to know when it's going to get fed, how much is going to be expected of it in terms of activity and how much rest it can have each day. If you're eating sparadically and skipping meals at times then the body will panic and begin to store fuel and insulation... fat! If you don't want your body to store fat you need to feed it on a regular basis.

Snack with food, not with "snacks"...
When people say "snack" they generally think crisps, biscuit, bits and pieces basically. The actual nutritional value in most of these foods is usually pretty poor and as a result won't fuel you sufficiently and will inevitably, leave you feeling hungry soon after and eating again.

Try to snack on real food. This leads on nicely from the idea of cooking too much, if it's there in the fridge it's easy and tastes decent too. What about the thirds you've taken from dinners now you're all about portion control? Use them for snacks later in the week.

Don't fight fat with Fad's!...
There seems to be endless "Fad diets", often popularised by celebrities, from the Atkins diet, to Special K diet or cabbage soup diet. Whatever it is, avoid it. They have their time and place, if you want to do a last minute reduction for a special event, night out or holiday, go for it. But know that any weight loss is likely to be temporary. If diets worked there wouldn't be a diet industry... there would just be A diet and we'd all stick to it. As I said in the opener, what you eat must be sustainable; these diets are too extreme and too hard to follow. Can you say you'll never drink alcohol, never treat yourself to something sweet, never eat a takeaway or meal out?.. NO?.. then ultimately, the diet will fail.

Summary...
In short, there's LOADS you can do to help control eating habits and improve the quality of what you're feeding on. You don't have to be militant about it, and you should let yourself enjoy food, alcohol, treats and whatever floats your boat... but in moderation. Most people use the 70/30 rule (70% good Vs 30% bad food) and that's not a bad approach.

Often it's just a case of being more aware of what you're sticking in and thinking before doing. It may feel alien at first but it can soon become an easy and sustainable habit.

Don't forget to follow me on (that's not me below): www.twitter.com/MichaelD_PT