Common reasons you may not be hitting your goals – Part 2
The second instalment of our 2 part blog on why you might not be reaching your goals….
Goals and goal setting – Common reasons you may not be hitting yours (Part 1)
In fitness, it’s not uncommon to meet people with goals that they feel they’ve tried so hard to achieve before but ultimately, have never quite managed it. Each time we set a goal and fail to meet the target we set for ourselves, our motivation, self-belief and confidence in reaching that goal gets chipped away at bit by bit and this can lead us to feeling we may never achieve that goal or even others we may wish to set ourselves. What if, instead of viewing OURSELVES as the ‘failure’ or weak link in these situations, we took time to reconsider the goal and our approach to it that may need amending as opposed to there being something ‘wrong’ with us. Read on for some possible reasons why you’ re struggling to meet certain goals and changes you can make to get right back on the best track for you!
Children/ Young People and Exercise
Whether it’s healthy eating, exercise, personal hygiene, organising schoolwork or anything else we want to build good habits around for young people – there’s no denying that childhood is a key time to instil practices that will help them develop into happy, healthy and well-rounded adults. Whilst many guidelines remain the same throughout our lives, such as eating plenty of vitamins and minerals, limiting less nutritious foods and keeping active, there are certain specific recommendations for children in order to best support their health and development. This blog covers some of the key guidelines for children and young people and suggests some ways in which they may manage to hit their daily exercise target without it feeling like a chore! You never know, they might even have a positive impact on the adults in their lives and encourage a whole-family approach to health and fitness, as there’s no better way to lead than by setting a good example.
Exercise for Osteoarthritis and Joint Health
For people living with long term health conditions, it can be difficult to know whether exercise will help or exacerbate symptoms and the anxiety and confusion around this can prevent them from exercising at all. The truth is, there are very few conditions that exercise is unable to help with, although amendments may need to be made to make sure exercise is safe and effective for each individual and their medical history. Many people may avoid exercise or physical activity in order to prevent short term pain or discomfort or simply through anxiety, however this often makes matters worse. This blog discusses a common long term health condition, arthritis, and how exercise can help to manage it.
Exercise for Weight Gain/ Eating Disorder Recovery
When it comes to exercise programmes, we often think of losing weight as one of the key motivations. Whilst it’s true that weight loss is one of the most common reasons for wanting to make lifestyle changes (dietary, exercise etc), it’s not the only one. This blog covers exercise for weight gain and follows on from the previous 2 blogs on eating disorders. There are many reasons why people may want to gain weight, but exercise shouldn’t be demonised as always contributing to weight loss. Below are some top tips on making sure exercise supports weight gain if that’s a personal goal, whilst enjoying all of the other physical and mental benefits that are so important.
Walking for Health, Fitness and Weight Loss
Walking is free, can be done anywhere and anytime and can be a highly effective form of exercise when it comes to building fitness and reaching or maintaining a healthy weight. It’s especially great for anyone who feels more formal exercise settings aren’t for them or maybe wants to build up a bit of fitness or confidence before trying anything more. Whether you’re already walking regularly or just looking to start, this blog aims to cover some top tips you need to know to get the most out of this unbeatable form of exercise.
BMI, weight loss, body fat and persevering…
In the fitness industry, one of the most common complaints or queries we get when somebody has recently started on a new diet and exercise plan is… why has my weight loss stopped/slowed down? People often start off in pursuit of weight loss full of enthusiasm and commonly see the numbers drop drastically on the scales for a few weeks, spurring them on to expect this will continue. However, over time despite still trying just as hard to exercise and eat well, the numbers on the scales become too stubborn to budge. Sometimes people may even notice clothes feeling looser and other desirable changes, yet the scales register no weight loss. Why does this happen and what does it mean? This blog aims to explain why weight loss doesn’t necessarily equal fat loss and why there is far more to it than a number on the scales.
‘Wheel of Life’ New Year Life Audit/ Goal Setting Exercise
Whether your motivation for change is at an all-time high at New Year or you think resolutions are a waste of time, there’s no denying that the start of a blank calendar leaves many of us reflecting on the 12 months that just passed. New Year is natures way of drawing one chapter to a close, helping us to let go of anything we want to leave behind and giving us a clean slate for new habits and experiences. It’s undoubtedly a natural time to set intentions about what we’d like to be, have and do over the next year. This blog details a simple exercise to help us assess how happy and successful we feel we are in various different areas of our lives at the current time, and consequently to identify any areas we may wish to make changes in.
Seasonal Affective Disorder/ Winter Blues – Support for your mental and physical health over winter
Whilst Winter, like all seasons, brings plenty of things to look forward to, many of us find that some aspects of these months affect us negatively. Dark mornings and evenings, colder temperatures and cravings for comfort aren’t always conducive to optimal physical and mental health. Some people even suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), sometimes referred to as winter depression. Other people may not suffer from the condition fully but may notice some of the symptoms discussed below having a negative effect on their everyday life. This blog highlights some of the ways this coming season can affect our health and wellbeing and discusses ways to help deal with these potential obstacles.
Healthy lifestyle changes – Tracking progress without using the scales
Whilst weight loss is undoubtedly one of the most common health and fitness goals, it is sometimes wrongly viewed as the key determinant of progress when trying to improve our exercise and nutrition habits. One of the most common questions personal trainers gets asked by people who have recently embarked on a new plan is ‘why haven’t I lost much weight?’ There are many possible reasons for this, including the fact that we all lose weight at different rates, you may be building muscle and you could be getting weighed at different times of the day or week and/or using different scales. These are just a few explanations, but the majority (if not all) of the personal trainers I know would urge their clients to explore other ways of measuring progress rather than the often soul-destroying focus of chasing a certain number on the scales. Embarking on a new healthy living plan should leave you feeling energised, proud and encouraged. If the scale is having the opposite effect, consider giving it a break for a while and focusing on other ways of measuring progress such as those below…