4 Ways to Finally Stay Consistent with Your Fitness and Nutrition Habits
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has struggled to stay consistent with my fitness and nutrition habits. Every few months, I get excited about my goals, write up a new training program, set a goal for weight gain, and get started—and I stay on track for a few months, at best. Sometimes it doesn’t even last a week. Then I get frustrated with myself, stop everything altogether for a while, and a few weeks later I’ll do it all over again.
If this sounds like you, I’d like to share a few things that have helped me stay on track during the times in my life when I’ve managed to stay consistent for months at a time, even when motivation is low, life happens, etc.
1. Schedule the important things.
If I want to go to the gym every day, but I don’t decide ahead of time when I’m going to go, it probably won’t happen. That seems to be true for the vast majority of people.
The solution to this is pretty simple: decide when you’re going to go. Put it in your calendar. Don’t take on any other obligations that will be happening at that time.
The execution is a little more complex if you’re not in the habit of planning your weeks ahead of time. If I said, “Today, I’m going to go straight to the gym after work,” but I also agreed to help a friend paint their house today, and that ends up taking 4 hours, and I didn’t realize how long it would take until it’s already 9pm—well, the gym isn’t happening today.
So, if you’re going to schedule your fitness and nutrition habits, you’ll likely need to schedule the other important things, too. This is where the Weekly Review comes in. If you’re familiar with David Allen’s Getting Things Done system, you know what I’m talking about. If not, here’s a quick run-down: The main point of the system is that you have a place to store everything you need or want to remember, so that you’re not overloading your brain with all your “need-to-dos,” bucket list items, things you’re waiting to hear back from someone about, etc. That’s a lot for your brain to handle, which leaves little working memory for other things—plus, brains can be untrustworthy. They’re not meant to do that kind of remembering.
So, you write everything down. Then you review and organize all that info weekly, so that nothing slips between the cracks. If you have to get groceries on Wednesday, your partner’s birthday is in 2 weeks, and your dog is due for their monthly flea and tick preventative tomorrow—you don’t have to remember it all. It’s written down in a system that you consistently refer back to, so you can trust that everything will be remembered and taken care of.
I use this system to plan my week. Every Sunday, I process my in-trays (the places, digital and analog, where I write down and put things throughout the week that need to be taken care of, remembered, etc.), look at my calendar for the upcoming weeks, and then use Google Sheets to write out my weekly schedule. I don’t plan it down to the minute, but I do include things that need to be done—including fitness and nutrition habits that I’ve committed to.
That way, I can ensure that other tasks or events won’t overlap with my workouts, meal prep time, etc. (And if there might be a conflict, I’ll know about it ahead of time, unless it’s an unpredictable emergency that comes up.)
2. Habit stacking.
If you’re not familiar, habit stacking is a method of integrating a new habit into your daily routine by doing it right before, during, or after another already-established habit. For example, if you want to start journaling every day, you might do it while you drink your morning coffee. If you want to go for a daily walk, you might do that right after you change out of your work clothes in the evening.
Habit stacking works because it’s much easier for your brain to remember to do something when it’s part of a pre-existing routine. It also helps that you have a set time that you’re going to do it—because we all know that if we say we’ll do it “at some point today,” it’s probably not going to happen.
And for busy people in particular, it’s often much easier to incorporate a new habit into a routine you’re already doing, than to find a new gap in your day to fit it into.
I typically use habit stacking for smaller habits. For example, I won’t stack “go to the gym” with “brush teeth,” but I might stack “put snacks in work bag” with “brush teeth.”
3. Find the instant gratification in your habits.
This one has, without a doubt, been the most helpful for me.
It’s helpful with habits where the main reward will only come from long-term consistency. For example, I lift because I want to build muscle. I’m not going to build a meaningful amount of muscle from one training session, which makes it tempting to skip a training session when I don’t feel like going. Delayed gratification is hard.
So instead, I shift my focus to the short-term reward of one lifting session. I know from life experience that after I go to the gym, I feel happier, more energized, more motivated, more confident, and more clear-headed. I love that feeling, so when I’m tempted to skip the gym, I remind myself of how good I’ll feel after I go.
This is even helpful on days when I’m tempted to skip the gym because I have a lot to do and am short on time. I know that my improved mood and energy levels from a workout will help me get other tasks done faster and more efficiently, so “I don’t have time” is no longer a reason not to go.
4. Connect with your “why” by digging deeper.
When my clients are struggling with keeping promises to themselves about their commitments, I like to use an activity called the “5 Whys.” The gist is that I ask them why their goal is important to them, and we dig deeper until we get to a reason that is truly related to one of their core values.
Here’s how it goes:
Me: “So you want to work out more. Why is that?”
Client: “Because I want to improve my physique.”
Me: “Why do you want to improve your physique?”
Client: “Because I want to feel more confident in my body.”
Me: “Why is feeling confident in your body important to you?”
And so on.
This practice might seem silly at first, but trust me on this one and give it a try. You might be surprised at what you find out and how it motivates you.
5. Reframing habits as something you want to do, not something you need to do.
I used to be really irritated when people said this to me. Because if you don’t want to do something, how in the world are you supposed to tell yourself that you want to do it?
Well, you don’t actually have to do any of the things you previously committed to. That’s right—nobody is going to punish you if you skip the gym or eat ice cream for dinner instead of the healthy meal you prepped for yourself. (Or if they are, please seek help immediately.)
Assuming you are the only person in control of your decisions related to your personal goals—which most of us are—you really don’t “have” to go to the gym.
So why go?
This is where remembering your “why” comes in.
Maybe you committed to eating well because you want to feel happier and more energized.
Maybe you decided to go to the gym 4 days per week because you want to love the way you look.
Whatever your reason, ask yourself—is that still something you want?
If so—do you want it enough to go to the gym today?
If not—it might be time to reevaluate your goals or reconnect with your “why.”
One Last Note
All in all, while there are things we can do to be more consistent with the habits we’re trying to build, nobody is consistent 100% of the time. We get sick, we have off days, things come up. The most important thing is that when you miss a day, you get back into things as soon as you can. That way, you’re stepping back into things instead of waiting for your whole routine to collapse and then having to build it back up from scratch.
I hope these tips have sparked at least one “aha” moment for you. If you have any tips for improving consistency that weren’t covered in this article, or if you have any questions, you can reach me at …