How to build habits that stick so that you can approach your nutrition goals with consistency.
In my experience as a nutrition coach, its rarely the lack of knowledge or the determination for change but rather the ability to remain consistent when life throws a curve ball at you. And let’s face it, if you are human (which I’m assuming you are, since you’re reading this) you’ll have one of those curve balls thrown at you every once in a while right?
It’s never about being able to do something perfectly, its about showing up despite the hardships. That my friend, is real strength in character.
That is the pillar of success.
But it’s not about how hard you push, its about having systems in place that allow you do them on automation.
Today’s blog will discuss some of the strategies you can use to help you build on those habits so that you can do them without having to constantly rely on motivation.
That ‘M’ word sucks.
People glorify it like it changes lives, it doesn’t. Boring things like habits change lives, not the sparkly shiny things like inspiration and motivation.
When was the last time you felt totally in awe of someone’s life and thought to yourself “I want to do that too” only to fizzle out after a week.
Yeah, me too.
You see, I know a thing or two about failure, I have encountered them myself. Lately, it feels like its my life on repeat, but I remind myself that failure is only an evaluation of the current situation. You take the data and make adjustments, then you move forward.
So, let’s take a look at some of the strategies I use on my clients to help them create habits that stick…
Align your why
Yes, yes I know. Totally wishy washy right?
I wish I could tell you this is just some weak theory a crazy yogi came up with whilst meditating in a cave but its not, even research scientists agree with this.
When I say ‘align your why’ I don’t just mean saying to yourself “yeah I’d like to get ripped so I can look good”.
I mean being able to say with real conviction how that goal aligns with what you truly value because without knowing your “why”, finding the desire to do something everyday becomes meaningless.
Here’s an example: A doctor tells a man he has to lose weight or he will die. The man tries every diet under the sun, nothing works. It’s not until he realised that doing it for himself didn’t carry the weight he needed to keep going.
He needed a deeper why. In comes the image of his kids living without a father. That’s when things start to change.
You see, when we align our values with our goals we are no longer conflicted with self talk like “I want to lose weight but I want brownies”.
Next time you set a goal, ask yourself why you want to achieve it and keep digging in with the ‘why’s’ until you get to the very core of what the purpose is.
Remember, goals without gravity lack your why and are unsatisfying to achieve.
2. Create SMART goals
I often get the athletes I work with to set goals that follow the SMART acronym which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound.
Here’s how someone who has a goal of increasing upper body gymnastic movements might create a mission statement…
Specific: I want to be able to do strict pull ups
Measurable: I want to be able to do 5 strict pull ups
Achievable: I think that 5 pull ups is reasonable to achieve
Relevant: Pull ups align with my goal of increasing upper body gymnastic movements
Time bound: I want to be able to do 5 strict pull ups within 12 weeks
When we don’t create measurable goals that are time bound, we end up feeling deflated when we don’t achieve our goals because the goal posts is constantly moving and we don’t have a way of measuring its success.
3. Stack your habits
Habit stacking is coupling a new habit with an already formed habit. I like to call these ‘triggers’. People often want to rely on motivation but the problem is that motivation is so short-lived. When you decide on a new goal, keep them small and piggyback onto an already established habit.
For example if you decide you want to do 5 minutes of stretching everyday but you always forget, piggy back a mobility session first thing in the morning when you put the coffee machine on.
You can do this for practically anything. On a daily basis you habit stack things without even realising it; grabbing your phone and keys together before leaving the house, eat popcorn whilst watching a movie, floss when you brush your teeth.
These are habits you have formed without having to constantly rely on motivation. Creating new habits can be just as easy, provided that you find a system that works for you so your brain can run on automations.
Here are a some more self deployed strategies you can use to help you stick to a new habit:
Temptation bundling: Doing something you enjoy whilst practicing a new habit like listening to your favourite music whilst meal prepping
Practicing mindfulness: Saying to yourself “I have the urge to eat chocolate, I understand this is how I feel and I may or may not act on it”.
Mental contrasting with implementation intentions: “I feel better when I eat better but I won’t always have time after work to meal prep, therefore after work on the busiest day of the week I will go pick up some healthy meals from the whole food store”.
4. Focus on the mastery goal vs the outcome goal
You often hear people say “I’m the type of person who gives up when they don’t see results”.
Well I’ve got some news for you, if that is you, you are 90% of the population.
Here’s some tough love coming at ya, you can’t always control the outcome goal but you can control the habits that move you closer towards your outcome goal.
Let’s say an athlete wants to cut weight before a lifting meet. She tracks all her macros, eats really well, stays really consistent for 6 weeks, then on the day of her meet, her period comes, BAM! 2 pounds of weight goes up.
Here’s the thing, we cannot always control the outcome goal, because we can’t control the future nor do have any control over how our bodies retain water and/or fat cells, but we sure as hell can control our actions.
When you place value on the outcome goal and you do everything in your power to get a specific result and you still don’t get it… it sucks.
Adjust your mindset and focus on what you do have control over. If you don’t enjoy the journey and purely focus on the destination, getting there is going to be hard and what happens if you get the results and all you get is a shrug from the people around you?
No high-fives and celebrations.
Are you going to be disapointed with yourself even though you put all the hard work into it?
I hope not.
Ultimately focusing on the outcome goal is like finding external validation for your hard work. Sure, we all do it every once in a while, but relying on other people to tell you, you did great doesn’t change the fact that you did do great.
Your efforts are valid regardless of the outcome goal, remember that.
Take aways
Align your goals with what you truly value so that there is always real purpose behind why you are doing what you are doing.
Create SMART goals so you have a clear picture of what you want to achieve in exactly what time frame, making sure that the actions you choose are realistic enough for you to achieve.
Create habits that stick so you won’t have to rely on motivation. Notice what helpful habits you already have and piggyback your new habit on top of that.
Focus on the mastery goal instead of the outcome goal so that you do not need to seek validation from others. Instead of looking at it like this:
Effort and actions = Outcome goal
Consider this:
Effort and actions > Outcome goal
Are you using any of these above strategies to help you create long lasting habits? Comment below.
