Situation: Ben is trying to switch into a healthier life-style. He wants to eat healthy, do exercise and sleep enough, but he also wants to wake up early. Whenever he tried to exercise regularly, he ended up getting too tired and he gave up. He tried to eat healthy, but he is not used to it. So, he ended up getting back to his old habits. To organize his sleep, he started going to bed earlier, but he could not wake up in the morning because he is not used to it. So, he started sleeping too much.
Questions: What should Ben do to establish a healthy life-style, as currently he seems to be struggling to make the change? Should he try all changes at the same time (maybe all in small steps) or should he establish one and go on to the other? Are there things that can motivate him better other than wanting it? Let’s help Ben achieve that life-style.
Hi Betul
He should keep on exercising, but he must eat nutrious meals that can replinish the energy and mineral lost during the exercise. He should take along with his meals and other sport drinks Floradix Liquid as he seems tired which can be an indication of low Iron or vitamin D. And as for sleeping long hours, he should finish his exercise at least three hours before his bedtimes and must eat light meal afterwards.
I hope this helps.
Abdifatah Dhuhulow
Thanks! How would he know which exercises to do and how much to do them?
There are 3 objectives –
1) Sleep enough, wake up early
2) Eat healthy
3) Exercise
Wake up early may not be an issue of lack of motivation, but a sleep cycle between tiredness and freshness. For a good sleep, some supper habits can help. For waking up, proper temperature regulation can help. Go by the sun !
Eating healthy may be of reluctance, but the key to it is tastes. To avoid sugar, instead of eating sugar-free food, Ben may try normal salty food depending on salt restrictions. Spices ! Chilly may be replaced with pepper. Butter ! Does Ben like nothing other than butter ? Tongue has a wide choices of tastes – so find it and try it.
Exercise may be a psychological need because too much of it is more tiring and helpful. Well, this is something that needs motivation. What better motivation there can be other than looking handsome/beautiful to his/her friend ?!
Oh, all these can and should be done together, as these are not simple changes but necessities – if Ben wants to “enjoy” a long life.
Thanks for the comment! What you described is great. But there is one point: this can be a very long process, achieving the goal and there will be setbacks in the process. What could Ben do if an exercise does not work or if he can’t find the food he likes in a short time? How could he find the motivation when he hits the plateau?
There can be several mental strategies to help oneself, but without any motivation at all, one method is company. Doing exercise with a partner, following her food habits etc.
Walking together always eases the journey.
That is nice! Good tip!
M going through the same struggles as Ben. He should try to start exercising first. AS WHEN we put an effort to lose weight we get tired and exhausted and dont feel like eating the wrong stuff as we know how much we had to struggle to burn it.
Another benefit is we get tired and then sleep off early .so will be able to get up early..
Habits of years dont change in days.we will falter and so will Ben.But instead of getting discouraged, he should start over and keep doing it till he gets habituated to it.
So, whenever he fails, he should not take this as a sign of failure but only as a brief setback. And also this process may take years to establish but consistency is key, right?
Absolutely and with each pound lost and the new energy he feels,it will be a motivating factor to him encouraging him to never give up
What would he do when he hits a plateau? Sometimes, the habits hit a flat point. How would he motivate himself to keep going?
By the time he hits the plateau he will weigh much less and then fitness becomes an obsession.So he will either exercise more or change his diet plan to keep going…
Good point! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Betul
I am back again as I missed the motivation bit.
Remember that when it comes to motivation, we need to get three things right and keep them balanced:
Purpose, Passion and Reason.
What we are doing and why we are doing must have clarity. This way we can explain to ourselves and to others.
For example the purpose of him running must not only be clear to him, but must be attached to something greater than himself. This way he remain intrinsically motivated throughout.
Secondly when we are intrinsically motivated our REASONING is strengthened, which leaves our PASSION to remain positive throughout. Otherwise, it will turn into negative and can comprise everything we were doing.
It is our dwindling PASSION that decides whether for us to continue our objectives or leave them at halfway. How?
The Passion in driven by feeling. Feeling is stronger than reason, which relies on knowledge. However, for the passion to succeed in stoping us from continuing what were doing, it hijacks the REASON in order to influence our PURPOSE.
When this happens, the reason- as it is weaker than PASSION- persuades the PURPOSE to rest today so that we can work better tomorrow. But tomorrow never happens and everything we were doing comes to a halt.
In a nutshell, strong purpose and strong reasoning yield a positive passion. And all these combined creates clarity that is vital for intrinsic motivation which does not depends on external factors to make our journey succeed.
All the best
Abdifatah Dhuhulow
I like that! What can be an example of a strong purpose?
Hi again
Strong PURPOSE can be that if he is exercising with the intention to help his family, his community and be there for them when they need him the most.
He can only help them financially and physically when he is fit and healthy.
As for exercising regime, he should start low and slowly. But has to increase 10% in lengthy each week as he get fitter and fitter. He should also forget comparing himself against other people, but compete against himself.
Doing too much challenge too soon is inefficient, doing too easy is boring, but doing manageable challenges each time is what we need to grow and remain motivated throughout.
All the best
Abdifatah Dhuhulow
Thanks for sharing!!.. what he needs it the will and determination to achieve his goals… often times people can do at home what things they take different classes at a gym or elsewhere for.. the difference being at a class there is someone present to keep them motivated… 🙂
“If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right”. Mary Kay Ash
But what happens if he loses his determination for some reason? How can he get back on track?
Find his determination… his resolve to achieve his goals has to come from within, not without… 🙂
What is an example for such a goal for you?
It’s like cleaning up a budget. Pay off the easiest debt first. Then use those funds to pay off the next. For me, my diet change is giving me more energy. I go to bed at a reasonable time. Even waking up once in the night I have been rising an hour before my alarm, feeling decent. I’ve been getting out for more walks. The next step will be integrating yoga. Then I can broaden my new diet. And so on.
So, a step-by-step transition will be better. I agree with that, I think, because I tend to end earlier when I start faster. That will also maybe help avoid plateaus. However, slow transition also means slow progress towards the goal. So, what should he do if he loses determination because the goal is still far?
Hang on to one thing. Since eating happens anyway, it would be a natural platform. Maintained it eventually becomes a non issue, as part of the routine.
True! So, it will be a life-style rather than something out there to reach.
🙂
Hi again
Strong PURPOSE can be that if he is exercising with the intention to help his family, his community and be there for them when they need him the most.
He can only help them financially and physically when he is fit and healthy.
As for exercising regime, he should start low and slowly. But has to increase 10% in lengthy each week as he get fitter and fitter. He should also forget comparing himself against other people, but compete against himself.
Doing too much challenge too soon is inefficient, doing too easy is boring, but doing manageable challenges each time is what we need to grow and remain motivated throughout.
All the best
Abdifatah Dhuhulow
Thank you for the explanation! It makes sense for sure!
He should start one task at a time on that list. Start by going to bed early to wake up early for perhaps a week before going to the gym. Afterwards, he can start eating healthier.
Do you have a specific reason for preferring that order?
First off. There is no such thing as sleeping too much. The human body needs to sleep. If it is telling him to sleep, he should sleep. Most people don’t get enough sleep.
Ben’s eating habits are probably influenced more by the people he lives with and his financial resources than they are by what he wants. Also, sudden changes in diet will cause problems with digestion as the gut will not have large enough colonies of the right kind of bacteria to digest the foods of the new diet, so it is okay to change gradually and have many of his previously eaten foods as he adjusts.
Exercise needs to be started slowly with breaks between. It does not need to be done daily and really shouldn’t be as muscles need time to rest and rebuild as they acclimated to new levels of stress put upon them.
What Ben needs to do is sleep more, continue to gradually increase exercise, and not make sudden changes in his diet. Sounds like he is pretty much on track.
=)
So, it sounds like you think sleep is the most important. He should get it right first.
I agree that his transition should be gradual and intentional.
I too believe trying one new change at a time is a good method. I also personally like gym classes for extra motivation/accountability
Yeah, I like those too! Especially when I lose my motivation
I think Ben should start by taking small steps. At first, he should not exercise too hard, but he should gradually increase his time so that he don’t get too much tired.
He can do this with other people having similar goals so that they can motivate each other. Setting small goals and then rewarding the person who completed those goals can help provide motivation to keep on going.
Good one! Two questions: if he goes step-by-step, reaching his goal will take more time. how can he motivate himself in that long process if he loses his motivation? Second: How can he motivate himself if there is no one to motivate each other with?
Though step by step will take more time, the results would be long lasting.
When we see small results, we are hungry for me and that it excellent source of motivation.
When he feels like giving up, he should think why he started. There must be some reason due to which he started.That reason should be strong enough
Thanks for sharing!
Story of my life
I am sure you accomplished some progress. What is different now from the time you started thinking about this change?
Well sometimes i get to the point where I’m not eating junk food everyday but i don’t remember the last time i had a fruit or vegetable. Also, sometimes i get to the point where I’m excercusing half the time but then i go back to not exercising at all.
That is a step! At least you reduced junk food and exercise at times. Next step is adding some more fruit and exercising a bit more.
Actually right after reading ur post and commenting, i made a fruit of assorted fruits and ate with my son so thanks for the motivation
Yay! I am glad it helped:)