Nutrition Tip 10-15-21

The First Step to Success is to Know Your WHY

Do you have goals related to how you look, feel, or perform? It is essential to acknowledge that proper nutrition plays the biggest role when it comes to achieving those goals.

Unfortunately, proper nutrition is difficult because it requires us to change our behaviors for the long term by adopting better habits, new skills, and thoughtful strategies that we must implement consistently day after day. Additionally, nutrition is an entirely different beast than strength training when it comes to its reward. When we finish a lifting session, we feel accomplished and on top of the world, especially if we hit a PR. Most of us don’t get that sense of satisfaction from eating an apple or a side order of broccoli. The opposite is true. We’d prefer that piece of chocolate cake when it comes to hitting the pleasure centers of our brain.

Additionally, when we train, we can find some way to quantify progress in nearly every session, whether that be a PR or an additional rep. Conversely, we might be super strict on our diet for three days and watch our weight go in the wrong direction. How frustrating is that!

The key to succeeding with nutrition is consistency. To be consistent and stay consistent, you need to find your motivation. What is your reason why? This can be anything, but it must be something meaningful to you that inspires you to stay on course when the daily reward seems to be exceptionally low.

Take some time to think about your WHY. Write it down somewhere that you can access easily. When you are feeling lazy on a Sunday and don’t feel like going to the grocery store, read it. When it’s easier to skip lunch because you are busy and don’t want to think about it, read it. When you are getting ready to place your order at the drive-through, read it. Remind yourself why your choices matter. Remind yourself why you care in the first place.

If this sounds confusing, I’ll share my personal reasons why I am motivated to chase my nutritional goals consistently:

1. I enjoy feeling amazing, having steady energy levels and mood throughout the day, and not having inflammatory pain.
2. It is important for me to continue to set the example of healthy behaviors if I expect my clients to listen to me.
3. I want the appearance of my body to be reflective of all of the effort that I put into my physical training.

Those are my reasons. Now it’s time to do some serious thinking about yours!