How many times have you set a goal and not achieved it, or got there then ended up falling off the wagon? Do you then stop and ask yourself why? Were you being consistent in taking the steps to get there and also after you made it there? I'm going to bet the answer is no.
What keeps you from reaching or maintaining your goal? Is it because it's too hard? Of course it's going to be hard! That's the fun in getting there. If it's something that is truely unattainable then start with a smaller goal and create a new one each time you reach it. Your journey should be a marathon not a sprint. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. Maybe you reached your goal and no longer think you need to work at it. Wrong! Once you get there the very last thing you want to do is go back to your old lifestyle. Just as before, that will set you up for failure. This is a big downfall for people who follow fad diets(which I'm sure I'll be writing about either here or my personal blog.) Yes, you can eat a bit more, but you need to stick with your maintenance calories otherwise all your hard work will quickly fade away.
A great tool to use to help you stay true to yourself and your goals is to use a calorie counter app on your phone. When I first started getting serious about my lifestyle change I used the My Fitness Pal app. I always go in and set the numbers myself to my personal goals. With this app, you log EVERYTHING you eat so it really makes you think twice about eating that piece of candy or second helping at dinner. There are quite a few other apps you can use so I highly suggest to give them a try!
My personal goal at the moment? Trying to put on some more muscle for the competition season next year. I'm currently eating in a caloric surplus and lifting heavier than I ever have. If I eat too little, I won't put on a little extra "fluff" to work with, and may not be able to lift quite as heavy. If I eat too much, I'll end up looking like a blimp and have to work that much harder when it comes time to get the excess weight off. So I've startegically set up my plan to slowly increase my weight while switching up my workouts from week to week to keep continuous muscle confusion. When it's time to lean out, I'll slowly start to decrease my caloric intake to a healthy amount and add some cardio back in rather than cutting everything back all at once. It blows my mind to see people eating 800-1000 calories a day. Doing that will only lead to a major rebound.
Work hard, be patient, and most importantly be CONSISTENT. Whether you are bulking up, or leaning out it all takes time and consistency to see results. If you can be honest with yourself the results will come. No one can do it but you!
Stay consistent,
Heather
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