To exercise more, eat well and in the right quantity, and have a healthy lifestyle. These are the main goals we set ourselves every year with the arrival of September. However, keeping the metaphorical ship at the helm is not easy because the unexpected is always just around the corner, and as Oscar Wilde said, "The unexpected is always around the corner: you can resist everything but temptation.
First of all, we can say with absolute certainty that good intentions in September tend to materialise more effectively than those in January because they derive from conscientious personal self-analysis. It is undeniable that in September, after spending the summer on the beach comparing our fitness with that of many people, even the lazy ones, one decides to get fit and have the best intentions; but an important factor is motivation.
One small distraction is enough to trigger a vicious cycle in which the guilt you feel after missing a workout or eating a few extra calories can make you believe that none of the good intentions are within your reach. After that, you're almost certain to give up on your goals, which will inevitably lead to old habits. Fortunately, however, with a dose of goodwill and some practical advice, this course can be reversed.
Don't lose hope
The first suggestion is never to lose hope. Setting a goal and having it clear in your mind is certainly the most important step, and not giving in at the first obstacle and looking straight ahead to the goal is the next logical step. Guilt has a dual function: on the one hand, it is advantageous because it discourages the repetition of bad behaviour; on the other hand, it is a great source of stress and can worsen our mood. The achievement of a goal is linked to the self-regulation mechanism, which is polarised in two phenomena: fear of failure and motivation.
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Don't set unattainable goals
Those who suffer too much from fear of failure, as well as those who tend to feel too guilty, tend to make generally inconsistent decisions, setting goals that are sometimes impossible to achieve. Healthy motivation, on the other hand, focuses on reasonable challenges. Trying to lose twenty kilos in a fortnight on a fasting regime, or running a marathon after a month of occasional training, are impossible missions. In addition to the criterion of rationality, goals are really achievable if they also meet the criterion of measurability: good intentions need intermediate steps, or at least a compass that lets us know whether we are going in the right direction or not. Moreover, we must never forget that the goals we set for ourselves must be calibrated to our real desires, never to the expectations others have of us.
Why is it so easy to get it wrong? For an answer to this question, you should probably read entire books on neurophysiology. Among the many reasons why people fail to follow through on intentions are the so-called reward circuits, those that regulate the feelings of well-being one feels after a pleasant or virtuous behaviour. Reward circuits work at different times, depending on the stimuli and outcomes: eating half a bar of chocolate when we should not be doing so may give a feeling of well-being, i.e. a reward, that is more immediate and short term than what we would feel from a possible weight loss in the future. It is therefore very important to work on strengthening so-called delayed gratification, i.e. the ability to resist temptations that promise immediate rewards and to look forward to a more conspicuous and rewarding future reward.
Change of action plan
Another idea - when it seems that we have already tried all paths and the temptation to give up on our goals is strong - is to radically change the plan of action. In this sense, group training has proven to have incredible results in keeping our intentions strong and reaching our goals. Revolutionising your diet, starting a new sport or hobby, and completely adjusting your training routine are all excellent options.
Source: Technogym
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