All or nothing - part 2

Last week’s newsletter titled “All or nothing” obviously struck a chord as I’ve had a number of conversations about it this week…

TDLR: it was about discussing the common “all-or-nothing”, “on/off” approach many people take to their health, fitness and performance (that I’ve yet to see work in the long-term!), and how the key - as with many things - is finding a way to do BOTH, rather than choosing to pick one or the other.

For example, when it comes to health, that can mean things like finding a way to be healthy AND enjoy yourself.

Many of these ideas are actually predicated on our beliefs:

Not only our beliefs about health and what’s required to make the changes and reach our goals

But also our beliefs about ourselves, our personalities and our ability change

Here are a few phrases that have come up in conversations this week:

“I have an addictive personality”

“I have an extreme personality - I do everything to the extreme”

“I’m either all-in or all-out”

“I’m just not very disciplined”

Whilst there may be elements of truth in some of these assertions, (and the ability to have laser-like focus is a super-power at times), when it comes to health it’s very easy for these sweeping statements to become excuses to hide behind…

I tend to counter these type of statements with questions like:

“What areas of life have you shown consistency in?”

“What habits do you practise every day - or nearly every day?”

Most of us can find evidence to the contrary:

• We brush our teeth twice a day
• We shower at least once a day
• We’re married or in a long-term relationship, (or have been at some point - could you make the same type of long-term commitment to your health?!)
• We’ve built a business and/or a career - that involves a hell of a lot of showing up each day!
• Getting your hair cut every X weeks
• We get our kids to school and to all of their clubs, activities and play dates, without fail…

You get the idea

They’re things that have become “non-negotiable” in our minds and are ingrained into our everyday lives.

One way of thinking about (and achieving) long-term success with your health is increasing the number of things that you consider to be “non-negotiable” that positively impact your health.

Some simple things that work well are:

• Drinking 2 litres of water a day
• Eating a protein-based breakfast
• Doing X,000 steps per day
• Being in bed by X, X nights of the week
• Lifting weights twice a week
• Going for a bike ride once a week

They can be whatever it is for you, wherever you’re at with your health

Increase these to a level that gives you progress, regardless of whether you're “on it” or “off the wagon”, and you’re on the road to success.?

So if you’ve ever uttered words like:

“I’m an ‘all-or-nothing@ person”

Or “I’m extreme with everything”

Are you really?

And - assuming it’s not working - is your health important enough for you to want to question and change that?

READY TO PRIORITISE YOUR HEALTH?

https://motustraining.lpages.co/vipenquiry/

SMALL CHANGE: BIG IMPACT

Set yourself a protein target.

Often this one change can be the catalyst for significantly improved nutrition overall

Here’s a starting point: take your weight in KG, multiply it by 1.5.? That is the number of grams of protein per day to shoot for.? Let's say you weigh 80kg, then your target is 120g.? To get 120g of protein, you need to eat c. 500g of high protein foods like meat and fish.? This is about 3 average chicken breasts, so 1 decent serving of protein for each main meal.

Please note this is a general guide.? Some people can benefit from eating quite a bit more and there are many ways to reach that figure.

If you’re way below that amount to start with (most people are), start by adding 1 extra decent serving per day and build from there.