Deliberate practice & consistent motivation; key ingredients for a lean journey

Introduction  

In January 2016 I embarked on a journey that is changing my life. I'd already lost over 3 stones by then following very low calorie diets. After a lifetime of yo-yo dieting I was frankly sick of the starvation/binge cycles and looking for something different. A friend recommended The Body coach plan, a 90 day plan focused on clean eating, high intensity interval training and weight lifting.  It was a far cry from existing on meal replacement shakes and so I signed up. Day one of clean eating and exercise commenced on 23rd January 2016 and I have never looked back, losing a further 5 stones in the process.

Throughout my journey I have used social media as a means of staying accountable. This includes a Facebook group I created called a big girl's journey to lean which has almost 20,000 members. I receive dozens of posts and messages each day and they often include the words 'I wish I had your motivation' and many include the same questions; ‘how do you get motivated to start?’ And â€˜how do you stay motivated?’

What I’ve understood from my personal experience is that the success of a lean journey is influenced by two key factors, consistent motivation & deliberate practice.

 Consistent Motivation

I firmly believe that consistency is one of the key ingredients required on a clean eating/exercise journey. I would further refine this as needing to be consistently motivated. It’s not an easy thing to achieve but I categorically state that it is something we ‘achieve’ and what I mean by this is, consistent motivation isn’t something you wake up with, you have to practice being in the mind set. In my view it is linked to the compelling need driving you to change; your ‘why’. If the ‘why’ is strong & well defined the motivation is easier to find.

 Interruption

When people say 'I wish I had your motivation' my response is always to say 'you have, I am no different to you.'  I believe we all have the ability to motivate ourselves and the ability to apply it consistently but we often choose not to. Motivation, in my view, is a mental state that guides and inspires our actions. It creates a desire or a need within us to reach a goal. What I've learnt from my failed attempts at weight loss and/or maintenance in the past, and from listening to others, is that we are adept at arguing with our motivational state. What I mean by this is we are experts in turning off our motivation or dumbing it down in line with how we feel or what we think. This interrupts the consistency and the inevitable 'falling off the wagon' occurs, often immediately followed by feelings of frustration and guilt and the action of 'giving up'

Fear of Failure

Giving up can lead to a fear of failure and this manifests in an unwillingness to start something over or start something new. Fear of failure dilutes the motivation to commence and makes pushing through the early stages of the change curve more difficult. I speak to dozens of people each week who are waiting to start their lean journey. I often ask them ‘what are you waiting for’ and the response is generally ‘the motivation.’ People who have not been overweight can often misinterpret this procrastination as laziness but it usually transpires that there have been many failed attempts at losing weight or getting fit and it’s the fear of failure that is holding back the start. I recognised this pattern in my own behaviour and so approached my January 2016 attempt very differently. Before I could overcome the fear of failure, I had to recognise that my fears were restricting my success. I hadn’t defined the compelling need. I had only ever articulated the need in weight terms such as ‘I need to lose 5 stones because I look disgusting’ rather than a more undeniable reason like ‘I want to be a strong role model for my children and have a healthy body I can be proud of.’  The latter was a much more powerful hook to hang my efforts on to. I also spent time understanding exactly what it was I was afraid of and the main restriction was a belief that I wouldn’t be able to stick to the plan. 

Beliefs

When we believe that we can’t do something our mind interprets that as a negative and we are soon fighting a losing battle. Understanding an ‘I can’t’ mind set shapes the outcomes I achieve, I was able to re-train my thought processes to think ‘I can’. To do this I made a conscious effort to re-frame my thoughts. When my inner voice says ‘don’t bother exercising today, you deserve a break’, I consistently repeat ‘I am exercising to increase my fitness levels, feel full of energy and achieve the body I desire.’ Re-framing a negative thought into a positive one sends a signal to the brain which appears to change the outcome.

This mind set shift has played a key role in establishing the levels of motivation required to eat clean and train five times a week. By thinking positively and having confidence in my ability to reach a goal, I have changed my beliefs about my own capability, overcoming the fear of failure, starting with gusto and demonstrating to myself that I am able to follow and stick to a plan. 

Snowball effect

Long term, consistent motivation is enabled if you can build momentum in the early days. Once you’ve started, staying in motion and picking up speed becomes a lot easier. I have found that using the power of a positive mind-set, a snowball effect occurs. The more you think positively, the more motivated you become. The more motivated you become, the more able you are to reach your goals and of course this makes you feel successful. I have identified that my many failed attempts at losing and maintaining weight in the past have been because I haven’t established positive thinking and I often dumbed down the motivation. In fact, at times I would tell myself I wasn’t motivated which is of course the very opposite of what I needed to be. My inner voice would listen to that, give me a pat on the back and tell me to eat a cake!  There are times now when I don’t want to exercise and I’ve realised this doesn’t mean I lack motivation. I recognise I have a choice and I weigh up the pros and cons of that choice. Being consistent doesn’t require perfection but becoming consistent does mean you have to recognise the ability to make a choice without resorting to feelings of failure or guilt. By acknowledging this, the motivation levels remain intact.  The practice of positive thought, pro-active choice making & an ‘I can’ approach are the key drivers of consistent motivation.

Deliberate Practice

When my children were toddlers, I would watch them slotting wooden bricks into the shape sorter. Both would repeatedly do this until they had perfected the process. It wasn’t ever simple repetition, it always appeared to require effort. Even when they had learned to do it correctly they keep practicing with a look of satisfaction. Scientists believe that expert level performance is primarily the result of expert level practice, not due to innate talent. So whether it be a toddler or a violinist, deliberately practicing something we want to excel at must be the key.

I recognised this very early on in my journey and made a conscious effort to do the same. If I wanted to be consistently motivated and achieve success on my journey I needed to do more than eat the right foods and lift weights. I needed to deliberately practice positive thinking, affirmations and mind set tricks to ensure I excel on my journey to lean.

I set up deliberate practice rituals which I carry out daily/weekly, even now, 15 months on. I have added to this list as I progressed and it now includes:-

• Looking at my before photos every day
• Posting a vlog each day on You tube
• Planning my food the day before
• Prepping food in advance
• Repeating several affirmations
• Being mindful during my training sessions
• Repeating my mantra ‘I can & I am’
• Recognising when my inner voice is in self sabotage mode and acting on it
• Trying on an item of my before clothing each week
• Focussing on my ‘Why’ each night before bed
• Visualising myself achieving my next goal

As I outlined earlier, we are not born with the motivation to succeed. It’s about how consistently and deliberately we work to improve our performance. Deliberate practice is not always fun but once it’s incorporated into your life it becomes a routine and yet continues to be incredibly powerful. If I drop any of my deliberate practices I notice the difference in my performance, motivation levels & the will to succeed.

 So there it is, blog number 2 from a big girl’s journey to lean. Consistent motivation and deliberate practice; my two ingredients for a successful lean journey.  I hope it’s been a useful read. Please do like and share and thanks for taking the time.

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