What Causes Us To Give Up Two Weeks Into A Brand New Plan....

What Causes Us To Give Up Two Weeks Into A Brand New Plan.

Quicker than dragging a pissing dog out the back door.?

That’s how quickly you’d drop your diet in week four if you’d stop seeing the early rewards.?

Because in weeks one and two, you were winning at life.?

The scales were gradually going down.?

Your daily steps were going up.?

And your work clothes felt a tiny bit looser.?

These minor wins felt incredible.

The benefits of them spilt over and impacted the rest of your life …?

Your sleep improved, and you felt more energised throughout the day.?

Everything felt great … Until it didn’t.?

All of a sudden …?

… Like a thunderstorm rolling in.?

The room went dark.?

The patter of rain started to hit the window.?

And wait … was that lightning that just flashed …?

The early progress from your new diet stopped dead.

You stand on the scales through weeks 4-6, and there are zero movements.

Grabbing the tape measure, you think to yourself, “my measurements MUST have changed.”?

But unless you breathe in, they’re all the same.?

You have no idea why the exercise and diet you followed just a couple of weeks ago …?

That was having a huge impact on your waistline, scale weight and life …?

… Is now doing absolutely nothing for you.?

The lack of progress makes you worry and think …

“Do I need to eat even less, even though I’m always hungry?”?

And you can’t find more time for exercise; you’re already rushed off your feet.?

Pessimism sets in, “I can’t do this,” you think to yourself.?

And that moment …?

… Is the beginning of ‘The Dip.’

This is the type of thing you’ll notice when you hit The Dip:

• You’re working out as much as you were a couple of weeks ago.
• You’re eating the same as you were a couple of weeks ago.
• Your step count is the same as it was a couple of weeks ago.

Back then, your weight was dropping, clothes were looser, and you felt energised.

But now, everything has plateaued.?

The best way to describe those early rewards is like low-hanging fruit.?

You could simply walk up to your fitness tree and pick off the low, ripe and ready fruits by stretching up and grabbing them.?

Easy peasy.?

But to get the rest of the fruits …?

Your strategy needs to change.

You can’t reach those fruits higher up the tree - they’re WAY too high.

You could try jumping, but unless you’ve got the spring in your legs like a basketball player …

You’re not going to get much further.?

And you’d probably do yourself some damage on the landing.?

So you have two options.?

OPTION 1:?

You can stay in your valley of despair (The Dip).?

You have your pity party, get frustrated that no matter how hard you work, nothing changes,?

You can keep doing the same thing, over and over, and pray that something changes.?

Spoiler Alert: It won't. Doing the same thing at this stage has only one ending …?

You’ll give up, and ‘fall off the wagon.’

OR …?

OPTION 2:?

[Quick hint, this is the one you want to follow]

Realise That You’re In The Dip.?

(Don’t worry, after reading this, you’ll be able to spot it a mile off).?

Most people who quit their new exercise or diet plan do so when they’re so close to the subsequent rise.?

They endured their fading motivation.?

They survived the stagnation of weight loss.?

And the frustration of not seeing their body shape change.?

But after tolerating it for a couple of weeks, they quit.?

But had they persisted for another week or two, they’d have started to see the gradual rise again.?

Those stubborn areas of fat that hadn’t budged will start to shrink.?

Motivation will start to return as your jeans feel looser.?

And positive compliments from loved ones start rolling in …?

“You look incredible … Have you been working out!?”

The bigger rewards start flooding in, and you realise that pushing through the dip was worth the pain.?

But how can you push through when you are in the depths of the dip?

If We Know ‘The Dip Is Inevitable … What Can We Do About It?

The most important thing is to realise the dip will come at some stage.?

It’s ok to have a low point in your journey and embrace that pity party.?

And here’s a story to back this up.

A friend of mine learnt to kite surf recently.?

And I remember after his first few lessons …?

He told me about the things he learned …

The equipment that he needed, how to fly a kite, get into the water, and put it all together to use the wind direction to his advantage.

He loved it.?

However, after the initial rush …?

He began complaining about how hard it was to learn when the winds were high.?

Every time he tried to stand up, a gust of wind would take him by surprise and knock him down.?

This moment was his dip.?

And faceplanting into water is a pretty nasty dip if you ask me.

The thing that was making life hard for him right now (the wind) …?

Would be the same thing that would make kite surfing much more enjoyable later down the line.

And in a couple of months, he was there.?

Able to kite surf in high winds and cruise along at 20+ mph using the winds that previously knocked him flat on his face.?

He could have given up back then when things got tough.?

But he kept practising …?

He turned the wind from enemy to friend.

And he did this by …

Trusting The Process.?

You might not care about kite surfing.?

But you probably do care about your health and weight loss.?

They might seem remarkably different.?

But the principles are the same.?

There’s a process to achieving both.?

And the people who quit …?

They are the ones who believe the effort is higher than the reward.

How many times have you thought …?

I don’t want to work out today.?

I don’t want to get my 10,000 steps.?

I can’t be bothered to cook; I’ll order a Deliveroo.?

And thinking like this once or twice per month is ok.?

But weekly …?

That’s when you’re walking down the path to believing the effort of doing those things is higher than the reward (weight loss) that you desire.?

It’s like the famous study that looked at:?

Having A Marshmallow Now … Or Two Later???

The Stanford Bing Nursery held a series of tests between 1967 and 1973 looking at delayed gratification.?

Scientists sat children aged 4-5 years old in a room. The experimenter would leave the room with one marshmallow on the table and say, “you can have this treat now or have two when I get back to the room.”

It was a simple test, would the children be able to wait for a greater reward.

This test became iconic when researchers tried to look into what happened to the children next.?

Did those who held out longer get better degrees and educations than those who ate the single marshmallow?

Much was made of these results (and most of this has been discredited recently).?

But the most critical factor regarding the initial test was, can you hold out long enough for a greater reward??

Can you spot the similarities between ‘The Dip’ and the Marshmallow Test??

If you can handle the discomfort of staring at the one marshmallow in front of you …?

Knowing that you’ll have double the reward in 15 minutes or so …?

What would you do???

Sadly, most of us will grab that single marshmallow when it comes to our health and fitness.?

It’s much like quitting when things get tough in The Dip.?

But if you don’t want to quit The Dip, let’s look at the steps to take …

How To Survive The Dip.

Looking back is the best way to establish what you did before.

It’ll help you see if you’re struggling through the dip by doing the same as before …?

Or, see if your habits slipped slightly (and it’s more than likely the latter).?

1. Are you sticking to your step goal every day?
2. Are you tracking ALL your food?
3. Are you exercising the same or harder than at the start?
4. Are you eating out more/being more flexible?

The Dip is the initial warning sign.?

The warning that you can’t expect weight loss progress with minimal effort.?

You can’t add on lean muscle without being consistent with your training.?

And you won’t feel energised each day without eating the right calories.?

If you’re struggling in The Dip, something has changed since your initial progress.?

Or perhaps your training/nutrition needs changing.?

Surviving the dip will be affected by the speed of spotting that you’re in it.?

The quicker you realise your progress has plateaued …?

The faster you can adjust course or spot what's slipped and get back on the right path.?

And then, once you’re back on the upward trajectory …?

Keep at it!