Excercise Motivation

Question
I recently started a weight lifting program (Joyce Vedral)as opposed do doing 100% aerobics.  I prefer my new regime and am convinced it's the right thing to do.  However, it seems that every two weeks something will happen that will make me skip my exercise on a Monday and have a huge dinner instead.  That will affect the rest the week & I will repeat Monday's lapse the whole week.  How can I stop this behavior?

Thank you very much.

Answer
Hi Debby,
Thank you for your question.  Joyce Verdal has a very inspired following.  I think you have made a good decision to add her workouts to your aerobics.  I too am convinced it is the right thing to do.

You are not alone in saying that when you skip your workout that you then tend to do something counterproductive with your diet.  I have seen it happen hundreds of times with my clients.  There is a good bit of psychological and behavioral research demonstrating that when we make a choice to move in a certain direction in our lives (choosing not to workout) that we will make subsequent choices in the same direction (choosing to over eat).  Both of these choices take you away from your fitness goals.  

This research has been utilized to describe depression (depressed people make decisions that lead to more depression) as well as great achievements.  It can work for or against you, but it is always working.

I like to think of it as momentum.  When we make a decision to accomplish something in our life, we set in motion an energy directing us toward it.  That energy will build momentum each time we engage in an activity that we feel resonates with our goal.  However, the opposite is also true.  When we engage in an activity that we feel is in defiance of our goal, we then begin to build momentum in the opposite direction - making us more likely to choose future actions in this opposite direction.

You stated that you seem to have this occur about every two weeks.  This is very common.  When making behavioral changes the first two weeks are the most difficult with each day building up to the two-week point and then dropping off significantly after that.  What this means is that you are reaching the most difficult days of making a behavioral change, at which point you make a decision that starts a cascade effect in the opposite direction.  Every time you get "off track" it is like starting the two-week period over again.  But don抰 fret!  There is a solution to get you past this point.

The goal for you is to stay on the program past the two-week mark.  When you do this you will find that program adherence will be much less of a struggle.  Maybe just knowing that the second week will be difficult will be enough to keep you focused on doing the workouts, but if not, I have a few suggestion for you to utilize.

First.  Utilize the power of accountability.  Make yourself accountable to complete the exercise and follow your diet.  One way to do this is to write out your workout routine and post it up where you can see it every day.  Check off the days as you move along.  Another great accountability method is to record your nutrition.  You may want to use a calorie counting software or a website such as calorieking.com, or fitday.com to keep track of what you are eating.  If you prefer a more 搇ow-tech?approach, try using 3x5 index cards to record your intake.  Use one side to record what you plan on eating the next day, and use the opposite side to record what you actually ate.

Second, find a 揻itness partner?that you can be accountable to.  This can be a person that you talk with regularly about your progress, or even someone who does the workouts with you.  Knowing that someone else will be reviewing your nutrition, or waiting to exercise with you can really keep you on track.  

One other suggestion would be to set a three-week goal and have a reward tied to it (no food of course).  Maybe you have wanted a new pair of jeans, or a massage.  Whatever it is, tell yourself that if you can make it three weeks without missing a workout then you can have the reward.  The goal here is to get you past the difficult two-week period, and build up momentum in the desired direction.  Once you have a good bit of momentum going it will be hard to deter you from your goal.  

I am confident that you have what it takes to succeed, and once you get past those two weeks you will find the adherence to be much less of a struggle.  Do whatever it takes to get past those first two weeks.  Know that on the other side will be less difficulty and improved motivation and momentum!

I hope my insights will be helpful, and please let me know if I can be of further service.

Best of health,
Dr. Bret
doctoremery.com

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