Most Common Mistakes - Giving up too soon

Giving up too soon is a common mistake people make.

In a world where people expect everything instantly, and where the fitness and supplement industries advertise insanely fast results to sell their products, it’s easy to get disheartened when the harsh reality kicks in that it’s not going to be as quick as you’d hoped!

Patience and perseverance are required.

I’ve even had clients who’ve quit when the going got tough – when they realised that even with a Coach, they still have to do the work and be patient because it doesn’t happen overnight.

It’s easy to think that something’s not working when you don’t see a transformation from the night before when you look in the mirror each morning.

You see yourself daily and it’s very difficult to see the subtle changes that are happening – it’s only if you track your metrics (weight, bodyfat, measurements, photos, blood pressure, strength, fitness etc.) that you can see what progress you’re making, or when people you haven’t seen for a while say something.

So the lesson here is TRACK YOUR METRICS and don’t give up too soon.

You’ve seen the cliché graphics of the plant growing steadily beneath the surface, subtly telling you to keep going because it’s about to happen. Well that’s the case here.

Repeat and track your workouts so you can see very clearly what progress you’re making in that respect – that’s the easiest way to see progress.

Choose what other metrics you’d like to track dependent on your goals, and keep a close eye on them.

If after a week, you see no progress ANYWHERE, be patient and keep going.

If after 2 weeks there’s still no progress in any of the metrics, be honest with yourself about how compliant you’ve been with the program –

Have you done all of your workouts, with 100% effort? Have you stuck to the nutrition plan at least 80% of the time? Have you hit your calorie targets every day? Did you have a blowout at the weekend? Did you have a sneaky snack or drink and not account for it?

If you’ve got a half-decent program or Coach, it’s rarely the plan that’s the issue, it’s something in the plan that you can’t or won’t stick to. THAT’S where coaching comes in – it’s not so much about giving you workouts and a meal plan, it’s about helping you overcome obstacles and learn how to integrate what you need to do into your lifestyle.

If you’re sticking to the plan 100% (training, nutrition, lifestyle) and still not getting results, you can review the program with your Coach. It doesn’t take much to go from no results, to results.

Remember, ONE blowout at the weekend can undo an entire week’s calorie deficit, so it’s easy to see no results for a week. Be consistent and stick to it, it’s consistency over weeks, months and years that see the real results.

If what you’re doing is unrealistic for you, have a word with your Coach and agree between you what will be best for you (your Coach can make suggestions, but you have to agree them mutually to ensure it’s achievable for you).

It’s not a case of giving up, just dialing things back to a level you’re comfortable with, with a view to make more changes further down the line.

In short, don’t give up! As long as you want it, keep going – you’ll get there.

Between you and your Coach, you can figure it out. It usually takes at least a few weeks (often a few months) to really figure out what works for you and give you time to make the necessary changes for long-term results.

You can kickstart things with a more extreme, less sustainable approach, but be aware that it’ll be harder to begin with and that it’s just a jumping-off point that you’re using to establish better habits and figure out what’s going to work for you longer term.

Keep on keeping on! 😊

Mark