This Holiday Season Take Fitness One Step at a Time

Imagine waking up Thursday morning, pulling everything out of the fridge and trying to prepare your entire Thanksgiving feast all at once.  And I’m not talking about the normal preparation routine where you get the bird in the oven, then start in on a side dish working through them one by one until everything is ready come dinner time.  I’m talking about mass chaos. Multi-tasking taken to a ridiculous extreme where you’re literally working on every single dish at once.  That’s right, picture stuffing the bird with one hand and mixing up a pumpkin pie with the other.  While you’re at it, mash some potatoes with your feet (clean of course) and roll out some biscuits with your backside.  (OK, don’t really picture that one).  It’s crazy, right?  It would never work.  And even if somehow you are the most coordinated individual on this hemisphere and your years as a one person band allowed you to somehow pull it off, how good would that dinner be?  I think we’d all agree – probably not too great. 

So, why all this talk about preparing Thanksgiving dinner from a fitness coach?  Well, since I think most can relate to the idea that trying to make everything at once is ludicrous and likely to flop – I thought I would use that to illustrate the dangers of approaching fitness in the same manner.  There can be a lot of things to think about when you start to get into shape or work towards a new fitness goal.  And most of us, at the point where we’ve made a decision to take action are really excited and want to get going with a big bang.  It’s not uncommon for someone to attempt to tackle multiple facets of fitness and healthy living all at once. 

That’s it.  I’m starting today!  I’ll go to the gym three times a week plus I’ll run three times a week.  I’m also going to eat five small meals a day and each one is going to be super healthy.  I’m going to drink lots of water and take my vitamins.  I’m going to journal about my feelings and cut out late night snacking.  Oh, and I’m only going to have one glass of wine a week...

The list goes on and on.  The newly converted are often the most overzealous – and there’s nothing wrong with that enthusiasm and drive.  In fact, it’s great and should be embraced.  But, don’t try to make your Thanksgiving dinner all at once.  Focus that energy and excitement on one change.  Studies have shown that people attempting to adopt a single behavioral change at a time have a success rate of over 80% for maintaining that habit for a year or longer.  On the other hand, simply adding in one more change drops their success rate to only 35%.  Finally, those who attempt to change three things at once are only successful 5% of the time in turning those changes into long term habits. 

Those are huge differences.  You're nearly 50% less likely to to be successful when trying to make two changes at once versus just one.  The lesson here is simple, get the turkey dressed and ready before you move on to making the potatoes.  Tackle one change and only one change at a time.  Focus on one thing you can actually commit to now that will help you achieve your goal.  Work on just that one thing until it becomes second nature then re-evaluate and start in on the next step towards your goal.  Before you know it, you’ll have accomplished tons of change without ever being overwhelmed, because you’ll only really be working on one thing at a time.

Allan Keller is a Westchase area fitness coach and owner of Direct Effect Fitness.  Allan can be reached at 813-333-9922 or allan@DirectEffectFitness.com. Have a question about fitness or nutrition?  Post a comment or send an email and you may see your topic featured in his next blog.