Overwhelm is the killer of motivation

We’ve just started weaning our baby and I’ve found the process of it all quite overwhelming!

There are a lot of new things to do

It’s all fun and games and it’s really lovely watching her explore different foods but I do find adding this whole process into my day quite challenging mentally for me

So we implemented this aspect of our new routine once a day to start with because the thought of doing this three times a day just felt like too much

And after a couple of weeks of doing weaning once a day, we’re now at a level where we can add in a second meal for her and it doesn’t feel like an overwhelming addition to my routine for each day

I gave myself time

I gave myself space

….and that meant that I was more patient and enjoyed the whole process much more

I can definitely liken this to a weight loss or a habit change journey

I’ve been working with people in this area now for 12 years and whilst it would be ideal if everybody could implement all the changes at once I’ve learnt from experience that most people find that really overwhelming and difficult to do

When we’re looking at someone’s lifestyle to work out where they might want to make some habit changes (and we do this together, this is not just me telling them what to do) we might want to implement changes in various different areas to find the different aspects that have an impact on fat loss

For example

There are lots of different things that can impact fat loss and sometimes people come to me and might need to make changes in all areas after decades of developing habits that aren’t conducive to fat loss

It’s quite a rare person who would be able to make all of those changes all in one go right at the beginning

So we implement a slower approach where we introduce new habits at a pace that suits the individual so that they don’t feel overwhelmed and so that they don’t give up before they even start

Overwhelm is truly a killer of motivation and as far as I’m concerned if you feel like the changes are too much then it’s best to implement a slightly slower approach nail the habits that you want to nail and then move on when you feel ready

Let me give you some examples

Daily movement

We all know that the government recommend us to be walking 10,000 steps per day I’ve worked with people currently and in the past who don’t get more than 1000 steps per day

Implementing 10,000 steps would be a huge jump from what they are currently doing and from a time perspective would be about 90 minutes walking across the DAY

If they are not used to that, this is going to be hard for them to do and hard to fit into the day mentally

What I normally recommend is looking at where your steps currently are and then trying to implement a daily walk that is at least 15 minutes up to 30 minutes if you can manage it

Once you’ve established a daily routine of being on your feet and walking and conditioning your knees and ankles and hips, you can then start to work towards moving for 10,000 steps a day

Hydration

If you currently consume 500 mil of water per day then over 2 L is going to feel like a large increase and you probably spend quite a lot of time going to the toilet

So we can increase your water incrementally adding in 500 mil per week over the first month that you were doing this

After 3 to 4 weeks you should be comfortably consuming 2 L per day and your body or hopefully I’ve got used to that as well and won’t be sending you to the toilet every five minutes

These adjust a couple of examples that you can use and hopefully extrapolate to your own life

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send me an email

nicola@rossellfitness.co.uk

I hope this blog has been helpful

All the best

Nicola

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