How to Master Self-Discipline for Exercise and Diet
Have you ever been tempted to do something for which you later feel really guilty about? Moments like these are usually due to a lack of discipline. Self-discipline is one of the strongest things to achieving your fitness goals. With strong self-discipline, you can do what you need to do in each moment without temptation or laziness getting in the way. Self-discipline forces you to say no to extra dessert, or helps you maintain a consistent workout regime to achieve your fitness goals. It empowers you to live a life that you ideally want to, helping you look better and feel better.
However, it is becoming more difficult to maintain self-discipline. But without discipline, you’re letting your life be controlled by your emotions, which may not be what you are seeking for. Remember from my previous post that discipline and willpower is finite, and will be exhausted throughout the day. But how do you develop good self-discipline? Read on to find out!
5 Ways to use Habits to Stop Being Lazy
We all are inherently lazy to some degree. Whether it is watching Netflix the whole Saturday afternoon, or skipping workouts to sleep in a little longer, it is totally normal. But when these moments start lasting longer or becoming more frequent, then it might be a problem if you have specific goals you want to achieve. Your goals suddenly become less important, and might even fall in the trap of saying “This is too hard! I’ll never be able to do it!”. But as mentioned in my previous article, the key to sustaining motivation to curb laziness is to build habits. And that is why you see some people who are able to train hard even on days with low motivation and energy!
But the question is how do we use habits to stop being lazy? Read on to find out these 5 ways!
How to Trick Your Brain into Doing Hard Things like Working Out
Have you ever wondered why it’s so easy for some people to be so motivated to exercise, or so driven to make good food choices? On the other hand, why it is so difficult for you to even get out of bed, let alone head to the gym to do a workout for an hour? And even if you managed to do so, only to have your drive dry out within a few days?
If all these sound familiar to you, you’re not alone. You’ve definitely felt frustrated or discouraged when people around you seem to have unlimited determination to achieve their goals, while you just think to yourself, “I’m never going to do this again” whenever you’re faced with something that pushes you to your limits.
But we all know that by staying in your comfort zone, or doing things that are easy, it will not get you far. It is only through discomfort that growth happens. There are surely days that you’re constantly forcing yourself to do the hard things, and it can be challenging. But everyone feels this way from time to time, even successful CEOs. However, what separates them from everyone else isn’t that they like to do difficult tasks, but how they are able to trick their brain into doing hard things even when they don’t feel like it.
And if eating right and working out consistently are hard to you, check out this article to see some of the best ways to trick your brain into doing these hard things to get in shape.
6 Small Lifestyle Habits to Lose Weight without Trying too Hard
Many times, losing weight can feel daunting. It seems like making huge changes in your life like meal prepping and spending hours in the gym is the only way to achieve your goals. Fortunately, that is not how sustainable weight loss works. Making such a drastic change can help you lose weight fast, but it will not be lasting. What we should aim to achieve here is to lose weight and keep it off.
And how do we achieve that? Through making small changes to your existing lifestyle! As you incorporate minor adjustments day by day, you’ll soon begin to see how they can add up to something very significant. The more these adjustments are repeated, the stronger and more automatic the habit will be, and you’ll be more likely to stick to them.
We have seen how powerful a habit can be in my previous article. Now we will specifically look at small habits we can make to achieve sustainable weight loss. Let’s dive right in.
Evidence-Based Guide to Fitness Habits
Have you ever looked at a fit person and wondered how he or she stayed this lean all year round? How would it be possible for that person to eat healthy all the time, and show up to the gym 5 times a week without fail?
Chances are, you probably know someone like that. And you might think to yourself that he or she is just an extremely motivated individual, hard-wired to enjoy the tortures of life.
Well, the good (or bad) news is that it is nearly impossible to sustain such motivation for long periods of time. The fact is that this ‘madly driven’ person you wish you could be, would actually find it very hard to continuously endure such pains too.
So how does this person resist temptations and stick to the program all the time? The answer lies in changing habits.
In this article, I’ll be taking a scientific approach on how to build good habits for fitness and how to break bad ones. Let’s dive in.