British politician and author Benjamin Disraeli said, “the secret of success is the consistency of purpose.” Such one purpose is “being consistent towards our fitness”. Most of the people make many resolutions that includes regular exercising, following stricter diets, but they hardly follow. According to research, only 19% of individuals keep their resolutions. It is observed that priority issues, lack of motivation, commitment and time, fear of discomfort, unrealistic goals, getting bored, comparison with others and negative thoughts are some major reasons for fitness failure.
Yoga sutras of Patanjali says that these kinds of obstacles like dullness, tiredness are natural. According to them, making one’s mind one-pointed or focussing on one single thing at a time is the key to overcome such obstacles. This approach is suggested in modern fitness goals as well. However, one major hurdle is to adopt a healthy and disciplined lifestyle with proper time-management. For this, one has to work very hard with great determination and consistency. It is often said that “it takes just 21 days to form a new habit”, however studies shows that on average, it may take approximately 66 days for a new habit to become automatic.
There is ‘3D FORMULA’ to build up a fitness habit. It will help in sustaining self-motivation. 3D stands for determination, direction and discipline. Let us look at all three one by one.
1.DETERMINATION-
convince yourself that this is important. This is because when we consider some task or activity as important, we generally tend to give them our priority and focus on them. Instead of weight loss the goal should be something meaningful like nurturing your body or taking care of your body. Ask yourself what would happen if you didn’t give attention to your body today and waited for the day when illness would surround you. Why to wait for the gloomy days to make us realize value of a fit body? Just think about the pros of fitness body and start doing exercising. We’ve enough negativity around us. Then why to take more negativity by thinking about only cons of anything. Be positive and motivate yourself to get out of your cozy comfortable bed early in the morning every single day and improve exercise adherence. Another tip is to identify your motivation before you begin up like if you think your health is important then you will definitely make fitness practice a priority. But if you feel, it is not much important than you are likely to give excuses every time like ‘I can’t do it’, ‘my body is paining a lot’, ‘I don’t have time to exercise’. Think about the result and the pleasure you will get after achieving your fitness goals. This is sufficient motivation to make exercising a habit.
2. DIRECTION-
it is generally believed that lack of direction, not lack of time is the problem. Make sure what you want to achieve have a plan. Take small steps first and gradually make progress to upgrade your practice at your pace. Don’t compare your progress with others because everyone has their speed and capability as per their bodies. The direction is more important than the speed. Come out of your comfort zone and push yourself every day a little more. Start at least from 10 minutes morning walk or slight body-stretching. Set realistic goals on daily basis to keep a check on your routine and appreciate yourself to keep-up your energy. Don’t set unrealistic goals as it could end up in frustration and disappointment. Don’t expect instant results as there is no such “magic-weight loss remedy” to get instant fit body overnight. It is believed that it takes approximately 4-weeks for ourselves, 8-weeks for family and friends and 12 weeks for others to notice minimal change in our body. Remember it takes years to get out of shape. So, it’s obvious that it would take a significant amount of time to get into the shape.
Lack of variety and repetitive workout can make fitness routine boring. Therefore, choosing fun activity like walking, dancing, swimming can sustain the interest well and keep body and mind fit as well. Also listening to the music while workout can really help a lot to keep you motivating and to avoid boredom. You can join some yoga-class or dancing class as well to enjoy your workout with friends. Enjoying while doing any task or activity increases your energy-level as well as interest.
3.DISCIPLINE-
it is the bridge between the goal and achievement. Once you have firm determination and direction, it is required to incorporate the fitness practice into your daily routine with discipline. Set a regular time for doing workout no matter how busy your routine is. Make it an integral part of your lifestyle. Also pay attention to your diet, check whatever you are eating must not ruin your efforts. I am not suggesting going on a strict-diet or stop eating junk-food. I am just asking you to minimize such junk-foods because diet plays a major role in your fitness routine. Other than this prefer walking after eating, stairs instead of lift and green tea instead of tea or coffee.
Cope up with your negative thinking and be regular to do workout. If some day you don’t feel well then go for yoga. Yoga calms the mind and at the same time helps in keeping our body fit. Go for meditation which can make you feel rejuvenated. If you are still busy and can’t give time for stretching your body, then practice some stretching exercises at your chair and desk, deep breathing to ease your tiredness.
It must be remembered that there is no shortcut to fitness. Our bodies are designed to be physically active. So for making fitness routine a habit, one has to invest his time. Consistency is what turns average into excellence. Sustain your efforts and create the best version of yourself.
written by- KHUSHI SAHU,MIRANDA HOUSE