How to Improve Your Discipline During Fat Loss Part 2

We are back with How to Improve Your Discipline for Fat Loss Part 2.

In Part 1 (if you haven’t read that yet, CLICK HERE),  we started to cover how to improve your discipline during fat loss. 

How are you going to do that?

By planning, you are making decisions ahead of time to minimize decision fatigue. In setting up your environment, you are making decisions to be easier for yourself.

Since we discussed planning in part 1, we will now cover your environment!

(Your current environment...)

When it comes to losing fat, creating the right environment can positively impact how consistent you are and how well you adhere to your nutrition and training. 

Our surroundings can significantly affect our habits. Your environment includes your home, workplace, and social circles. 

For example, the jar of Oreos staring at you from the kitchen counter. Every time you walk by them, you get more and more anxious until you give in and eat the entire jar of cookies.

Perhaps it's deciding to hit snooze instead of getting up to get to the gym, and when you don’t get up, you feel guilty and anxious for the rest of the day.

Or maybe it’s a spouse, family, or your group of friends constantly bringing you down or providing negative energy that keeps you from progressing.

Creating an environment that complements your goals will allow you to make life much more manageable by working towards achieving long-term success.

1. Remove Temptations:

One of the best ways to get rid of temptations is to get rid of the temptations. Altogether, remove temptations from your environment. Take a look in your pantries and kitchen, your desk, or anywhere you spend the majority of your day. For example, if you have Kettle Corn popcorn (that's mine) or cookies in your home, you are more likely to give in to temptation at some point. Removing these foods that trigger you or challenge your discipline will help in reducing the likelihood of giving in to cravings.

2. Make Nutritious Foods More Convenient and Less Nutritious Foods Less Convenient:

This is very similar to the above, but another way to think about it is to have fruits, veggies, proteins, and other nutritious options readily or conveniently available. For example, cut up fruits and veggies in front of the fridge and put the fudge and cookie dough in the back of the refrigerator. 

Or better yet, remove it from your home so that you have to go the extra mile to go out to the store to get it. I have clients who live in apartment buildings that put chocolate bars and candy in their cars. Then, in order to eat it, they have to cross another barrier by grabbing their keys, going outside, walking to their car, grabbing the candy, walking back to their apartment, and then sitting down to enjoy themselves. If they are willing to put in that much effort, they must want it! If they don’t want to go that far, they aren’t indulging out of convenience anymore.

3. Have Ingredients and Foods Ready To Go:

Head to the grocery store and stock up on the foods that help you stay on track so they are readily available. This ensures that you always have food on hand when you are hungry.

Especially When you come home after an exhausting day of work, you have food available vs. making the easy, convenient decision to order out.  

4. Have Gym Bag & Clothes Prepared:

Waking up at 5 a.m. is already challenging, so make that the only difficult part about your morning. 

Have your gym bag and clothes ready to go, so you only have to decide whether you get up or hit snooze again. When you have to think about what you will wear and getting your gym sh*it organized that morning, it just added influence to hitting that snooze button.

5. Find a Workout Buddy:

Teamwork makes the dream work! Find a workout buddy. One of our basic psychological needs is relatedness, meaning “the social nature of human beings and the connectedness with others.” We like to feel like what we are doing can be related. This is going to increase your accountability and motivation. 

CrossFit and other fitness groups can be so popular because they make a great community where you have a sense of relatedness with others.

6. Find a Support System:

“The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Find a group of people to assist you with:

• Accountability Support -  Having someone you report to and check in with will encourage you to stay on track and stick to your guns! Also, having help for some extra motivation never sucks
  
• Emotional Support - As you know, fat loss is hard and can be quite emotional. Having the community to share those emotions and vent can help you work through challenging times and stay focused!
• Educational/Practical Support - You can learn much from others! What they do for meal prep, grocery list, or how they get in extra movement outside of the gym. This knowledge you gain will help you know how also to take action and apply it.

Overall, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

7. Love From a Distance:

Now, you don’t need to ditch your friends, family, or anything like that, but whom you spend your time with or who is constantly in your environment will influence you to do or not do certain things.

We all have family or friends who encourage unhealthy habits or like to throw in their unsolicited comments on what we eat or do.

If these people are battery drainers vs. battery chargers, it will make the journey a bit more challenging.

If that means setting some rules to distance yourself from some people who aren't valuing the things you value, then go for it. 

Who you surround yourself with most of the time is going to be what you end up being like.

In conclusion...

Setting up your environment for fat loss is crucial! Making these changes to your surroundings can create an environment that supports you to stay on track and progress towards your fat loss goals.

Achieving fat loss is not just about training your discipline - it's about planning and creating an environment that allows you to make easier and fewer decisions to support your behaviors.

-Kevin

As I Am