4 Barriers to Consistency in Your Healthy Diet/Lifestyle
Do you struggle with being consistent when it comes to healthy diet and lifestyle? If so, this blog post is for you. Today, I’m sharing the top underlying causes that I see in clients who struggle with consistency….
1. Your expectations are inherently unsustainable
Are you trying to be consistent in something that is inherently unsustainable? Perhaps your expectations or the behavior itself just isn’t sustainable long term. This can manifest in multiple ways - here are a few common things I see:
Tracking/counting everything you eat
Restricting certain foods/food groups
Implementing too many changes/new habits at once
Implementing behaviors/habits you don’t actually enjoy
Implementing behaviors/habits that conflict with other priorities in your life
What to do instead:
Consider what your expectations are for yourself. Be honest whether these expectations are actually sustainable, or not. Do you enjoy the behaviors you’re pursuing and do they allow space for the other priorities in your life? Don’t set yourself up for failure by making things harder on yourself. Lean in to what you know you enjoy and be sure the behaviors and habits you’re pursuing are sustainable.
2. Your definition of consistency requires perfection
Often, we don’t realize we’re holding ourselves to a standard of perfection. If consistency for you means upholding your expectations perfectly, you are setting yourself up for failure. This mindset often leads to “all on/all off” tendencies or ultimately "falling off the wagon.” In order to be consistent in our healthy lifestyle we have to make space for flexibility and balance. In my practice, I help clients discover what this approach looks like for them so they can nourish themselves well while also having the flexibility to eat and enjoy all foods.
What to do instead:
Redefine your expectation of consistency. Recognize that true consistency and perfection are not the same thing. In order to be consistent in your pursuit of health, you must make space for flexibility.
3. Your “WHY” is rooted in something other than self-care, self-love or self-respect
Have you ever considered the motivation behind your pursuit of health? WHY are you pursuing these behaviors? In our culture, we often pursue health from a place of self-judgement with the sole intention of changing the way our body looks. In order to be consistent in your health, your desire to be healthy must be rooted in the fact that you already love and respect yourself, not *so that* you can become something worthy of love and respect. Judgement will never be a sustainable motivator.
What to do instead:
Begin by having an honest conversation with yourself around your current motivation in pursuing health. Is it rooted in wanting to simply change the way your body looks? Is it coming from a place of self-kindness or from self-judgment? Improving your body image is the perfect place to start. Check out my blog post on body image here that includes a free worksheet to start improving your body image today.
4. You don’t truly believe you can be consistent. You identify as “inconsistent.”
Maybe you don’t actually believe you can be consistent. In fact, maybe you’ve labeled yourself or identify as an “inconsistent” person. This limiting belief alone can prevent you from being consistent in your health.
It’s possible this is simply a false belief (because not everything we think or believe is true) or maybe it’s based on past experience. If it’s based on past experience (a history of inconsistency in your health) consider if you were inconsistent because of any of the reasons listed above. Were you trying to be consistent in something inherently unsustainable? Was your standard of consistency actually perfection? What was your motivation behind the behavior?
What to do instead:
Acknowledge if any of the above reasons played a role in your history of inconsistent health behaviors. Have some compassion on yourself and recognize that everyone is capable of establishing consistency in their health when pursued on a foundation of sustainability, flexibility and self-love.
Does any of this strike a chord with you? If you’re ready to implement a sustainable healthy lifestyle, I’d love to support you in discovering what that looks like for you! Apply now to become a client.