February is the month our exercise habit drops off
It’s almost the end of February, how many of us have stuck to our New Year healthy habits? Was doing more exercise was one of them, if it was has it dropped off? Is your Fitbit telling you you’ve been sitting around for too long? According to research, our general motivation levels start to decline as early as the third week in January.
How long does it take to build new habits?
Unhealthy behaviours develop over the course of time and replacing unhealthy behaviours with healthy ones also requires time. Sometimes it seems like we are trying to reassess our whole life in one go but actually, why not work towards changing one thing at a time? It’s much easier and far less stressful!
If you’ve found yourself falling off the wagon, never ever give yourself a hard time, instead, try a bit of positive self-talk, it could help. It’s important to realise that all you need are the tools and motivation to get back on track again. On average, it takes sixty-six days to form a new habit so patience and a positive frame of mind are both really important. Setting small monthly goals are also likely to help you, but make them realistic so you can genuinely see yourself progressing, that’s a big success factor.
Find a buddy and support each other
To form a good habit think about finding some support especially if you’re struggling to stick to your goals. Get back to exercising with a friend and together you’re far more likely to succeed, especially if you give each other moral support and add in a little accountability.
It could just be a jog, a walk or an exercise class. You don’t have to commit to a daily workout at dawn. Frankly, it’s pretty unlikely that anyone could just jump into a 6am routine and actually stick to it. Have you thought about doing more than one type of exercise? After all, variety is the spice of life!
Why not try to go to just one or two exercise classes a week and car share with a friend. Ultimately you need to try and commit to a day and time every single week. When our FLexercise friends come to class together they are more committed to turning up each week, plus our classes are fun so exercising with us never feels like a chore.
In conclusion, refocus again then find some willpower and power through. Because the only person you’re up against is yourself. It doesn’t matter if you fall off or mess up now and again – all have to do is believe in you.
