If you are gung-ho to crush your health goals, but then seemingly end up making no progress at all, fitness experts warn that you may be making this one critical mistake: biting off more than you can chew. Resolutions are best achieved in smaller, more ‘chewable’ pieces–ie. smaller milestones that you are more likely to accomplish. Soon, these smaller ‘pebbles’ of achievement add up to a giant pile of success.
‘Too Much, Too Fast’
“The biggest mistake I see, especially in the beginning of the year, is trying to do too much too fast instead of approaching fitness in a more gradual and sustainable fashion” fitness and nutrition expert Michael Matthews tells us. This might mean expecting to go from eating fast food to eating Whole30, or go from a completely sedentary lifestyle to running a marathon (or going to the gym 7 days/week).
“And many people also try to go from no exercise to an hour of intense training per day instead of starting simpler, like with a daily walk, and then working up to 10,000 steps per day,” Matthews, who is the the author of Muscle for Life: Get Lean, Strong, and Healthy at Any Age
So, what should people do instead? Instead of “completely overhauling your diet” start with, say, replacing one daily indulgence or high-calorie, highly processed food with something ‘lighter,’ he says. That makes sense!
