6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
The other day on Instagram I was asked this lovely question:
How Do I Maintain Consistency?
This is something I see so many of my clients struggling with time and time again, and as my clients are exactly the same as you, I figured this would be a helpful topic for everyone…not just my social media following.
Which if you do not follow me…then it would be awesome to connect with you - because I like making new friends.
In fact…send me a Friend Request right now. If you do, I must warn you: I will send you things. Things that are funny, things that are educational, things about my life, and probably things that are inappropriate…
But that’s what being friends is right…
To send me a friend request just put in your details below - and I’ll send you some freebies right away…
Thank you.
Now back to the topic:
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
The first quote I think I ever came across when it came to the topic of Consistency was this:
I think I read it in a book by Jamie Alderton…or a Podcast I was listening to once upon a time and it has always lived with me.
In my life, there are three huge achievements that I accredit to consistency and others accredit to luck and fortune.
How I keep my physique
Being in one of the most successful West End plays of all time
The Strong & Confident Program and my Personal Training Business.
What people always seem to miss when it comes to these three topics in my life is my diligent ability to understand what Bruce Lee said.
I have built all of these things with the principle of consistency being more important than intensity:
The fact I have never gone more than a month without a workout in my entire life as a minimum, and I stick to my caloric allowance at least 80% of the time and I hit my 10k steps at least 6 days a week.
No one saw the 3000 rejections it took in my acting career and showing up to the auditions day in and day out to get my dream job. No one saw the toll the rejections had on me and my relationships.
People don’t see the fact I post on Social Media at least 3 times a day and have done for 4 years, or the emails I send at 11pm just to make sure I check in with you, the person reading it, or the 9 hours it takes me to write, edit and upload an article like this. This is on top of all my actual Coaching hours too.
I’m not bragging. Not at all. I love and adore my job and seeing the positive effect it has on my clients is truly amazing.
But this is the difference between Intensity and Consistency.
This is the difference between what I actually do…and what people see me do.
And that is what consistency truly is.
Doing the stuff that no one sees over long periods of time. Doing the stuff that the only person that sees the benefit is you - whether that is from mental health benefits by feeling productive and creative - financial benefits - or health benefits.
Consistency is the single place where your results lie.
Table of Contents for 6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise:
Step 1: Have no time limit on your goals
Step 2: It’s got to be hella fun
Step 3: Make sure your goal is achievable
Step 4: Create Bright Lines
Step 5: Have Structured Accountability
Step 6: It’s got to be hella fun
Why is Consistency so important?
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
These 6 Steps have no real order…or rather they have no priority. They are all as important as the next and equally as important as the last.
You have to embrace all of them if you truly want to continue on your path for a period of time that will truly change your life.
They will also help you with consistency in weight loss, business, or anything else you are struggling with in terms of being able to do something you need to do to reach your goals on a more regular basis.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
Step 1: Have No Time Limit On Your Goals
Time Limits suck. They suck so much that they will play havoc with your ability to be consistent.
Nothing in this world comes quickly.
Sorry…nothing that is associated with long term success comes quickly.
And if you set out on a Health and Fitness Journey with a time limit attached to when your goal must be achieved you have fallen foul to two things:
Even your most conservative estimate for what is achievable is still too quick.
Your results will never come quick enough to you.
This isn’t necessarily your fault. The Fitness Industry has sold you “quick results”, “fast progress” and 12 week transformations by the dozen load and it has skewed everyone’s belief in what is actually possible.
As you progress through the weeks on your new fitness program, with the goal of being done in 8-12 weeks, the realization that it's all taking a little bit longer than you had hoped will slowly play on your mind, and then it will only take a week of no movement towards said goals, or a plateau, whether in Fat Loss or trying to get heavier weights on your lifts and bang.
You will miss a Gym session.
You will skip your diet.
You will not be as adherent as you could have been in the first period.
This isn’t because you aren’t good enough, or don’t want it enough - this is just the course of life for most adults. Family, Work and all other kinds of stressors do and will get to you.
And that will mean missed moments - on a very very tight schedule.
And the significance of these missed moments will get larger and larger and larger the more the days tick past…and the more sessions you need to miss.
And then you will begin to realize that your goal is even further away now, but the deadline is the same…and you will grind to a halt.
I bet you are sat there…reading this going….my goodness…GET OUT OF MY BRAIN ADAM!!!!!
Especially if you have ever tried a 12-week Fat Loss Program!
I’m not in your brain. I say this to you because it's one of the most common traps people fall into.
Its because I see this every day - and I am truly blessed that the people I work with on my Strong & Confident Program seem to comprehende this really quickly, and convert themselves to adopting an active lifestyle as opposed to trying to “shred to get wed”.
Therefore by releasing yourself from the time pressure of your goals you will be more focussed on the journey, more focussed on the process and you may even have time to take stock and actually enjoy what you are doing, rather than think its waiting for you like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Whenever I am having this conversation with a client I always remember this quote:
“Becoming is better than being”
You will hear many many many Personal Trainers on the internet refer to “enjoying the process as opposed to focussing on the result”.
That is very very easy to say - and very hard to do.
But this is the first step to learning how to enjoy the process. Forgetting about the result.
When would perform Shakespeare I had to adopt the same process here. You have to learn the words of Hamlet, Othello or my personal favourite character: Benvolio and then when you are on stage you have to just forget that you know the words. When it comes to the performance - you have to just breathe and enjoy the ride. The second you start to think about the words you have to say - you forget them. When you hear actors talking about being in the moment - this is one very crucial aspect of that.
On stage we never think about the performance - the result - we just step on stage and let rip.
Its an incredibly freeing feeling - and you too must do the same with your fitness journey.
I actually have an episode of The Fitness Solution Podcast which is dedicated to this entire principle - with my dear friend Jodie Walker.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
STEP 2: ITS GOT TO BE HELLA FUN
Adherence: “The attachment or commitment to a person, cause or belief”
Sorry to be “that” guy. You know…
“The Oxford Dictionary defines Adherence as….”
But here we are…anywhooooo….
One of the many reasons I managed to go through 3000 auditions as an actor and get rejected from them, one of the many reasons I have been able to write non stop content for four years on Personal Training, and one of the many reasons I am able to keep my calories in order is because all of those things bring me joy.
Let’s take my acting for example. You may well be thinking to yourself that I’m crazy.
Which is fair.
I am sitting here openly telling you that I enjoyed being rejected 3000 times.
I didn’t.
But I loved my days in London Auditioning. The result was inconsequential to me. Of course, I wanted to get the job. But that didn’t stop me enjoying the day I got going through the experience of trying.
For me, it was a day away from my office job. It was something new to talk about. It was exposing myself to an opportunity of improvement, of challenge, and of new experience.
It was a moment to grow.
It was also a moment to fail.
Not that I wanted to walk into the audtion knowing I would fail - believe me - every job i have ever been up for I have given everything I had for it.
But learning from that failure is a joyful experience. Its a badge of honour. I had the courage to risk failure, i felt that fear, did it anyway and opened myself up to vulnerability and strength.
Plus, who cares that I failed. I lost nothing except maybe a little bit of pride - and the opportunity of what I might gain one day form all of these experiences adding up is something that the micro fiaulures along the way are worth going through.
If you can attach this reframing of “failure” to your fitness journey you will be better off than the far majority of everyone else in the world.
80% of diets fail - this isn’t because diets are broken - its because dieting is really really hard - and one of the hardest aspects of them is being able to see the opportunity in the failures along the way.
I can honestly say that out of my 3000 auditions…I truly cared about getting the job maybe 3 or 4 times, and I know that now because I can remember those auditions:
Notes On A Scandal, Eastenders, BT Commercial, Hollyoaks and Kick-Ass.
That was it. Those Auditions were the ones that hurt when I didn’t get them…because I was extremely attached to the goal behind them. I really wanted that job. I truly believed those were the jobs that would change my life. They were the jobs that would have killed my ability to expose myself to it time and time again.
All the others…I can barely remember. But what I do remember is enjoying the process. Enjoying learning new plays, learning new speeches, and discovering new characters.
I didn’t enjoy it. I bloody loved it.
And if you aren’t having fun…there is no way you will be able to carry on doing it for long enough to get the results you want.
I call this the Adherence Loop:
Fun → Adherence → Consistency/Action → Results → Motivation
Make fun your priority in everything you do.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
STEP 3: MAKE SURE YOU ARE TRYING TO STICK TO SOMETHING THAT IS TRULY ACHIEVABLE
By now you should be seeing a common theme with consistency: when you don’t see the results you re after that's what stops you from taking action.
And not setting yourself up for failure is critical to that.
As a personal trainer I see people setting the bar too high all the time:
Setting Calories too low.
Trying to exercise 4–5 times a week.
Lifting such heavyweight to the detriment of form.
Trying to do too much cardio ontop of lifting.
Spending too much money on quick fixes and shortcuts that they can’t keep it up.
Jumping constantly onto the “next big thing”
All of these will result in you not being able to remain consistent - and then ultimately giving up.
This is predominantly the fault of the internet and media - where in fitness we learnt that the quicker the fix - the more you will pay for that product.
And then when you don’t see the results - we aren’t accountable to you financially - you already paid - you already agreed to that “element of risk”. The most classic example of this you will see is something like:
“If you do exactly what we say, you will get the results you want or we will refund you”
And the trianer saying that knows exactly that no human ever will do exactly what they say - because no one can hit their calories each day perfectly. No one can track their food perfectly each day. No one can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they did “everything that was asked of them”.
Therefore, no one will ever be able to claim their money back.
The whole premise is a lie to make the trianer look good - and to coax you into the sale - because when you sign up you either believe you will do everything that is asked of you, or you are naieve to what is actually required.
You must make sure that what you are setting out to do is achievable but the problem is…how do you know if it is or isn’t without experiencing failure from time to time?
You might not be able to avoid that. Failure is always part of the process and every path to success is paved with it, my 3000 rejections for example.
One way of insuring yourself against this is to give yourself micro-goals.
So as opposed to wanting to lose 10 stone in 4 months try this:
Do everything you can to lose 1lb in 4 months…and repeat.
As opposed to trying to run a 5km in 20mins
Do everything you can to just complete the distance…and repeat.
“Practice makes progress”
Through the repetition of achieving such small goals over and over you will give yourself a feedback loop of success…and the big picture will take care of itself.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
STEP 4: CREATE BRIGHT LINES — What is a Bright Line?
A bright-line rule (or bright-line test) is a clearly defined rule or standard, composed of objective factors, which leaves little or no room for varying interpretation. The purpose of a bright-line rule is to produce predictable and consistent results in its application [1]
Jokes aside - how wonderful is it that Britney Spears has managed to get out of the conservatorship.
Back to the topic at hand:
Now is the time for you to get strict. Not restrictive.
A lot of people when they set up a Bright Line in search of consistency they set it up overly restrictively.
A common Bright Line we see in fitness is something like this:
“I’m going to give up Carbs”
It’s a Bright Line: No Carbs for the rest of your life.
But it is also very very restrictive and will, therefore, cause lots of angst and potentially lead to higher intakes of Carbs…you know…“I can’t have it so I want it” syndrome. Whenever you take something completely off the table, you become more obsessed with it.
A better Bright Line in this instance would be:
“I will limit eating Chips to the weekends only”
Let us test it:
It has a clearly defined rule which aligns towards your bigger goal of wanting to lose weight: Limit eating chips.
It’s made up of an objective factor: You can only eat the chips at the weekend.
There is no varying interpretation: You either ate chips during the week or you didn’t.
Will it create a predictable and consistent result? Yes. Because you are eating chips only at the weekends.
A Bright Line doesn’t have to be about restriction though. It could be:
I will eat five different vegetables with every dinner I cook at home.
or
I will go to the Gym at least 2 times every single week
They aren’t pass/fail tests. If you miss a gym session in a week it doesn’t mean you failed completely, it means you just missed out on that one bright line.
This is why it will be wise each week to set three or four bright lines. If you miss one, you can then still find success in the other three, and you know what the priority for the upcoming week is.
I used to think brought lines were strict - but they aren’t - they are there to inspire discipline. I wish I could tell you that you can have total freedom and still achieve your goals - or rather - you don’t need to do any work and still achieve your goals.
But you can’t. There has to be discipline attached to your actions over time.
The key for you to being able to stick to your Bright Lines is making sure they don’t restrict you…but empower you.
One of my favourite phrases when it comes to weight loss is:
“Focus on production, not reduction”
Meaning:
Look at everything you can do to achieve your goal, not what you have to miss out on. Many many many people see weight loss as not having their favourite foods, not being able to enjoy alcohol, and not being social with their friends.
But the truth is, if you focus on production, if you focus on being more active, if you focus on eating as much as you can within your caloric window, if you focus on drinking more water, on going to the gym you live in a world of abundance towards your goals.
And that is more inspiring, than closing things off.
And it allows you to still do the things that might have originally been “off the table”.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
STEP 5: HAVE STRUCTURED ACCOUNTABILITY
In my near 10 year career in this industry I have always worked online and in person.
Without a doubt - those who are more successful are my online clients - because they have to build their own structured accountability - and this empowers them.
You see - when people see me in person, they think that is being accountable enough. They put the ownness on me to create their result. Whereas online - the ownness is on them - and I find that empowers them to achieve so much more.
Tracking your consistency is one thing that is really going to help you keep consistent.
I know it sounds obvious…but you would be amazed at how many people think they are being consistent with their process…and then actually are not.
I almost promise you…that you are not as consistent as you think you are.
In the same way, you underestimate the number of calories you are truly eating [2] you’re also overestimating how consistent you are being.
And this is where structured accountability comes into the fold.
A huge part of what I provide to my clients is structured accountability. But this is far less effective for my clients than accountability they develop and maintain themselves.
Again - I want you to be empowered.
One of my go-to systems for clients is this:
Get a Big Wall Calendar
Stick it on your wall
Set up three-four Bright Lines you are going to do daily and weekly.
Track your consistency on these Bright Lines every day.
If you stuck to the Bright Lines put a big Red Circle on your day:
6. If you don’t stick to the Bright Lines put a Double Exclamation Mark on the day (different colour would be preferable)
Then over the months, you want to be hitting the 80/20 rule. Because remember consistency is more important than intensity and consistency doesn’t mean perfection either.
So for a month, you should have 25 Red Circles — meaning you are consistent - and will be hurtling towards your goals far quicker than if you took one of those “quick fixes”
Ironic isn’t it?
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
STEP 6: ITS GOT TO BE HELLA FUN
Yes. I know this was Step 2 as well.
But it's important. REALLY IMPORTANT.
What you do must be enjoyable. If you don’t enjoy it you will never stick to it.
And I’m not sure that point can’t be said enough.
6 Easy Steps To Stay Consistent With Diet and Exercise
Why is Consistency important?
Consistency is so important as it is your guiding light when it comes to balance. It is your buffer against you failing. If you can be consistent in the ways I have laid out in my 6 Steps then when a slip up occurs you will have so much other information that makes you feel proud of yourself.
Consistency reduces the significance of missed moments - and enhances your sense of overall achievement.
The other joyous thing about consistency is that it grows with you. The more consistent you are, the better it feels, and it just keeps going round and round and round. Then what took effort, soon becomes habit and that allows you to try and be consistent on something that is a level up to what you were dong before.
Understanding that you need to be consistent also allows you to understand that you must have flexibility and balance.
Consistency does not mean you need to be perfect.
Perfection is the enemy of consistency. It is the opposite.
I have many people tell me what their fitness wishes are, and very very often people will say to me:
“To be consistent with diet and exercise”
At which point I ask them: “What numbers are you attaching to that? How often do you need to do it in order to be consistent?”
“Every day” they respond with.
“Thats perfection” I remind them.
And you can see the weight from their shoulders lift immediately. Suddenly what seemed overwhelming is now achievable.
That is a big deal.
My friend on Instagram was talking about how she had an upcoming family holiday and wanted to pack all her stuff to go to the gym whilst she was on holiday. She was very worried about the voice in her head, her voice that was saying
“You are failing if you miss your sessions”
I explain to her that she has control over her thoughts and that she needs to start treating her “thoughts as things”. The only reason a thought becomes important is the weight we give it and whether or not we choose to focus on it.
So we had this chat:
If you take one thing away from this article please let it be this.
Perfection is not necessary and the quest for perfection will eventually lead to you giving up on yourself because it isn’t possible.
Consistency and Balance are possible, and that's what you must always strive for.
So if you are worried about whether or not you are not “being good enough” or whether a day off will wreck your progress ask yourself the same two questions I sent on Instagram:
Is this thought worth thinking?
Does this thought fit into my narrative of consistency over perfection?
And if the answer is no to both, then forget about it and move on with your day.
Consistency will be the ultimate answer for your quest for success in any field.
Business, Relationships, Fitness, Fat Loss.
It doesn’t matter what you want to succeed at you must be consistent and consistency isn’t sexy.
It creates regularity and helps form habits day in and day out. It is the foundation of habit formation. It takes conscious effort to being with, and then develops into something that is more automated.
You brush your teeth every day not because you know that by doing it one day you will stop your teeth from falling out, but because doing it every day will stop your teeth from falling out.
You save your money not because you know £50 one week will help you in the future, but doing that every week for 10 years will pay for your child's university fees.
Your child will never see the £50 a week. They will only know that you are paying for their tuition. There is nothing glamourous about £50 a week, but over a decade £26,000 is a lot of money to anyone.
I’m sure you have seen this in the past:
But its always worth reminding yourself of what success truly looks like.
There is also something wonderful about being consistent each and every day, and that is the concept of compound interest.
Once you begin to be consistent, once you turn those consistent behaviours into habits, and once they become just what you do…then the more room and space you will have to keep learning and trying to incorporate new things.
And that constant picking up of new ideas, habits and behaviours is what will change your life.
If you refuse to allow consistency to rule the roost in your journey you will always be stuck at phase one of your goals, and you can only focus on that for a certain amount of time until you get bored, frustrated and then eventually give up altogether.
What’s Next?
I really hope you found this article useful, and you feel a lot more comfortable about how to keep more consistent with your diet and exercise.
I also have some other articles you might find useful to help you navigate your Fitness Journey:
Added to all of that, if you would like a Free Calorie and Macro Calculator then just put your email in here:
Thank you so much for reading my article.
Speak Soon
Coach Adam