Short break is ruining your health. Getting a fresh start isn ́t the magic solution you thought is would be.
“I will resume exercising and healthy eating after I don ́t have so much stress at work…After Mom gets out of hospital… January 1… After the holidays… next Monday.” While this kind of “pause-button mentality” makes sense for you, it could be ruining your health and fitness.
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Please don’t get me wrong.
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I am sure you want to do your best. Sometimes you need to consider taking some time off and start over when life feels easier.
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At the same time this completely natural reaction is one of the fastest and assured ways to sabotage your plans to improve your nutrition, fitness and health. 
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Here is why and what you could do about it.
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Short Break is Ruining your Health
FRESH START AFTER “FAILING” IS A REALLY COMFORTABLE THOUGHT
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That is the reason why gyms and courses are full in January or in September after the holidays.
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“Give me that cake. I will be starting my diet on Monday!”
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New start could be tomorrow, next week or even next year. Pushing the “pause button” gives you some kind of relief. It gives you a moment to take a breath from what could be really tough. This relief together with illusion of magical “better time” makes you convinced that it is better to take a break.
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Listen.
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I get it.
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It can feel impossible to try to workout regularly and improve your eating habits when you are under stress / going to holiday / raising small children / taking care of aging parents.
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That is probably why all “fast fixes” like 9-day detox or 90-day diets/workout programs are so popular. Or do you know some adults who has more than 90-days to go all-in while chasing their fitness goals?
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Short Break is Ruining your Health
WHAT ARE YOU LEARNING FROM THESE SHORT CHALLENGES?
You will learn the skill of getting fit or eating “perfect” within a very short period of your life.
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WHAT YOU WILL NOT LEARN?
The skill of getting (and staying) fit in a “normal”, complicated and busy life how your life actually is. That is the reason why the yo-yo diet kind of thing (same with exercising) has become so common.
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IT IS NOT WILLPOWER YOU ARE MISSING. IT IS ABOUT SKILLS AND PLAN
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In most scenarios you learn how to get fit under tightly controlled situation in your life. You build one new skill when you are motivated and stick to it for a short period of time. You keep going as hard as you can while trying to speed up the process even more by doing or restricting more to get results faster. You keep going until you run out of gas and crash.
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What you did not learn is the ability to get fit under real-life conditions.
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That is why results won ́t stay. Not because you don’t have willpower.
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Short Break is Ruining your Health
WHAT WILL BE DIFFERENT NEXT TIME?
After working with hundreds of clients, I have had several discussions when client is telling me that low-carb diet and exercising 4x weekly was the secret to staying in shape.
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- “Well, if you know it, why you aren´t actually in shape? “ I must ask this painful question
- “Uff, because it is so busy at work, kids are driving me crazy and holidays are just coming. It is so hard to stick with plan…but once everything settles down and holidays are over, I will start again with program and get in shape again! I am just taking a short break.”
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This answer sums up the problem perfectly. This client is a typical client who knows only one thing: how to get in shape by following very challenging program when the conditions are perfect.
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The rest of the time, when conditions are not perfect, this client push the “pause button”. Waiting for better time. While waiting she is losing the health and fitness she worked previously so hard for. No need to mention that this happens all the time.
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Now, ask yourself, what will be different next time when you start again?
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Honest answer in majority cases is… nothing. Nothing will be different.
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Because… life is just happening. And it something WILL happen again next January, or after the children are older..
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What will you do then?
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Short Break is Ruining your Health
ACCEPT THE FACT THAT LIFE HAS NO SHORT BREAKS
The lesson I want you to understand, you like or not, life is not going to change. There will always be something.
You can ́t take timeout from life.
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There will never be a situation when things are magically getting easier. You can’t quit working, being a parent or your personal demands. Neither you can ́t escape the need for health and fitness in your life.
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WHAT IF YOU TRIED TO TAKE A SHORT BREAK IN OTHER AREAS OF YOUR LIFE?
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Imagine you have a great opportunity at work. You have a chance for promotion and you want to show your boss what you are able to. For the next two weeks you must focus on upcoming presentation.
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Problem is that your young children are hanging around you and needing your full attention.
Would you say to your spouse “Honey, I will take a short break being a parent now. I will be staying at a hotel. Don’t contact me.”
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I don’t know you, but I could imagine that this is not going to be the solution.
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You can’t go for a short break on being a parent. Even you you probably have thought about it 😉
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Just like you can ́t take a break from being married and not end up divorcing or can ́t stop showing up in work and expect not to get fired.
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You will not always be the best possible version of you. Most of the times you are just doing your best. You keep going.
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So why do you expect to be any difference in fitness?
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Short Break is Ruining your Health
HOW KARIN WAS ABLE TO DO IT?
One of my most successful clients, Karin had exactly the same problem as described above. Life was busy and she thought about break. Fortunately she was ready to try this time something different. We end up for program what looked like this:
- Max 3 workouts per week
- No more than 15 minutes per session
- Only bodyweight exercises
She did this for 3 months.
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Was it the best workout ever? NO!! Was she fitter than ever after 3 months? NO WAY!!
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But was it better than taking a short break and doing nothing? OH YES!!
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You see, being perfect for short time is not the point. “Completing” perfect program for 90 days is not the point.
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Giving “best possible” effort for any time is the point. To keep going. Sometimes it means doing less that you would like. But the point is not giving up.
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Like you know “all-in or nothing” attitude rarely gets you to “all-in”, it usually gets you for“nothing”.
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That is why I love to use sentence “Something is always better than nothing”.
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ADJUST THE EFFORT INSTEAD OF SHORT BREAK
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I love to think about fitness and nutrition efforts with scale from 1 to 10. There are times that I want to raise my efforts up but also times when I must turn them down. But I never want to turn efforts completely off.
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Here are examples of how you can adjust your effort:
Level 10 means you work out every day. Every meal is planned. You fill your day with meditation and meaningful activities. You do not think much anything else than fitness. Honestly if you are not preparing for competition you will never need to be on level 9 or 10.
Level 7-8 would mean that you workout 4-5x a week and prepare your meals for a week in advance (protein + veggies and balanced macros at each meal) You do something nice for others and have minimal screen time. Focus on sleep.
Level 5-6 includes 3 workouts and some daily walking. You have protein in every meal and veggies or portion of fruits in most meals. Daily walk outdoors with loved one or dog. Hug a loved one or 1 massage a month.
If you are above level 5, you are better than most of the people.
Level 3-4 you workout 2-3x per week or do some short max. 10 minute workouts more often, sit at a table for most meals and try 1 new healthy recipe/week. You make regular 5-min breaks from work for fresh air and turn off electronics 30 min before bed; read book and chill.
Level 1-2 would mean that you park your car farther from office to walk more and take the stairs instead of the elevator. You replace one meal with less processed one and/or add side salad to your lunch. 5 min relaxing time before bed. 5 min to plan next day ́s workout/nutrition.
You see it is easy to scale down your level of effort. I am personally mostly on level 5-6, sometimes even lower. But always remember:
“Something is always better than nothing”
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Once you accept the fact that there will always be in life and there will never be such as “perfect time” you will be good. You will always have a short period of times when everything seems to be perfect. But most of the times you are trying to survive. These are the times what counts the most.
What to do next?
Fitness is like everything else in human life. You are doing the best you can in challenging and complicated circumstances. You, like everybody else, are living in messy, imperfect life. In short, we are all human.
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If you can just keep moving forward, no matter what happens, no short breaks, you will be the winner.
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Short Break is Ruining your Health: Here some strategies for getting out of “pause button” mentality.
- Try “Adjust your effort method
Think your fitness like described above 1-10. If you want to go up to 10,
- What would your workouts look like?
- How your nutrition is?
- What other habits you need to practice?
Go through your life, where you are right now? Would you like to make any adjustments? Could you move up on effort scale? If so, what would that look like?
On the other hand… should you move down on scale so you can have include health and fitness a part of your life even during a difficult time?
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Aim for little bit better
You know that all-in or nothing attitude usually leads for nothing. What actually works are small improvements. You might not sleep because of your newborn baby or you are traveling and need to eat on airports. These are not ideal situations but look around. Be creative. See if you can find some small tiny thing that you could do better than you would normally so.
2. Anticipate and plan ahead
Since you know things will get busy and you can ́t always live ideal life. Ask yourself:
What is likely coming on the way of what you hope to accomplish?
What is something I can do today to help me going when those things happen?
For someone it might be spending a little time on a Sunday evening to prepare for next week’s meals that you know what you will be eating when it will get busy.
Don´t be upset if things go wrong even you are prepared, they will always go in some point. Just learn from that and ask yourself: what can I do better next time?
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What to do now?
If this feels a lot for now, like it might feel. I just want you to know that I have helped hundreds of people struggling exactly these problems. Creating a plan what fits to your schedule and situation in life will help you a lot. No need to mention that you have somebody looking over your shoulder and keeping you accountable that you are actually doing those things what you know you should be doing. Online coaching is nothing magical, you will find all the information also for free. But I guarantee that it will work. I am actually so sure that you will love it that I have guarantee for my services. If you are not happy with my services, I will return all you money back without asking any questions within first two weeks.
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You have absolutely nothing to lose. Write me a mail to turo.virta@hotmail.com or fill out contact formula in https://personaltrainerturo.it/online-training-english/ and let´s organize free call with me. I am offering completely free consultation call for your goals and after you can decide if I am right person to help you to reach your goals.
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