Set The Right Attitude And Avoid Fitness Burn-Out

You’ve made the decision to start an exercise regimen and watch what you eat.

Yay! A decision to make healthier choices is the first step toward a healthier, fitter you. Kudos to you for taking this oh-so-important step.

Whether some event triggered your decision, or you just decided it was time to make some changes doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that you’re taking a positive step in the right direction healthwise.

Now you just need to make sure that as you move forward, you don’t get thrown off track, as so often can happen.

Stages of New Fitness Life

When you first get started, you’re super excited and ready to get started.

You buy new workout shoes, along with some great new fitness duds.

You join a gym or purchase a home workout program.

You’re ready to go. Hurray!

A word of caution here, before you get started.

Typically there are about four phases you can pass through on your journey. Knowing what they are, as well as any associated pitfalls along the way will help ensure you stay on track and reach your goals.

1. The Gung-Ho Phase.

This phase is the one where you’re so excited to get started you can hardly stand it. You’re already imagining how good you’re going to look and feel.

You can hardly wait to toss out any junk food you still have in the house and load your pantry and fridge with healthy foods.

You’re excited to get started with your new exercise program.

You enthusiastically jump into your new routine wholeheartedly. Life is great, and it’s only going to get better.

You feel all-powerful.

2.  The Ho-Hum Phase.

After a few days to a week into your new program, your body is a bit achy. Someone brings a box of donuts into the office.

Dinner out with friends turns into a tortuous occasion, as everyone orders decadent desserts as you try to look the other way.

You don’t feel like exercising. You consider skipping it, just this once.

The novelty of getting up early to work out, or exercising after work has worn off.

And that juicy steak is calling your name. Oh, and how about that chocolate ice cream cone’s siren call?

This whole healthy lifestyle thing is harder than you imagined.

3. The Excuse-Making Phase.

Now you’re making all kinds of excuses and rationalizations about why it’s okay to skip a workout or eat that piece of cake.

You’re sore. You’re tired. The workout is hard.

What’s one day off, right? What’s the worst that can happen?

Careful, you’re sunk into the excuse-making phase. Next stop, burn out.

4. The Burn-Out Phase.

By this point, you’ve pretty much fallen off the wagon.

You’ve given it some time, but the scale didn’t move much. Your clothes still feel tight. Even worse, you have this awful feeling they’re tighter than before.

Yikes and double yikes!

What’s the point of pushing so hard for such dismal results?

Isn’t life too darn short to deny yourself all those yummy foods you love? How much difference will it make in the long run if you indulge a bit now?

You’ll only cheat a bit this once, you tell yourself. You’ll get back on track tomorrow, you say.

Tomorrow comes, and you think, heck, it’s the middle of the week. I’ll start again on Monday.

By Monday, your promise to yourself is dust scattered in your rear-view mirror. You don’t see it at all.

Now you’re right back where you were. And you don’t feel great about it all.

You feel like a failure.

It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way

So how do you avoid falling into burn-out phase?

Fortunately, there are ways to stay motivated and in the game so you can achieve your fitness goals.

1. Gung-Ho Phase Fix.

As you might imagine, there’s not a lot you need to fix about the gung-ho phase. It’s more about taking steps to stop trouble in its tracks before it derails you.

The gung-ho phase is where you tend to jump in fast and furious. Instead, pace yourself. Ease into things.

If you’re new to exercise, doing too much too quickly can cause soreness and fatigue. The danger of injury is very real.

Instead of launching into a rigorous cardio workout or lifting significantly heavier weights than you have before, start slower.

If your program has a basic exercise routine, do it. Follow the trainer’s recommendations. They’ve been down this road many times. They know what they’re doing.

Rather than leaping off the starting block, start slower. Ease into your new routine.

Gradually build yourself up, mentally and physically..

2. Ho-Hum Phase Fix.

If you’ve eased into things in the gung-ho phase, you may completely avoid the ho-hum phase.

Pacing yourself and gradually adding more weight, slowly pushing yourself harder, helps you avoid getting bored.

Also, mix things up. Vary your routines. Try something new.

Go for a run in place of your regular cardio workout, just to keep things interesting.

If you miss some of your favorite high-fat foods, explore ways to make them healthier. There are tons of sites dedicated to helping you make better food choices that taste great.

Explore and experiment. Try new recipes. Keep boredom in check.

3. Excuse-Making Phase Fix.

The excuse-making phase is a cousin of the ho-hum phase.

In this phase, you’ll need to reach into your bag of tricks a bit to stay on track.

After you’ve been doing a new routine for a while, and eating the same healthy foods day in and day out, it’s easy to start making excuses.

Especially if you’ve set high goals for yourself, and you feel you’re not hitting them quickly enough.

You may start thinking you’re wasting your time, nothing is making much difference so why bother? And that’s when you’re likely to skip workouts or fall back into old, less healthy, eating patterns.

The key is to make it fun and interesting.

Look through magazines and clothing sites for new clothes to buy when you’ve hit one of your goals. Reward yourself with something fun.

Post a calendar with your fitness appointments — yes, they are appointments — pre-scheduled and cross them off as you complete them.

Crossing off what you’ve completed provides a sense of accomplishment.

Some people find it helpful to post old photos of themselves as a reminder of what they’re working on changing.

Again, find ways to mix it up, make it fun. Invite friends to exercise with you. Join an online group for motivation.

All of these will help keep you from reaching the final, dreaded, stage.

4. The Burn-Out Phase Fix.

The good news is if you’ve controlled and appropriately managed Phases 1 through 3, you’ll never reach the burn-out phase.

But if you do hit burn out, you’ll need to jumpstart your routine again. You do want to avoid the fitness merry-go-round, always circling back again to the beginning.

What keeps people engaged is setting realistic goals, keeping things fun and interesting, and seeing results.

You Got This!

If you follow those simple concepts, you’ll gradually and steadily get healthier and fitter as you work toward your fitness goals.

And keep in mind, long before you hit your ultimate goal, you’ll become healthier, fitter and happier than you were before you started.

It’s not a race to the finish. It’s a lifestyle change.

And with the right approach and attitude, you’ll be sure to stay the course.

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