3 Habits You Can Change to Stick to Your Exercise Plan!

If you find it so easy to start and so hard to stick to your exercise plan then this is for you! The saying goes that the hardest thing is to start. That my friend is a lie!

The hardest thing isn’t to finish. The hardest thing is the middle. The getting up every morning early after the honeymoon period has worn off, the doing more laundry than your sedentary self would ever have to do, having to choose exercise over some other things in your life, and having to convince your friends or your family that this is something you’re not willing to sacrifice… all of that happens in the middle  and that’s the hardest.

If you’re about to the finish line in a race, or just doing your own walk or run… it’s easy at first, and you have a burst of energy and an I-could-have-done-more at the end.., but the middle is where it’s hardest. 

This short post is all about how to stick to your exercise plan. I’ve been dwelling on this recently because it’s fall. I’ll link to a recent podcast about how I do it. After I delivered it though I felt like there was something missing. The tools to actually do it and nail down why you might be – like so many of my students and private coaching clients – having a hard time. So there are three things that really need to change to stick to your exercise plan.

Let’s dive into them. And before I do this is a shameless plug for the sponsor of this episode, my new strength training program STRONGER. No matter what else your goals are – avoiding disease or getting off medication, boosting your mood and energy, avoiding osteoporosis, or just loving life more because you’re well, stronger, it’s a built-for-women-50-and-over strength training program. It’s everything you need and nothing you don’t if you have limited time but want to start and not get overwhelmed. 

Check it out right now while I’m recording. We start October 1 and you can register for STRONGER now. Once we start doors are closed but you can find out how to be the first to be notified when we open the doors again. 

Weight training is about so much more than getting your muscles stronger. You’ll know it when you experience the magic of other women supporting you inside the STRONGER group.

So now, let’s dive into these three things you want to change in order to stick to your exercise plan. These obstacles will have to go.

#1 You have fictitious obstacles that are your limiting beliefs and personal “rules" 

• You have to do the laundry first
• You have to do the dishes first 

• You have to have supper on the table at _____________.
• You have to do a full hour (or even 45 minutes or 30) instead of taking advantage of 10 or 20 minutes
• You are tired so you should sleep in.
• You can’t lift/walk/swim…. So you’re not going to do anything
• You have to leave the house clean before vacation or unpack before you do anything else when you get home

#2 You need to know your numbers

• Inches and percent body fat
• You immediately know whether what you’re doing… whether that is the number of workouts you do or don’t do, the weight PLUS the inches and the body fat are telling you
• Blood pressure, cholesterol, resting heart rate, tracking things like hours you sleep

All of these will help you see evidence what you’re doing does matter – even if that scale doesn’t change.

#3 You’re hiding behind someone else

• You have to work
• Your kids need you
• Your spouse doesn’t like it when you do something else

I would so appreciate you leaving a rating in iTunes! It really helps spread the word about the possibilities we have in the way we age. And it helps shunt women with hormone imbalance away from standard exercise prescriptions that don’t fit their needs.

Here’s the link to leave your rating and comment.