Most men who join the 30+ Men’s Fitness community say they joined because they want to lose weight, or that they want clothes to fit better.
These men typically start full of motivation and lose a decent bit of weight in the first few weeks.
But then motivation starts to disappear, and old habits start creeping in.
It isn’t long before these guys are back at square one feeling hopeless and lost.
How many of you set yourself a weight loss goal this year, and how many of you are still on track?
There are two reasons for this:
1) Motivation never lasts when you don’t have a proper tangible goal
2) We are emotive creatures, not robots
Let’s look at motivation and goal setting first.
Losing 10lb is not a goal. It’s a byproduct of tackling multiple aspects of your life. It’s what happens when you start tracking what you’re eating and make daily efforts to move more.
But how do we make that change?
The first thing I’m going to ask you to do is to dig deeper than your first thought, which is “I’d like to wear nice clothes”.
Dig deeper until you find your fears. Is it dying young? Is it collapsing in the street with a heart attack? Is it being told you have a chronic disease?
Now make a goal based on that.
“I don’t want to die young. I want to live for as long as possible to see my kids grow as adults.”
That’s my personal motivation. That’s what wakes me up at night. I want to be around long enough for my kids to buy me a pint. I’m obsessed with longevity.
That single thought gives me the drive to get up early and work out. It helps me stay on track with my food.
Now you have your “why”, let’s look at how to make your actions stick.
I can say to you “Ok, just eat 2000 calories every single day for a year, and get in 10k steps each day.” You’d be guaranteed to drop weight.
However, you’re not going to stick to that because you’re not a robot. You’re going to get derailed at Christmas, at family parties and on nights out. You’re going to be under pressure at work and home, especially if you have young children. It’s going to be all too easy to reach for a beer and hammer the snacks.
You’re a human being, and we run on emotions.
The key is to have a tangible goal on the horizon, that means that you don’t let these minor blips set you back to where you started.
You might choose to enter in a series of races like I did. Entering Europe’s Toughest Mudder was a massive goal. I also pledged to raise money for a local suicide charity. I posted about this goal all over social media to keep me accountable.
Simply put, I did not want to fail, so I put in the work. I trained hard, I kept tracking my food and laced up my trainers knowing I’d put the work in.
There are two types of pain.
The pain of change.
The pain of staying the same.
What I want you to do now is take five minutes and dig hard for your why. Get through all the superficial layers and find your fears. Note them down.
Now, go and find a goal. It might be a local 5k race, or it might be a marathon. It doesn’t matter as long as it challenges you.
Now you have your “why”, and you have your goal.
All you need to do now is put in the work.
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