It’s been a long two years and many of us have gained what has become known as “The COVID-15”; approximately 15 lbs. Many have also waited until the end of the year to start the New Year fresh! 

Starting a new health journey is hard. It’s difficult for those who have never done anything like this before and for those who used to be gym rats but for one reason or another life took over and now they’re back to square one. 

We all know that exercise and healthy eating is important, but it’s hard to figure out where to even start. What exercises should I be doing? How often? What muscle groups to focus on and is the form right? Should I be doing cardio 10x per week or weightlifting? What about stretching and rest days? How are is too hard and what’s not hard enough? How much water should I be drinking? What time should I eat? What should I eat or not eat? Are carbs the devil and root of all evil? Is fat making me fat? Intermittent fasting, the paleo diet, the keto diet, the South Beach diet, the Pokemon diet… oh my.  

And let’s be honest gyms can be intimidating. We all feel like everyone is watching us. Machines at the gym often feel like they require a mechanical engineering degree to figure out how to use them. Free weights are equally discouraging. Free weights like kettlebells, dumbbells, and barbells require you to balance the weight while exerting force. This can be difficult - and potentially dangerous - if you’re lifting weights overhead. Isolation of specific muscles can be difficult and to target the correct muscle or muscle group in a given exercise, you need to use very precise technique. This is why it’s always best to get help from a coach when starting out. 

But lets say you know what to do in terms of exercise and food. You are motivated and ready to crush your New Years goals. 

Day one is great. 

Day two is great. 

But what happens on day 15 when the novelty of the New Year high starts to wear off and you’re getting down into the nitty gritty of the day-to-day. You’re getting bored with the workouts and tired of the soreness. 

The healthy food that tasted so good on day one is starting to look less appealing. 

All of a sudden you’re running late to work because your children decided today was the day they absolutely NEEDED to put on their socks and shoes on “ALL BY MYSELF” and then Boppy the Bear went missing in action. 

  You had to go on a rescue mission before all-out war broke out in your home. Since you spent your time looking for Boppy the Bear, you didn’t get a chance to make your morning protein shake, so maybe you told yourself to grab a morning sandwich from Starbucks. One cheat meal isn’t so bad, you told yourself. 

After a long day, you’re exhausted and have no bandwidth left to cook, so you order out. You opt for your go-to place because again you’re out of bandwidth to research a new place and you don’t want to fight with the kids about a new place. You order a salad because you’re still trying to stay on your plan but then end up eating the kids’ leftovers because it’s “just the leftovers.” 

Somehow you’re still hungry, so you reach for a late-night snack when the kids go to bed and you finally get a little bit of peace. All of a sudden it’s midnight and you’ve eaten an entire bag of almonds. They’re healthy though, right? 

Uh-oh, you look at the bag and realize you just ate 900 calories of almonds. 

The next day you’re bloated and feeling a little less motivated than the day before. You tell yourself a few more excuses and although intellectually you still know what to do to get in shape, it becomes a little more difficult. 

Does some variation of this story sound familiar? Why is that? 

Even if you know what to eat and how to exercise, motivation may get you going but it will not keep you going long enough to experience any sustainable results. This is why people fall off-and-on the proverbial health wagon so often. You need to have the habits of a healthy person to actually be a healthy person. The habits of highly successful people allow them to consistently perform behaviors that breed success. 

But if you haven’t developed those habits yet what do you do? It’s a little like telling a person with no work experience, trying to get work experience that they need work experience to get the job. 

Most people believe that habits are formed by completing a task for 21 days in a row. Twenty-one days of task completion, then voila, a habit is formed. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. The 21-day myth began as a misinterpretation of Dr. Maxwell Maltz’s work on self-image. Maltz did not find that 21 days of task completion forms a habit.

Habit formation is a complicated road and according to Tom Bartow, a successful author and business coach, he says habit formation has three phases: the honeymoon phase, the fight through phase, and the second nature phase. 

In the beginning, when you’re in the honeymoon phase, your new tasks are exciting and you feel invincible. 

Inspiration fades and reality sets in. A person finds himself struggling with positive habit completion and old habits seem to be right around the corner.

This is why when forming new habits, it’s imperative to have a support system and safety net to help keep you accountable. When you want to give up on yourself, your support system will not allow that to happen. When it comes to a health journey the support system takes the form of a coach or team of coaches and your community around you. 

So what exactly is the answer to following through with your New Years’ resolution and achieving the body you’ve always wanted?

That’s where Systems Training Center in Hawthorne comes into the picture! On January 10, 2022, we’re starting a new 42 day fitness challenge.  The Systems Training Center 42-Day Fitness Challenge gives beginners everything they need for a total body makeover... and nothing they don’t. We offer different types of classes to fit your fitness level....even if it’s a 0. You’ll get a custom meal plan with finger-licking food you’ll be excited about eating. And an unbreakable support system that will be your biggest cheerleading and greatest asset (for when you enter the fight through phase). 

If you’re ready to jumpstart your metabolism, boost your self-confidence, and improve health and fitness... we only have 15 spots, apply today. Find out how you can get the challenge for free.

We have helped over 500 people lose an average of 10,000 lbs! We don’t just talk the talk; you’ll get to meet and train alongside other people who were once in your shoes but who have gone through the transformation! 

If you are truly serious about losing weight and being the best version of yourself, set up a free consultation with Systems Training Center. Spots are filling fast!