When your goal is to lose body fat, tone up and change their body shape, it is so easy to fall into the trap of ‘winging it’. This means that you are doing things sporadically and off the cuff to try and reach your goal.
This can be many things, from doing too many HIIT sessions, going on any machine that is free in the gym, not having an idea of what foods you should be eating with your nutrition, to having inconsistent sleep. As a result of not having a plan and being consistent, you have no idea if what you are doing is going to work and then you often feel frustrated when you can’t get the results you want, which can often lead to you giving up.
So, why do you need a plan? What are the benefits of having a plan when it comes to your goals of fat loss and improving your body shape?
Provides Clarity
One of the first things a good, detailed plan will do is provide you with a clear idea in your head of what you need to do. When a plan is not present, it can be easy to become confused and overwhelmed at the process ahead – having the mental clarity and belief is half of the battle for many people.
So, a plan needs to be simple and detailed, with a clear indication of the improvement and journey that lies ahead. The plan should also be sustainable, enjoyable, and manageable, which also provides clarity because it gives you an idea of when you will be training and how long for. Once you have this in place, you should find that you have a much better idea of what you need to do to reach your goal, rather than guessing most of the time.
Gives You A Structure
Another huge benefit of having a good plan is that is gives you structure to your days and weeks. When you are doing things off the cuff and spontaneously, your mind will often be scrambled as you will have to constantly think of what you have to do for the day.
However, having a plan in place will structure your time much more efficiently, which means that you can organise your fitness tasks around your other daily tasks, such as work, family and social events. It also allows you to identify when you can have free time for yourself, which can be vital for your mental and physical wellbeing. So, having a structured, scripted day means that you are more organised and can then fit in other daily tasks around the ones required to reach your fitness goals.
Allows You To Find A Routine
One of the most important things to establish when you are looking to get in shape is a routine. If you want to be consistent over a long period of time, which is what is required to get the best results, you have to see it less as an arduous, temporary schedule and more of a lifestyle change. This means changing habits, which may initially be difficult to achieve but the more you stick at it, the easier it becomes because it is part of your daily routine.
Having a good plan helps you to know what you need to do on a day-to-day basis, establish clarity, fit tasks into your routine and then focus your efforts on doing them well every day. You can then identify what times work best for you with your schedule – this is often when a routine is formed. For example, if you used to be sedentary for most of the day, you have now made an hour’s walk part of your daily routine after seeing that as part of the plan. This is vital for results.
Stimulates Consistency
After establishing a routine and realising how you can stick the plan, you are then in a great place to be very consistent in the long term, which is the key component to achieving results, because they do not happen overnight. Having a plan and a routine means that you are organised, clear and structured with your day, which ultimately leads to consistent habits.
You will know what foods work best for you and your goal, what your favourite times to eat are, what training times work best for you, when you can go for a walk, and when you like to go to bed in the evening, among other things. Once this is clear, being consistent becomes much easier because you have made everything gel together, whilst still being able to work and fit in family or social time. A consistent routine will be a gamechanger for your fitness goals.
Gives You A Good Idea Of What Is Working And What Is Not
When judging progress, we look at a lot of areas, such as your body shape, scale weight, body fat percentage, strength levels, energy levels, flexibility, posture, overall feeling, and more. This will give you a great idea of whether or not you are moving in the right direction.
It is also important to know if you are doing the right things to achieve your goal. As opposed to a scattergun, spontaneous approach where you are doing different things all the time, a good plan will feature similar habits to integrate into your day and week. If you then stick these habits, this will then give you a great idea if what you are doing is working and if you need to make any adjustments, which could be the key change to make sure that you keep progressing.
Summary
So, if you want to achieve the best results with your goals of fat loss, toning and getting in better shape, it is vital that you have a good plan in place. This is because it gives you clarity, structure, routine, it stimulates consistency and gives you a much better idea if you are on the right track and if you need to make any changes. Once you integrate this into your life, you will have a much higher chance of achieving the results you want.
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