During the journey of trying to change your body shape, you are likely to come across several challenges. Some will be internal, such as your personal development, confidence, and determination, while others will be external and not always in your control.
When it comes to external challenges, one of the most common is pressure in social situations. This can come from several different directions, such as friends encouraging your to drink and eat more, family encouraging you to go to events that may take you off track, or simply being in environments that are not conducive to staying on track and making progress.
If you struggle with this, you will find it very hard to make positive changes to your body shape if this is not addressed. So, how do you deal with it? What common strategies can you use to overcome these potentially tricky situations?
Make Others Aware
One of the first things you should do when faced with this potential situation is to make those around you aware of your goals and what you are trying to achieve. You can then explain the reasons for you choosing to not go out of control with food, alcohol, or anything else that will dent your progress. Once people are aware of this, they will likely be supportive of your decisions and not force you into anything you don’t want to do.
Surround Yourself With The Right People
Despite having a great plan in place, there is a chance you will run into some challenges during your social events. One of which can come from other people at the event, such as your friends or colleagues, who will encourage you to drink or eat more than you originally planned. As a result, despite aiming to consume in moderation and stay on track, you end up binging and drastically exceeding your required calorie intake.
So, when you enter these social events, it is important not to be forced into these situations that affect your progress. This means surrounding yourself with friends, colleagues and family who understand your goals, support you and don’t force you into doing something you don’t want to do. This does not mean cutting off all ties with people you enjoy spending time around, but more about choosing wisely and knowing who is most likely to support your decisions. Once this pressure is taken away, it hugely improves your chances of staying on track.
Don’t Be Afraid To Say ‘No’
When you do come up against some tricky scenarios where you feel pressurised, you must also take responsibility for your own actions. This means saying ‘no’ when you feel it is getting out of hand and not sabotaging your own progress. Of course, you will not want this to end up in a confrontation with friends or family, but knowing your limit, having a balance and be able to stop with confidence will be huge in having a sustainable lifestyle whilst also making progress at the same time.
Have An Inspiring Goal
For you to build habits and stick to the plan, you must have a deep, emotional goal that inspires you during your journey. There will be days when you are tired and not motivated to do the tasks required to reach your target, and this is often when you can fall off track. However, if your goal is so inspiring that you know it will dramatically improve the quality of your life in a number of ways, it will matter more to you, meaning that you will find increased determination and consistency. So, find out your deep ‘why’ and link each important habit to that.
Limit Difficult Situations
If the aforementioned strategies fail to work, the best thing you can then do is simply limit the number of potentially difficult situations that you may find yourself in. This is through reducing the number of nights out, meals out, or social time around people who pressurise you. Of course, this does not mean you can’t go out and socialise with those you spend time around – this is key for sustainability and enjoyment of the process – but if these environments are also throwing you off track, it is a good idea to reduce the number of times you put yourself in these situations.
Summary
So, if you are struggling to deal with pressure from social situations, there are ways in which you can combat this and make progress. These include letting people know about your goals, surrounding yourself with the right people, not being afraid to say ‘no’, having an inspiring goal, and limiting the number of difficult situations you put yourself in.
By doing this, you should be able to have a great balance between maintaining a fun social life and making positive progress with your body shape.
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