5 Common Mistakes Mums Are Making In Their Health & Fitness

As our New Year begins we are kicking off with a BANG ! We have introduced our 2 week trial once again and our group classes are coming back better than ever. They are specifically designed to help women jump start their fitness and feel beautiful, healthy and confident this year.

2 weeks of commitment, support & results !

Once the 2 weeks is over we can discuss long term overall goals and how we can help you get there ! Our mission is to provide the ultimate positive experience when we introduce you to health and fitness with guidance, face to face & online support and direction to help you get started and stay motivated !

One aspect of our type of training that I love is that we provide you with workouts, nutrition guidance and mindset help when you fall off the band wagon. When it comes to making life changing changes and working towards your goals we are their every step of the way.

In fact, when it comes to weight loss, nutrition can be the make or break for your results

But how ?

Where do you start ?

What information can you truly rely on and how does a busy mum like you implement this into your day to day life ?

Improving your current health & lifestyle situation can be so confusing, especially with the amount of FAD diets, pills, powders and friends giving you so much advice it's hard to know what to do or where to turn to.

To get you started I have created a list of the 5 biggest fitness and nutrition mistakes women make and how to avoid them.

1. Putting Everyone Else First

A common struggle point I hear from our women at the studio is their hesitation to do something. They have 'mum guilt' about doing something for themselves and it takes them a long time to try something new, like joining a fitness program, because they are so use to putting everyone before themselves.

It is a known fact that women care, whether it's about a child, husband, pet, parent, stranger they will always help out anyone in need and sometimes even put themselves on the back burner just to try and please everyone.

As rewarding as it is to help out our family & friends it can sometimes become to much. You then start feeling stressed & anxious, start gaining weight, feeling bloated, unhealthy & unhappy and then find yourself emotionally & physically drained to where even the thought of doing something for yourself seems to hard.

The thing is you deserve to be a priority. You should be at the top of your to do list every day ! And you shouldn't feel bad about it. Looking after yourself is not selfish it's necessary because if you crumble the empire you have built will crumble as well.

Putting yourself and your health first will not only make you healthier (obviously) but you will become more energetic to keep up with your children, become more positive and have a better outlook on life and be able to stick around longer for your family.

When you are not functioning properly and your body is feeling drained, your mind & body finds it hard to focus and help those around you.

2. Cutting Out Food Groups

For some reason this big myth that 'If you eat carbs & fats you have no hope of losing weight" has been circling for decades. The lack of knowledge and understanding about carbs and fat can be where the scared mindset surrounding these macro nutrients can stem from.

It is so important that you include the three main nutrients in your diet every day (carbohydrates, fats & proteins). In order to see long lasting results you need to create a habit of eating whole foods, your body needs and knows what to do with real food ! These days eating has become so complicated and hard to understand when it should be one of the most simple things we do in our life !

Under eating and not giving yourself the right nutrients when you start training can be so dangerous for so many reasons. A few health issues that can come with under eating and over training can be:

- Fatigue and low energy levels

- Disrupted sleep

- Skin issues (dry flaky skin, acne, etc.)

- Increased risk of soft tissue damage (tears, sprains, strains)

- Chronic pain - general soreness, stiffness and achiness

- Digestion issues bloating, constipation, diarrhea

I like to be flexible with my nutrition but not overboard where I am seeing no results. I use the 80/20 rule and after a few trial and errors have found this not only works the best for me but also my clients. I like to eat well during the week and then on the weekends I treat myself if I want to and I do this completely guilt free. It helps keep me balanced and makes this a long term health change rather than it staying like the for 4-8 weeks.

I have never felt deprived or felt the urge to binge which makes this so easy to stick to ! If you would like more information on the 80/20 rule then click here to read an article from verywell fitness to learn a little more.

Please be careful and do your research before you take nutrition advice from anyone and more than anything listen to your body and give it what it needs when it needs it!

3. Not Lifting Heavy Enough

So many of the women I talk to on a daily basis have this mindset that lifting weights will make them look bulky. They believe that if they lift weights that are to heavy they are going to turn out looking like the hulk which is the furthest thing from the truth !

Many women who come to the gym want to tone up but some refuse to even touch weights and unfortunately that comes down to the simple myth they were told that one time. One thing I see way too often is that women will life weight but will never push themselves.

This is an issue because in order for your muscles to grow and have the look of being 'toned' they need to be challenged. If you are heading into the gym every week (great work, consistency) but doing the exact same workout routine with the exact same weight you know what's going to happen ? After a few weeks you are going to stay exactly the same ! Your muscles will become accustomed to the weight and routine and pretty much go 'alright, we got it now !' and have no reason to adapt, change or grow.

The way to fix this is to be sure you are struggling and feeling fatigued. I am not talking about struggling on your very first rep but say you do 3 sets of 10 reps on that 10th rep you should feel like you need to have a break. If you feel like you could keep going for another 5,10,15 reps then you need to lift heavier girl !

Remember to continuously push and challenge yourself because that is when you, your body and results will thrive.

4. Jumping From FAD Diet to FAD Diet

This a bit of an addition on from #2 but we have all been there, haven't we ? Getting advice from friends and family that this diet helped them lose 20-30+ kg's in 2-3 months. You think wow, if it worked for them it must work for me to ! This diet seems to good to be true and almost 99% of the time, it is.

Most diets either don't work for you at all or work for a while and then they stop working all together. This cycle has happened to so many of my women at the gym. They try out different meal replacement shakes, types of pills and powders that they 'swear is helping' and then 2-3 months down the track come back to me and find they are worse off than when they started !

I like to call these yo-yo diets because you are always so up and down with your eating, your results, and that causes your life and mindset to yo-yo as well ! So why do people try when there so much evidence to suggest they won't work ?

Because we want the quickest and easiest results that we can get and when we start off with that mindset you should already know that it is not sustainable for the long term. Those who start diets see success early in the program and that's because they restrict themselves so much

Low or no carbs -- restriction

Low fat -- restriction.

Low calorie -- restriction. 

These deficits in certain foods work for a short time mainly through a drastic drop in calories and we see weight loss. 

But how do we feel?

Ask anyone about their results, they will brag ! Ask them how they're feeling ? You will hear terms like:

"I am so hungry !"

"I am so tired"

"I just want to eat what I want when I want !"

With these feeling and thoughts in your head it is only so long before you give up all together.

5. Not Recovering Properly After Training

When we first kick off our fitness journey the most common feeling is sore. Your muscles are aching and you can even find it hard to do simple tasks like walking but that is only because you are building up that strength and fitness that you have been lacking for so long. It can be hard but the worst thing to do is sit around and feel sorry for yourself.

Having sore and achy muscles can be one of the biggest reasons mums fall out of their health & fitness journey. They find it restricts them from doing day to day activities and makes looking after the kids, husband and house a little harder. However, when they drop out they don't get to experience all of the positive things that come after the soreness passes. They don't get to experience the strength, the healthy body, glowing skin and overall more self-confidence.

When you feel sore the best things to do is stretch, move your body and eat foods that will help you recover. Click here to find a list of foods that can help you recover quicker and feel more energetic !

---

And that my loyal followers is the top 5 biggest mistakes the mums at my gym have made when they start up their fitness journey. The mums that had made those mistakes realised, changed and adapted their lifestyle to change their life into one they were happy to live.

Are you ready to make that change ?

Are you ready to stop making these mistake and start feeling beautiful, confident, happy and healthy this new year ?

Then head on over to the FIT4U Training Facebook page by clicking here and book in for your 2 week trial for $20 TODAY.

Thanks everyone and if you enjoyed this blog post remember to share with your friends

- Maraea x