THE BEST KEPT SECRET FOR LOSING FAT EFFORTLESSLY!
Did you know that by the time you’re winding down for the day, you’ve made an average of 35,000 decisions across the day?
From what to wear, what to eat, whether to snooze the alarm or not. All these decisions are important and play a role in helping you set the tone for the day.
But the decisions don’t stop there. As your traveling to work, at work, on your lunch break, there are still 100’s of decisions that you’re making. Each of which demands a level of mental & emotional energy, in order to make the best decision possible.
So by the time it gets to the evening and you’re making decisions, such as whether to work out or not, you’re most likely mentally & emotionally exhausted. In this state, the chances of you making decisions in line with your goals are much less likely.
Not because you’re lazy, not because you need another coffee, but simply because you have become a victim of decision fatigue.
Over the course of my career helping people reach their health & fitness goals, there is one thing I have noticed with every client, especially in the early days of their journey.
As they begin working out, their ability to focus on their form and technique is optimal. Most of the reps are performed in a controlled manner, allowing the exercise to work the target muscle more effectively.
Over the course of the session, muscular fatigue eventually sets in due to an increase of lactic acid. At this point, most people tend to become a little less focused on their technique, and more on just getting through the exercise.
The effect, that decision-making has on your mind, can almost be viewed in the same light. As you become more exhausted across the day, there is a lesser focus on making the best decision and more on just making a decision.
As complex as your brain is, it also has its own ways of managing the amount of energy it uses over a given period of time. Social psychologist Roy F.Baumesiter stated that “When your brain is tired, it conserves energy by making impulse decisions-or by making no decisions at all”.
If you take a moment to think back about the past few evenings, I’m sure you can begin to make the connection as to why less thought was given to certain decisions, if any at all.
So how does this relate to your ability to lose fat & optimise your health?
Roy F.Baumeister, went on to suggest that low levels of self-control and willpower are often a result of spending long periods of time decision making.
Now when it comes to being able to lose fat effectively and manage health, most people’s struggle isn’t necessarily with training or nutrition. But rather, their inability to continually make the choices that best serve them and their goals.
After spending most of the day exhausting the mind, these are some of the decisions that are left to be made in this state of decision fatigue;
Should you work out or not?
Should you cook or just order a takeaway?
Should plan your meals for the next few days or just wing it?
Should you get into bed early or watch the next episode of that show?
If you’re completely honest with yourself, you can begin to see how decision fatigue could be affecting your choices and thus limiting the amount of progress you’re making.
At the beginning of your journey, you might feel motivated about where you want to get to. This can often be the driving force that allows you to exercise the willpower that is necessary, in order to keep making those tough decisions.
However, as you get further along your journey, there is one thing that is guaranteed to happen. Motivation will slowly die out and becomes a less than frequent visitor.
This is where it becomes even more important to look at how you can create the best possible environment for your mind, body, and health to thrive in.
To help you do just that I have put together my 5 top tips to limit the number of decisions you have to make, build your ability to continue making better decisions, and get you the results you deserve.
1. Create a morning routine.
Having a routine allows you to create a set of habitual behaviours that you don’t have to think about. This alleviates some of the fatigue caused by all the decisions that you often have to make first thing in the morning. Your routine could include a set time you wake up, what you do in the first hour(s) of your day, your first meal of the day, and the route you take to work.
2. Unload the information overload.
With the increase in the amount of technology the average person uses, our brains are constantly working to try and keep up with the amount of information it has to sort through. Something as simple as opening your email inbox multiple times a day comes with a decision of whether to open, read, ignore, delete or mark as spam per email.
The same categorising decisions are made for every social platform you might check on before you start your day. Whether to like this post, read the caption, ignore it, click on this link or watch the full video. Limit the amount of time you spend on such menial things or perhaps set a time later in the day to do this, after you’ve dealt with the most important decision for your day.
3. Schedule some quiet time across your day
Have you ever wondered why you tend to stumble over great ideas when you’re in the shower? This isn’t a coincidence. At that moment in time, your mind is not having to deal with any demands of everyday life, which gives room to your pre-frontal cortex (the part of your brain responsible for thinking). Giving yourself time to tap into this part of your brain, allows you to make stronger neural connections leading to better decisions.
4. Plan ahead
It probably sounds cliche, but with this new insight into decision fatigue, it should hit home a lot harder. If you took an hour or two each weekend to plan, what days and times you were going to work out, plan some meals for the week you’d have fewer decisions to make in the week. It no longer becomes a question if you have time or feel like working out, but you’ll know when it hits quarter to, it’s time to get your gym gear on.
5. Create a not urgent & not important list.
Across the week, so many things will pop up that demand your attention. Often many of these things can be delegated to someone else, a later time or just whenever you have downtime.
Create somewhere that you can access easily (notes on your phone) to jot down these things as they come in. You’ll create more mental fatigue trying to hold it in your head throughout the day, whilst keeping tabs on everything else you have to remember. You can then come back to this list at a later time in the day or week, to give them your undivided attention.
