In my experience as a personal trainer and nutritional consultant under Charles Poliquin's Biosignature Method, I have come across so many mental quirks that just keep derailing clients and their success in the gym or in the kitchen, (fyi; the most important place for making a sexy, healthy body, in my eyes).

This has lead me to enrol in an NLP course (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) to have a better understanding of what it is that is causing clients to self-sabotage; and how I can help them to get their desired result.

Here are a few things I have encountered clients doing:

• Bartering with the universe & giving mixed messages
• Having sabotage fail-safes built into their get fit/get healthy plans
• Not believing they deserve to be fit and healthy even though they want to be
• Being the martyr – taking care of ‘everyone’ before themselves

Any sound familiar?

I believe that mindset is where success begins. If you don’t believe you can do it – visualise it, feel it, make sense of it – then it won’t just fall in your lap.

You will be destined to continue trying the same things expecting different outcomes – not a cool place to be.

This is a place of frustration and feelings of helplessness, like you have tried everything and you’re destined to have this body or this unfulfilling life.

Well, I am here to tell you: it IS there, You CAN get it, just have a good look at yourself, your actions and have a think for a moment.

ARE YOU SUPPORTING YOURSELF?

Here are some insights and tips to overcome the above mentioned sabotages:

Bartering with the Universe and giving Mixed Messages

Saying: ‘if I lose … kg this week then I can have a treat’. Often the treat chosen will add to guilt, stress or financial strain, or undo the achievement of the fat loss.

When the goal isn’t achieved, you have the treat anyway, because you tried hard, right? This is giving yourself mixed messages and setting no boundaries, leaving you with no will power or desire to stick to the plan as you get the treat anyway – and with this, you get no results.

Set your goal and stick to the rules, otherwise you are being spoilt in wanting everything. Having a weight goal is always the first ‘set up for failure’ as body weight fluctuates so much depending on hydration, time of day and sleep to name a few. Aim for goals of lifestyle habits that you know will lead to a better physique, rather than the number on the scales, e.g. eating breakfast every day, and limiting sugar and glutenous foods will set you up for success in the fat loss department.

Sabotage fail-safes built into the plan

This is a common one. Straight out of the gate, ‘I am going to get FIT so I’m going to do 6 days a week at the gym and consume only salads and water’.

Going like a bull at a gate in this fashion only leads to feelings of deprivation causing the want to rebel. The sudden onslaught of gym sessions can cause over training and becoming sick, exhausted or injured.

Give yourself a break and plan for the achievable. To get results you need to change a couple of things, not flip your whole life upside down all in one irrational go! If you change everything at once then what does this leave you to do when you plateau?

Achieve gym workouts 2 days of the week and 50% clean meals for the week; give yourself a pat on the back and then add in an extra gym day or increase to 60% clean meals for the next week and achieve again. This is a positive and sustainable way to achieve results. Just aim to be better than you were yesterday, don’t compare to anything else.

Believe You Deserve It

This is a big one. Do you believe you deserve to be sexy? To feel good about your body? To feel energetic?

Be honest with yourself; this is a very common one along with the fear of success. What happens when you are feeling great and looking sexy? Will people look at you? Will they treat you differently? Will your friends still be your friends? Are you afraid of this?

Visualisation is important here. See yourself how you want to be, how does it feel? How do your friends receive you? Can you hear anything? Make it real in your mind’s-eye. See yourself and what you do when you are sexy and energised.

Visualisation is what our elite athletes use to see their success, and feel it and WIN it. But it shouldn’t be reserved just for the elite; you deserve success too, don’t you? If not, why not? Let go of your sabotages or your goals will always be your goals, never achieved.

The Martyr

Are you a mum? The mum of your friends, or the big sister? Do you take care of everyone before yourself and pride yourself on it? Sometimes this very act of selflessness is what will leave you forever goal setting and never achieving.

Pride yourself instead on being the example; show all your loved ones the way to health and vitality. Show them how to take care of themselves and live life to the fullest through being healthy and strong!

Think about it! If you don’t take care of ‘You’ (You are the Number One), when you’re sick who’s going to take care of your loved ones then?

So there you go. If you realise you do just one of these things, that’s great! Now you can acknowledge what is setting you back and put a plan in place to overcome your sabotages. The first step is always acknowledgement.

And remember: Whoever Perseveres Conquers. If you give up now, you are making failure a certainty.