How to Make our Environment Work for Us

We’ve seen it all too many times before. You come into the gym and work hard for that hour. You go home and eat a healthy breakfast to compliment your workout. You go to work and that’s where the wheels fall off. Your coworkers invite you to go out for lunch. The intern brings in a cake for his/her birthday. You get home and your significant other feels like having pizza. The kids are rowdy and keep you up. Your sleep schedule gets thrown off and affects your workout next morning. Rinse and repeat until you are totally burned out and aren’t achieving your fitness goals. Bottom line: your environment is sabotaging your goals. How do you fix this?

1. Plan out your meals for the week

By creating a menu for the week in which you planned carefully to work with your schedule and dietary needs, you almost eliminate the guesswork and surprise out of your meals. If your kids or significant other doesn’t like the meal you are having, they can have some input. Just be sure that they choose healthy meals. This segues nicely into the next tip

2. Get your household on board

Oftentimes, the people that are sabotaging your progress are the ones you love the most; your family. Sitting down with your family and telling them your goals and what you expect of them can go a long way. They will keep you accountable and help you along to achieving your goals. Small things such as asking how a workout went goes a lot further than you think. I’m not saying force your family into your healthy lifestyle but at least ensure that they will support you.

3. Post your Goals

All too often we forget why we started. If you’ve ever worked with a trainer, you’ve most likely written goals down. Do you remember those goals? Did you achieve them? Sometimes we need reminders. Writing them down on a whiteboard or a sticky note somewhere in your house that you see every day will help you to keep your goals in mind.

4. Coworkers

Most of our day is spent at work. We see our coworkers for a good portion of the day (sometimes to our dismay). Similar to getting your family on board with your goals; get the coworkers in on your journey. If they know you are trying to lose weight, they might bring in a fruit platter instead of cake for their birthday. Your boss may ask how your workout was (as well as if you put the new cover sheet on your TPS reports).

Your trainer can only keep you accountable for the duration of your session. It is up to you to make positive changes in your life. Making your surroundings and the people you are surrounded by work for you can make a big impact on your journey and your attitude towards fitness.

Sean Willitts is an ACE certified personal trainer. He graduated from Kutztown University in 2015 with a bachelor’s in sports management and a minor in fitness. Including training at Body Elite, he is also a record holding powerlifter. He uses his practical experience and knowledge to help his clients achieve their strength and fitness goals.