A grandma who won’t take no for an answer, colleagues who keep bringing cake to the office for their birthday and friends who always order pizza and wine for an evening in - having a social life can often stand between you and your healthy lifestyle. Although those close to you should ideally support you on your journey to becoming the best and healthiest version of yourself, you might find that you have to explain your choices a lot more often than you thought you would. Luckily, as Free Athletes, we know how you feel and therefore collected some tips on how to react when people just don’t understand you or support your goals.
1) Explain your why
When you first start trying to live healthier, you might find that many people will criticize and doubt you. Whether they tell you “you don’t need a diet” or that it’s not fun to hang out with you anymore since you don’t drink, the most important thing is that you explain your why to them. Tell them about your goals, explain why you’re not happy with your current lifestyle and why it’s important to you to change it. It’s normal that people react sceptical to things that they don’t understand. However, as those close to you, they should end up understanding your situation and supporting you once they know how important it is to you.
2) Include them in your new life
It’s natural that most people don’t like change. Therefore, it’s pretty likely that many will try to stop you from changing. Instead of fighting against them, try to include them. Invite them to join you for training or introduce them to your new routine. Bring some homemade healthy snacks with you for the next movie night or meet to cook a healthy meal together. Honestly, who would ever keep believing that healthy food is tasteless after trying a delicious healthy bowl or an avocado chocolate mousse?
3) Always remember your goal
You arrive at the office after a nice morning workout, you’re feeling good and relaxed until your colleagues begin teasing you for being “obsessed with sports”? People tell you that “it’s not healthy to train that much”, that they baked these muffins “just for you” and that “one exception shouldn’t matter, right”? Sometimes it can be frustrating when you are putting in the effort and feel motivated but your environment and the people around you make things difficult. However, don’t give up when people criticize or belittle you for your efforts. Instead, remember your goal and remind yourself why you’re doing this. It’s your life, your choices, your decisions. Stay strong and remain consistent. Believe us, haters gonna hate. So let them talk, and you keep taking action.
4) Find someone to support you
Whether it’s in real life or virtually: The best way to achieve a goal is to surround yourself with people who support you. And the Freeletics Community is always here to help. Find and join a training group close to you, follow Freeletics on facebook and instagram and search for people using the hashtags #freeletics or #freeathlete on social media. By following them and their stories you will become part of their healthy lifestyle and feel more motivated to stick to your own.
5) Think about the 80 / 20 rule
We know that consistency is key to extraordinary results. That’s why #noexcuses is our motto. Still, in some cases it’s also okay to make an exception and eat a piece of your Grandma’s homemade apple pie - it is afterall your grandma. The most important thing about exceptions: Never make them because you feel socially pressured to do so but only go for them if you really really want to. If you are consistent, you’ll know that after this one exception, it’s back to business as usual.
Nothing worth having ever comes easy. Stick to your goals. Ignore the naysayers. Be the person you’ve always wanted to be and start living life on your terms.
