Nobody wants to hear that the basics are the answer
I had a conversation this week that I have had about four hundred times
A lovely lady asked me what she should be doing differently
She had already tried the 5:2
She had tried cutting out carbs
She had tried the shakes, the app, the 30 day challenge, the gym membership she used twice
So she wanted to know what the NEXT thing was
And I had to tell her the least exciting sentence in the entire fitness industry……
You already know what to do
Water. Food. Movement. Sleep
That’s it
That is the whole list
I could see her face fall a little bit
Because it sounds like nothing, doesn’t it ?
The basics are not the boring bit, they’re the whole bit
Here’s the thing that nobody makes money from telling you
The women who get results and KEEP them are almost never the ones doing something clever
They are the ones doing something dull, on repeat, for months
- Drinking enough water
- Eating enough protein and enough veg
- Moving their body a few times a week in a way they don’t dread
- Getting to bed at a reasonable hour more nights than not
Nothing there would sell a single online programme
And yet it works, over and over again, on completely different women, with completely different lives
Where it actually goes wrong…
It is not that you don’t know the basics
It’s that you keep trying to do all four of them PERFECTLY, starting Monday, forever
You go from two glasses of water a day to three litres
From no veg to meal prepping seven Tupperwares on a Sunday afternoon
From no exercise to five sessions a week
From scrolling until 1am to lights out at half nine
You last about nine days
Then life happens (a poorly kid, a work deadline, a birthday, a bad week) and the whole beautiful structure collapses
And because it all collapsed at once, you decide the problem is YOU
It isn’t you
It’s that you asked yourself to change four things at 100% instead of four things at 60%
Doing them brilliantly does not mean doing them perfectly
Brilliantly means boringly repeatable
Here’s what that looks like in real life
**Water.** Not three litres tracked in an app. A glass when you wake up, a glass with each meal, and a bottle that lives on your desk so you drink without thinking about it
**Food.** Not clean eating. A source of protein and something green at most meals, and enough food that you’re not starving by 4pm and eating everything in the cupboard. If you’re still eating cake at your niece’s birthday, good, that’s the point
**Movement.** Two or three sessions a week that you will actually turn up to, plus a walk most days. Two sessions you do beats five sessions you plan
**Sleep.** Pick a bedtime you can hit on a normal Tuesday, not your best Tuesday. Then defend it like it matters, because it does. Everything else gets harder when you’re knackered. Your appetite, your mood, your training, your patience with your kids
Read those back
None of it is impressive
That’s how you know it will last
Consistency isn’t all or nothing
This is the bit I want you to take away
Consistency does not mean never missing
It means missing and coming back the same week, not the same season
You will have days where you drink two coffees and no water
Weeks where you get to the gym once
Nights where the baby is up four times and sleep is a joke
Those days are not failures, they are Tuesdays
The women who succeed are not the ones who never fall over
They’re the ones who stopped treating falling over as a reason to stop
So what now?
Don’t fix all four
Pick ONE
The one that, if it were sorted, would make everything else feel easier
For most of the ladies I work with it’s sleep, and they’re always surprised
Do that one thing at 60%, for two weeks, unglamorously
Then add the next
That’s it. That’s the strategy. No new plan required
If you want a hand working out which of the four is actually holding you back (and someone to keep you honest while you sort it), that’s basically my whole job
Come and have a chat with me >>> book a consultation