80/20 Your Health

Ashley Richmond -

Hello!

Welcome to Monday!

This week’s issue is going to be a little bit different than usual in that I want to address something related to habits, instead of one specific habit. However, this idea can be applied to all of your habits.

One thing that I hear often from my clients and readers is that it’s really hard to be consistent. I’m sure you can relate to this. Have you ever felt like you just can’t stick with a diet? Or you can’t go to the gym 4 days a week, every single week?

Staying consistent is really hard, but it’s also really important if you want to reach your goals.

So I want to use this week to address something important: You don’t have to be perfect in order to be healthy.

People approach their health with the idea that they need to be perfect, or else it’s not even worth doing.

I want to change that narrative.

Importance

“What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn’t much better than tedious disease.” — George D. Prentice

I think this quote sums up the issue - stressing about your health is no better than being unhealthy. I think most of us know by now that the impact of stress is huge. And so stressing about being unhealthy or not being able to maintain good habits is just adding to the problem.

What we need to understand is that our habits don’t need to look a certain way to be beneficial. And they definitely don’t need to be perfect.

I really like this explanation by a New Zealand functional training company, The Evolve Training Collective, which was co-founded by Harriett Hlavac whom I have had coach me in Olympic lifting. She is incredibly talented, and has also grappled with the challenges of pursuing health.

“When you lead a busy life —

Consistency is king when it comes to progress with training. How we approach consistency when life gets in the way is important.

It’s easy to get into an “all or nothing” mind state when we are too rigid with what our training “should” look like — and then write training off as a result. This could be because:
- you can’t spend your normal 60 or even 90 mins in the gym like you normally do
- you don’t have the energy to complete training at your “normal” intensity (or expected intensity)
- you have an injury or niggle
- you are away for work or a holiday
The more we break our commitment to ourselves with training, the less we trust our word to ourselves, and the less confident or able we feel in achieving our goal. We then lose motivation.

It’s the showing up for ourselves that really matters - keeping and honouring the commitment we make.

We need to allow our training to be flexible and adaptable - and to meet us where we are. It doesn’t need to look a certain way every session to be beneficial.”

Implementation

  • Be okay with not being perfect with your habits.
  • Something is always better than nothing, even if it’s just 5 minutes of exercise or one serving of vegetables.
  • Consistency is more important than doing things perfectly.
  • Remember that biology works in averages - it’s what you do most of the time that matters most. I write about this more in-depth here:
  • A Simple Concept That Will Make Your Healthy Habits Easier (free Medium link)


But to summarize:

Nutrition

We don’t need to eat well 100% of the time.

Unless you have allergies or intolerances, or have to eat a certain way due to a medical condition, you’ve got more flexibility than you probably think.

As long as we’re eating well 80% of the time, we’re going to be okay.

This might look like 4 healthy meals and snacks each day and one less healthy meal or snack (assuming 3 meals and 2 snacks per day). Or, it could be eating well 6 days of the week and having a free day one day per week. Maybe 80% of the food on your plate is healthy and 20% isn’t as healthy.

Whatever will work best for you, having about 80% of the food you eat be “healthy” (whatever that means for you) will allow you to achieve good health.

Sleep

We can use a similar idea with sleep - as long as we have enough sleep about 5-6 nights per week, we’re okay. A night or two of bad sleep isn’t going to hurt you.

Getting stressed about not sleeping is going to be counterproductive. Relax and know that a few bad sleeps now and then is okay.

Exercise

We don’t need to spend hours in the gym each day to be healthy. In fact, a 2015 study has shown that as little as 2 minutes of walking per hour has the effect of reducing one’s risk of dying by one-third. 2 minutes x 16 waking hours = 32 minutes a day to reduce your risk of death by a third.

If you want to go further, you can include exercises such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) which allows you to achieve a lot in a very short amount of time. Similarly, compound lifts such as the big 5: squat, deadlift, bench press, barbell row, and overhead press allow you to work multiple muscle groups at once, therefore reducing the amount of time needed to work out.

Key Takeaway

Most of us don’t need to reach 100% peak health. While this may be ideal, 80% is still incredibly healthy.

So remember, biology works with averages — it’s what you do most of the time that matters most. Don’t stress if you eat a piece of cake, or have a bad night of sleep, or can’t go for a 2 hour run. You don’t need to.

You’re going to be okay.

Before You Go

Whenever you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you:

1. Send me an email.Interested in losing 10-20lbs in the next 90 days? Reply to this email saying “Interested” and I’ll see if I can help you!

2. Join the FREE Facebook community.Connect with like-minded individuals, get support, and learn more about how you can optimize your health and fitness.
3. Read my articles.I post articles on a regular basis on Medium. Learn more about how you can improve your health and create a fulfilling and meaningful life.
If you don’t have a Medium account yet, sign up here and support my writing.

4. Get access to my 30 day Weight Loss Accelerator course.If you’re struggling to see results from your training and want to shed fat and create a high-energy body, sign up for the 30 day course.