Better is better than perfect.

Health and fitness are often perceived, and even promoted as an all or nothing prospect.  We regularly get shown images of fitness models with captions underneath promoting a mindset of no pain no gain, or advising people that if they aren't all about the fitness lifestyle then they aren't going to get results.

This is not true.

You may not get results as quickly as other people, you may not get to the same level of fitness or body fat percentage as someone who is completely on point with their training and nutrition, but to say that if you aren't perfect all of the time you won't achieve anything is just incorrect.

This blog post is about taking a different approach, a better approach.  No seriously, that's the approach - just try to do a little better.  Just a little bit.

Instead of changing your usual breakfast of a bacon and egg pie and a coffee from the local bakery to a fruit salad with Greek yoghurt, or an egg-white omelette and a glass of celery juice, how about just taking an apple with you and eating that before your pie?  

Try that for a couple of weeks and see how you go.  You may find that after a little while you don't finish the pie or decide to buy a mini pastry instead.  If nothing else happens you will have added some vitamins and minerals to your diet that weren't there before.  And you know what that is?  That's progress.  That's better.

Perfection is hard, very hard.  Expecting perfection is one of the biggest causes of people stopping their health or fitness programs that I see.  People set themselves up for failure every day by trying to be perfect.  When better is good enough.

Do you usually live on pizza and ice-cream?  Cool, no judgement here.  I love both of those things.  So, how about instead of ordering the super jumbo size pizza, order a smaller pizza and some sides instead - say chicken tenders?  And of course the ice cream.  

What have you done there?  You removed some carbs and fat and replaced it with some protein and fat.  "So what?", you might say.  Well, protein is a key building block that our body uses to repair and rebuild itself.  Carbs are important in their own way but the pizza you just ordered should cover the body's carb needs.

There, simple as that.  You made the meal better.  The great thing about better is that it's all relative.  Better for me isn't necessarily better for you and vice versa.  And it isn't meant to be.  

Another great thing about better is that you can try and be better for a one day each week, for just the morning, for just one meal, even for just one snack - it is all up to you and where you are at with your fitness level and goals.

Better is something we can aim for, but it also means that we can give ourselves permission to have that takeaway meal on a Friday night after a crazy busy week - because we aren't trying to be perfect, just better.  We don't have to feel sheepish ordering the burger at the restaurant with our friends.  Because better is always an option - how about the burger with a salad instead of fries? A burger without the carb-rich bun? A chicken burger rather than a beef burger?  Better gives us options.

Feel like you just can't bring yourself to go to the crowded gym today after a day of stressful meetings and dealing with people?  Go for a walk on your own - better than nothing!  

Once you have proved to yourself that you can make one part of your health or fitness a little bit better, then you can move on to seeing if you can make another little part a bit better.  And you can keep progressing from there.  It is about incremental change rather than trying to change your life in one fell swoop.

Need help with how to incorporate the "better" philosophy into your life?  Get in touch with me through my website and let's work towards a better way of approaching health and fitness together.