If I was to ask you the question: what matters most for fat loss/muscle building/health and fitness?\r\nWhat would you say?\r\n\r\nNutrition?\r\n\r\nExercise?\r\n\r\nI wonder if you said something on the lines of recovery or stress management? For me, recovery & lifestyle is the forgotten pillar of health and fitness. The industry will sell diets & workouts but there’s a deeper concern that must be addressed to ensure sustained progress.\r\n\r\nBut why is recovery & stress management so important? Here’s a breakdown of how stress can impact your progress:\r\n• Increased hunger and cravings for calorie dense foods\r\n• Poorer energy & performance\r\n• Poorer sleep & recovery (which leads to even further stress)\r\n• Poorer digestion – leading to symptoms such as gas, bloating etc; less ability to absorb the food you eat\r\n• Reduced cardiovascular health & fitness\r\n\r\nStress appears in many forms across a physical, emotional & mental response. The decisions you make regarding your exercise and nutrition can either help or worsen this. Doing more exercise sometimes isn’t appropriate and sometimes nor is eating less/more. What’s appropriate is planning for your individual circumstances and working on changes that are in-line with your current self – not simply moving from one extreme to another.\r\n\r\nYour current body composition and health is a result of past behaviours – behaviours that need to be worked on if you wish to achieve sustained progress. In order to assess these behaviours, it would be advisable to first understand what causes them & to recognise potential stressors in your life that need to be removed.\r\n\r\nProblems arise later down the line when this aspect of self-reflection is missed, often because a person will revert back to past behaviours in times of high stress. Moving forward patiently whilst addressing these behaviours and perhaps the physical and/or emotional cues that cause them will be critical for long-term progress.\r\n\r\n\r\nA Common Problem I Observe Amongst Highly Stressed Individuals…\r\n\r\nA common theme I see amongst people who experience a high stressed state is that their time to themselves is soon forgotten and lost. Many of us perceive the behaviour of being selfish as bad but how can the root word ‘self’ be seen in this way?!\r\n\r\nAt times, you will need to be selfish in order to find the time necessary for you to ‘flick the switch’. Spending time on yourself whether that be through exercise, relaxation, meditation, long walks in nature, or reading a book should NOT be underestimated nor ignored.\r\n\r\nYou will likely always be busy.\r\n\r\nYou will always experience stressful situations across your life span.\r\n\r\nTherefore, having the strategies and discipline in place to down-regulate your stressed state and move back into a ‘rest & digest’ mentality is absolutely imperative if you wish to succeed in improving your health and fitness.\r\n\r\n\r\nA Simple Suggestion…\r\n\r\nThe importance of planning in your time FIRST.\r\n\r\nIf you are someone who experiences high levels of stress and are alike to those who I have the pleasure of working with, you most likely prioritise the care of others and your work above yourself. This is likely a sub-conscious decision, and something you do without thinking too much about. However, I want to contest against this thought process; I want you to put yourself first! Simply put, if you – as a person- are only functioning at 70%, your ability to deliver the best for your family, your work, and yourself is lessened.\r\n\r\nThe simple suggestion of planning time for YOU involves the use of a planner or a journal. The HOW is your choice but taking time at the beginning of your week and/or in your evenings to plan the day/s ahead & the time in which you will spend on yourself & with your family will only help you to separate the stress of the working day with the aspects of your life you enjoy.\r\n\r\nAlthough this is nothing revolutionary, very few people I encounter use such an approach. Instead, the time they allocate to themselves and the things they like to do is very ‘ad-hoc’. Often because of this, and perhaps you can relate, this time is lost if the days happen to be a little busier than normal.\r\n\r\n“All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” – Samuel Smiles\r\n\r\nIn my opinion, the first strategy to lowering your stress will be to take time back: time that can be used for you to relax. Hopefully, this article will help you to reflect on this and how you perhaps approach your own time currently.\r\n\r\nIf you want to discuss any aspects of stress management, please don’t hesitate to reach out through one of either two streams:\r\n\r\nInstagram: @harryjonescoaching\r\nEmail: harryjones_coaching@outlook.com