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Why am I self-sabotaging my diet and exercise plans?

Joanne Fazel • Feb 10, 2022

Why am I self-sabotaging my diet and exercise plans?  It's not you.... It's Resistance

Do you have all the good intentions of following a healthy eating plan or making those changes to your lifestyle that you know will make you feel better but you struggle to stay on track and be consistent?

Often, when I ask women why they are finding it difficult they say things like:

• I’m just so busy I can’t seem to find the time
• I meant to but I didn’t have the energy to cook from scratch
• I couldn’t find the right equipment/gear to exercise
• I was too tired at the end of the day

These could all be true, yes, but they aren’t the REAL reason that we find it so hard to stay on track with a healthy lifestyle.

So, what’s really going on? Well, it’s something called RESISTANCE. And resistance is fuelled by fear. Fear of the unfamiliar. Because the ancient part of your brain (the caveman brain) has one job and that’s to keep you safe. And anything unfamiliar and outside of your comfort zone means one thing – DANGER!

Resistance is at work when you want to:

• Get that big project done, but never find the time
• Start a business, but never make a plan
• Learn a new hobby, but never sign up for the class
• Get fit and healthy, but never follow through

Resistance is often in charge of most of our decisions in life, but we’re mostly not even aware of it and that’s because Resistance is a little bit sneaky. It doesn’t come right out and say ‘Change is too scary’ or ‘I’m scared to venture outside my comfort zone’ or ‘I don’t know what else in my life will change if I change’.

No - if it was obvious like that then the more rational part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, would quickly pick up on those thoughts and identify them as irrational and proceed to disregard them, leaving you free to pursue the new behaviour in peace.

But instead, Resistance tries to sound logical and sensible and it makes a good argument as to why you shouldn’t do something. It tells you that the new behaviour you want to try is:

• Too hard
• Too complicated
• Not the right approach for you
• Not the right time to try it
• Not working for you
• Not what you need right now
• Too tiring

It says:

• You should really do a bit more research before jumping straight in
• This is a special occasion and you should let your hair down and indulge or it won’t be enjoyable
• You’ve got so much on at the moment, you won’t be able to focus on it so you’ll start when things calm down
• You aren’t in the right headspace for anything new right now
• You deserve to eat the treats, you can start again next week
• Your weight isn’t that bad, you’ll lose it when you’re ready
• My family won’t want to make the changes so it’ll be too hard to do on my own
• You aren’t fit enough to start exercising, you won’t be able to keep up
• You haven’t got an appropriate space to exercise in peace
• If you stop drinking alcohol you won’t be able to relax properly or socialise

Do any of these sound familiar? Maybe you can identify where Resistance might be showing up in your life and making it hard for you to stay on track with healthy habits?

So, the big question is ‘How do we stop Resistance?”

First Step

The first line of defence is actually just becoming aware of it! Resistance relies on you not noticing what it’s up to and thinking that it’s talking sense. Now that you know better you can practice stopping in the moment of having the thought and saying ‘aha! I see you Resistance and I know what your game is!” 

As soon as you do that, it weakens its power over you.

Second Step

Start visualising what your future will look like if you continue to let Resistance be in charge of directing your behaviours and choices – how will that affect your ability to stay on track with weight loss or a healthy lifestyle?

 If you give in now and do what Resistance wants (staying inside your comfort zone), where will you be in 3 years’ time? What will you be doing; how will you feel and what will you have accomplished? Will anything have changed at all? Will you still be struggling to stay on track with your diet and exercise plans?



Third Step

Accept that Resistance isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s a part of you that’s always going to continue piping up and doing its job to try and keep you safe (even if it’s actually doing the opposite).  

So, let’s invite it along for the ride. That doesn’t mean that it gets to drive. Let it be the annoying passenger giving directions – that doesn’t mean you have to follow them – there’s always another route. Listen to the rational-sounding argument that Resistance is giving you, and then ask yourself “Can I do it anyway?”


If you’ve been trying hard to stay on track with diet and exercise to help your menopause symptoms, but have struggled to stay consistent with them, then my 12-week menopause health coaching program is for you!

As well as finding the nutrition and lifestyle changes that are most appropriate to help you balance your hormones and reach your goals, we will also uncover the ways in which resistance rears it head in your life and find strategies that help you move past them so that you can consistently stay on track with a healthy lifestyle, helping you create a happier, healthier and more confident menopause journey. 

I offer a FREE breakthrough session to discuss your goals and where you are getting stuck and to find out if my program is the right fit for you. Book your session at https://calendly.com/feelgoodforlife

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