Break the Cycle: How to Build Habits That Actually Stick

Many of us struggle with creating lasting habits—even when we know what works. In this episode of Fuel Your Finish, Registered Dietitian and 4x Boston Marathoner Lisa Nelson shares a personal story about why she struggled to stay consistent with strength training—and how she finally broke the cycle.

Lisa dives into why routines that worked in the past might not work now, how life changes can impact habit formation, and practical strategies for creating new, sustainable habits that fit your current lifestyle. Whether you’re working on fitness, nutrition, or any other goal, this episode will help you think outside the box and take action when old habits aren’t delivering results.

You’ll learn:

• Why repeating the “same old routine” can stall your progress
• How to evaluate what’s really holding you back from your goals
• The power of small tweaks and thinking outside the box
• How to “trick” yourself into building new habits that stick
• Why committing to a dedicated space, schedule, or accountability system can help

Key Moments / Chapters:
00:00 – Welcome & Story Introduction
00:29 – The Struggle: Starting Over Every Monday
00:58 – Life Changes & Fitness Routines
01:24 – The Importance of Strength Training for Health & Performance
02:18 – 15-Minute Strength Plan & General Exercise Recommendations
04:00 – Recognizing When Your Old Routine Isn’t Working
06:08 – Why It’s Important to Ask “Why Am I Not Reaching My Goals?”
06:36 – Thinking Outside the Box: How Lisa Finally Broke the Cycle
08:31 – Applying This Strategy to Your Life & Goals

Resources & Links:
🌐 Transform Nutrition: https://transformnutrition.fit/

💬 Book a FREE Strategy Session: https://l.bttr.to/f57AT

📄 15-Minute Strength Training Plan: 15min workout

Keywords / Tags:
habit change, strength training, consistency, fitness mindset, sustainable habits, routine building, workout tips, dietitian advice, personal growth, Fuel Your Finish, Lisa Nelson, Boston Marathoner, nutrition for runners, healthy habits

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hey, welcome to Fuel Your Finish podcast. I am so excited to talk with you about habit change today. You know I'm always talking about this. Um today I have a fun story to tell you and some applications for you. So I want you to think about an area in your life or business or health or fitness. You know I'm gonna relate this back to health and fitness, um, where you have been trying to make a change or establish a new habit, maybe for some time now, and you keep getting stuck, you keep starting over, maybe every Monday you're starting over on that eating healthy thing, and then by Thursday you're starving and eating everything in sight. Does that sound like you are ordering takeout and eating everything in sight, right? I know we've all been there. Um, so for me, this is a fun story I want to share with you. Well, to me, it's fun. I hope you think it's fun too. Um, so it's been a couple of years now where uh since I've gone to the gym. Okay, I used to go to the gym consistently because I used to work at the gym for a period of time, and I was really great and on top of my strength training, okay. And once I moved back here in 23, I got a little stuck because um I had a life change, but quickly got it back on track because we had a great home gym that we were able to set up. I had all my equipment and you know, seasons of life, right? You know, I'm a big runner, so I'm always out on my runs, but I do like to fit in that strength training because it's super important for overall strength, aging, injury prevention, so I can run as long as possible, right? And so, and really for a lot of people, strength training is important too because you know it's just one of the pieces when we're trying to lean out and be in really good shape and health, right? Um, great benefits for heart health, and just so many things. Metabolism, you know, increasing muscle mass uh increases your metabolism. So all of these are really good things. And so, um, anyway, we moved again about six months ago, and ever since then I realized I have had the hardest time getting consistent with my strength training, and the way that I typically have done it um since we moved back to New Orleans in 23 is that I follow my 15-minute strength training plan, which is gonna be linked here in the notes. Um, this is a great plan you can follow at home, you can follow this at the gym, but it's a great way to get in some a couple of full body workouts throughout the week. And I will just kind of share since we're talking about strength training, general recommendations for exercise and strength training is gonna be two, I would say two full body strength training routines or two full body strength workouts each week is gonna be a really good place. Okay, three would be incredible, but who has time for that unless you're a bodybuilder? Um, one full body workout, whether you split that into two workouts or do it all at once, okay. Um, that's kind of the general recommendation. Okay, one is good enough, that's what I would say. Two is optimal, three is like you're killing it, you're amazing, you're a bodybuilder, okay? And then generally we want to get in about 30 minutes or more of cardiovascular exercise per day, okay, most days of the week. So that's walking at a brisk pace, jogging, elliptical, stairs, bicycle, swimming, whatever you want to do, okay? Whatever makes you happy. Um, and that's optimal. But right, most Americans don't do that, so don't beat yourself up if you're not. Give yourself a huge pat on the back if you're doing all of that, and if you're doing even some of that, give yourself a pat on the back. But this, right now, this session, this is gonna be helpful for you if you're looking for how to establish these routines, okay? Because sometimes we trap ourselves in this box where we like to say, okay, well, this is the way I've always done it, and so this needs to work for me. And so we keep this is back to the keep starting back on Monday, right? Okay, and so for me, I kept telling myself, well, I can do my 15-minute strength training routine, and I can do this at home in the morning, or I can do it in the evening after dinner, okay? But what I kept running into is that I don't have time in the evening, of course not. I have three kids, and I'm squeezing in my runs in the evening, like that's not even logical, right? Okay, but the other thing is I kept telling myself, we'll get up and do it in the morning, and that wasn't working for me either because I just I don't know. I like I just get I get distracted when I'm at home, and what I realized is that when I'm at home, it feels like another thing to do, and so I challenged myself last week. Um, since Mardi Gras and all the holidays, I've been feeling a little bit um just like it's been a struggle to get into this routine, and I know I need to because I'm gonna be honest, those holidays caught up with me a little bit, and you know, having a little trouble following my own advice every once in a while, and so um just not feeling my best, not feeling my strongest, not feeling my leanest. So, really just wanted to dial in on that strength training, and I finally had this realization where I said, Well, Lisa, like you know you can do this, and you're not doing it, okay? So you keep telling yourself you have to restart Monday until you get it. Well, I finally realized just because I do have the equipment at home and because it's worked for me in the past doesn't mean that I'm the same as I was a couple years ago or whenever that was really working for me. And I realized also, I was just kind of asking myself these questions because I think it's important to do a little exploration when we're not reaching our goals, when we have the plan, we know what we need to do, um, and we keep telling ourselves, well, I'm just not doing it. Well, well, why? You gotta figure out why you're not doing it. So if you've been trying to maintain a goal of eating healthy or losing some weight or getting more fit or doing a certain discipline in your business, um, or just in your life, whatever that is, like why aren't you doing it? Okay, and just because you think you can, because it worked before, doesn't mean that you will. And so I finally had this kind of like meeting with myself where it was like, I need to change something because I can keep going around this thing over and over and over and restart every Monday. But if I'm not reaching my goals, well, I'm really not making any progress. And so what I realized is that I just needed to join the gym because, and here's why. Because when I go to the gym, first of all, it feels like a break for me. I'm not saying that it's gonna feel like this for you, this is not a you should join the gym, but what I want you to think about is where in your life are you not thinking outside of the box? Where in your life are you trapping yourself to a certain plan or a certain routine because it's what always has worked for you in the past, when really what you might need to do is realize that you're different now, your routines are different now, your life is different now, your body's different now if you're trying to reach a health goal or a fitness goal, and you need to think outside of the box. If you keep going back to the same thing and keep realizing that you're not moving forward, it's time to make a new plan. Because some of the way that our minds work with routines and new habits is we almost have to like trick ourselves into those new things sometimes. And so for me, I needed to just like trick myself into a new routine, and I realized that I would actually be excited about going to the gym. I like going to the gym because if I try to work out at home, I'm looking around thinking about all the other things that I have to do. Um, I can work at home, but working out at home, I just like it to me, it feels like another thing on the to-do list. And I like to I like to lift weights, but I realize that I need to be in the gym. I need to eliminate all those distractions, and I need to pay for that membership so that I feel committed, and it's actually been feeling really good to get out of the house, and I'm getting great workouts in. But I wanted to share that story because I just really think that if we are trying the same thing over and over and over and it is not working, even though we know it can work and we think it's the solution, we might be boxing ourselves in and we might be limiting our growth because we're not allowing ourselves to think outside of the box. So, where in your life do you feel stagnant and like you are not reaching your goals? And where might you need to think outside of the box or allow yourself to maybe do something differently than you have before?