Stay On Track With The 7-Day Average Method

Consistency over time is key to improving your health and fitness long term. Using the 7-day average method is a great way to stay on track, keep you feeling positive and motivated.

Let’s take step count for example. A high daily step count (or high non-exercise activity thermogenesis if we are being geeky) is an important contributor towards fat loss/weight maintenance. 

Let’s say you are targeting 12k steps per day. The problem with keeping a strict focus on the daily target is that you will eventually fail to hit this target, which will leave you feeling rubbish and de-motivated.

We must understand that life gets in the way; back to back work meetings, kids off school sick or the weather has took a turn for the worse and you just don’t want to go outside. 

Instead, set a weekly target, in this example 84k (average of 12k steps). This will provide greater flexibility, and so on days when you have more time, perhaps at the weekend, you can walk more. Its easier to hit your 7-day average than a strict daily target.

The 7-day average method can be applied to other daily habits:

• Overeaten on calories at the weekend? Reduce your calorie intake during the week. 
• Didn’t hit your protein target yesterday? Eat a little more today. 
• Only trained once last week? Train 3 times this week.

The all or nothing approach to health and fitness doesn’t work. Life constantly throws challenges and different demands on your time. The real challenge is to stay on the “average track” and not completely fall off the wagon, which leads to yo-yo dieting and exercising. 

So make 2024 the year where you stick to the average. Trust us, great things will come from this.