Do Small Changes Really Make For Big Results?

Five years ago, I stood in front of the mirror, three stone heavier than I'd been a year earlier, with my thumb hovering over the "buy now" button for a pair of 36-inch jeans.

I was seconds away from accepting this new, fat version of myself. Seconds away from giving up. A moment away from settling for unhappiness.

Then something inside me gave my conscience a slap across the metaphorical cheeks

My true self, the one I'd been ignoring for months, gave me a right bollocking. Told me to strap in and get to work.

So I did.

But, I didn't go all in. I didn't turnover my entire life overnight. I didn't start some extreme diet or punishing training plan that was set up for me to fail.

I made one small change. And then another. And then another.

And those small changes mate? They changed everything.

THE LIE WE'VE ALL BEEN SOLD

Let's have it right. The only way to lose weight is to get yourself in a calorie deficit, long enough to use your love handles for energy. End of story.

There's loads of "diets" to have a go on, intermittent fasting, keto, clean eating, FODMAP, and the the diet of the mentally ill, eating themselves into a heart attack, the carnivore.

Each one has its rules and protocols, and every single diet has its own tribe ready to tell you their diet is the best, the healthiest, the easiest to stick to.

But be careful mate. Each fanatic of the diet they follow has an agenda. Maybe it worked for them in the past. Maybe they've got something to sell or maybe it's a combo of all three.

But here's what they stay quiet about:

No diet, no matter how perfect, how scientific, how "proven, "is going to give you long-term success if you don't address the real problem.

And the real problem isn't what you're eating.

It's the behaviours that got you here in the first place.

THE MOMENT I REALISED I HAD A CHOICE

Five years ago, I was overwhelmed. Full of shame. Imagine being a fat health and wellbeing coach, coaching other people how to live well while you're three stone overweight.

It was sink or swim for me. And I needed to give myself the best chance to succeed.

So I met myself where I was.

For the next month, I focused on one thing: getting into a calorie deficit. That's it.

The easiest way for me? Fasting in the morning. I'd done it before. It fit my schedule. I knew what to expect.

I needed to drop a minimum of half a stone (7 pounds) in the month. But I knew that to make a positive, lifelong lifestyle change, I needed to go deeper than just a calorie deficit.

I had to focus on my mindset around food and what I wanted to achieve beyond not being fat anymore.

Because here's the cold truth mate: a calorie deficit is the outcome you need to drop weight. But it's behaviour change that's going to see you through past the moment you've reached your ideal weight or physique goal.

IT'S ALL ABOUT BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

With what we eat, I think we're all on autopilot. Unconscious of our habits and behaviours.

We don't see massive changes meal to meal, so we don't realise how they affect us daily.

But months and years of unproductive eating habits? That's when it hits you like a sack of bricks. Then the shock, the shame and the disbelief comes right after.

This is why starting a NEW diet is mentally tough.

It doesn't matter which diet you go for, you've got to force yourself to do it. You're fighting against decades of ingrained, unconscious, unproductive behaviours.

Throw in your double-busy life, the stress and responsibility of being a fully grown human, and it's no wonder starting a new diet takes it out of you.

The biggest reason your new diet is so bloody hard mate, especially around weeks 5-6 is because you change too many habits at once.

Usually on a Monday morning, you get all your food bought, and wallop, you go all in. "I'm going to smash it this time," you tell yourself on the way home from Aldi.

And then you change too many habits at once. You white-knuckle it for 4-6 weeks. You hit the "fuck it" button. The dam caves in and all your old behaviours flood back in.

Then comes the feeling of failure, an acceptance that maybe this is just you now.

Sound familiar?

THE STOIC APPROACH: SMALL, DELIBERATE ACTIONS

If you follow my blog, or any of my social media, you'll know that I'm a practicing Stoic, the philosophy has saved my life. The Stoics have a concept: premeditatio malorum. The premeditation of evils.

It's not about being pessimistic. It's about anticipating obstacles and preparing for them.

When you go all in on a new diet, you're not preparing for obstacles. You're hoping they won't show up.

But they always do.

Life kicks off. Work gets stressful. The kids get sick. You have a bad week, .and all of a sudden, the rigid plan you've been white-knuckling? It falls apart.

Long-term lifestyle change needs a calmer, more forgiving systematic approach.

Small behaviour changes, one at a time mate.

Once a one new habit change becomes part of your life, you don't feel like you're fighting it anymore.

Then you move onto the next and go again.

Be mindful. Be present every day.

You're not going to like this, but give yourself 12-24 months to unpick all those unproductive habits and lay the groundwork that's going to last you a lifetime.

Or, you can keep doing the same old shit and get the same old results.

WHAT I DID DIFFERENTLY

When I started my quest to drop this 3 stone and more, I didn't change everything. I made one change: I stopped eating a shit breakfast.

That's it. One change.

For the first month, that was all I focused on. Getting comfortable with fasting in the morning. Learning how my body responded. Building the habit.

Once that felt normal, once it stopped feeling like a fight, I added the next change, which was hitting a protein goal for the day.

Then the next, eating only wholegrain carbs.

Then the next, cutting out UPF (ultra processed food) 6 days out of 7.

Small, deliberate actions. One at a time.

And here's what happened:

Within three months, I'd dropped two stone. Within six months, I was back to the weight I wanted to be. Within a year, I'd built a system that didn't require willpower or white-knuckling.

It just became how I lived.

And that's the difference between a diet and a lifestyle.

A diet is something you do for a few weeks until you can't anymore.

A lifestyle is something you build, one small change at a time, until it's just who you are.

THE TRUTH ABOUT SMALL CHANGES

There's no diet that's ever going to give you long-term success if you don't address systematic, small behaviour changes, one at a time.

It's going to take longer than you'd like. It's hard to hear, I know. Believe me, I know.

You know what's even harder?

Having to buy baggy clothes to hide a body you're not happy with. Being unhealthy. Failing at every "new diet" you jump head-first into. Being poorly all the time. Knackered. Irritable. Frail. Weak. And feeling your mind slip away as the years tick over. You know the worst part, teaching the kids piss poor nutrition and lifestyle habits.

That's harder.

So here's the choice:

You can keep chasing the next diet, the next quick fix, the next "this time will be different" moment.

Or you can accept that real change takes time. And it starts with one small decision.

THE SMALL CHANGES THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Here's what I focused on, one at a time:

Month 1: Fasting in the morning. No breakfast. Just black coffee and water until my dinner.

Month 2: Adding a protein target and more vegetables to every meal. Not cutting anything out, just adding more good stuff.

Month 3: Eating only wholegrain’s, lentils and chickpeas for my carbs and giving myself one day to eat UPF. Not eliminating it completely, just being more intentional about when and how much of it i ate.

Month 4: Training 2-3 times a week. Short, compound focused sessions. Nothing you've not seen before and nothing extreme.

Month 5: Improving sleep. Going to bed earlier. Creating a wind-down routine, which was reading in bed.

Month 6: Being more mindful about portion sizes. Not restricting, just paying attention and walking away from my plate when i started to feel full.

Each change, on its own, didn't feel like much.

But stacked together, over six months? They transformed everything.

And what was the best part: none of them required willpower. Because I gave each one time to become normal before adding the next.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

If you're reading this desperate to kick on and your thinking, "I don't have 12-24 months to wait," I know that thought process very well.

But here's some tough love that will put your future into perspective: the nest 12-24 months is going to pass anyway.

You can spend the next year chasing the quick fixes, going all in on diets you can't sustain, and ending up worse off that where you started.

Or you can spend the next year building something that lasts.

One small change at a time.

And if you want help with that, if you want a system that actually fits your life instead of fighting it, The Fit Dad Collective is a great place to start.

For less that 2 pints a month, you get a weekly workout, nutrition guidance, live Q&A calls, access to a portal of video lessons, and a community of dads who are building the same thing you are, all leading to small, actionable changes you can actually stick to, without the all-or-nothing bollocks.

Because that's how real change happens. Not all at once. But one decision at a time.

LET'S SEND YOU HOME ON A POSITIVE

It's never too late to start improving the rest of your life. I started to turn the ship around a 36.

Today, I'm asking you to do me a favour, mate. Don't let another year pass you by where you look back and regret not taking action.

Start small. Focus on one change at a time. Show up for yourself every fucking day of the week. And be patient.

Do this, and I know you can move forward.

So here's my true self yelling at you: Strap in, get to work, and transform your life.

Your future self will thank you.

Before you go mate, if you want the small changes you can actually Stick To?

The Fit Dad Collective is built for dads who are done with all-or-nothing diets and want a system that actually fits their life.

For less that 2 pints a month, you get a weekly workout, nutrition guidance, live Q&A calls, access to a portal of video lessons, and a community of dads who are building the same thing you are, all leading to small, actionable changes you can actually stick to, without the all-or-nothing bollocks.

If you like the sound of making small, actionable changes with no extreme nonsense then click the link below, oh and you can cancel anytime, no questions asked or forms to fill out.

Join The Collective and start building something that lasts for £11.97/month.

Show up, work hard and go get what you want.

Yours in health

Rick