5 Stages of Behaviour Change

Today I started the final module of my Nutrition and Weight Management course: Behaviour Change Coaching.

I’ve touched on this topic in past studies, even back during my Sixth Form subjects, psychology and sociology. How people work, what makes them tick and how behaviours can be shaped intrinsically, by our peers or wider physical environments has always been of interest to me and, in my opinion, is significantly appropriate to building a career as a successful personal trainer and nutrition coach.

If you’ve stumbled upon this blog after a quick Google search or the inevitable click-a-thon using Facebook or Instagram it’s likely that you’re contemplating your current health and/or fitness status, or looking to change your ways for the better. If you’re already into your fitness and use this blog for ideas and inspiration then think back to when you began your health/fitness journey for a second...how did you feel at the beginning? How long did it take you to take that first step and increase your activity or clean up your diet? How many times did you fall off the wagon? Or feel that you weren’t getting anywhere fast? Did you ever feel like giving up? And, most importantly, how long did it take until fitness and/or healthy eating became imbedded as part of your everyday?

A dominant theory for the shaping of behaviours is that of the transtheoretical model of health behavior change. Whilst the theory was originally developed in the 1970s to understand how smokers can break their habit, it has since been applied to understanding near enough every type of behaviour change.

The basis of the theory is that there of five stages individuals experience and work through in order to modify their lifestyle and adopt new practices. These five stages include pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance with relapse also considered as an inevitable part of the process towards change. The model highlights that behavior change isn’t a quick process; people will work through the stages at their own pace – some may relapse just once, others a handful of times and some may constantly yo-yo through the stages but, at the end of the day you can’t go from thinking about making a change to imbedding that change into your life overnight.

Over the next few posts I’ll be breaking down the stages of this model and giving my two pence on how first to embrace them and then how to move on to the next stage and ultimately change your life for the better.

Knowing the five stages and understanding what stage you’re in can help you progress and succeed. For me, knowing how far along you are in the process of adopting new practices means that I can support and guide you in the best way to guarantee your success.

Those of you in the earlier stages will need a different type of motivation to those who have moved into the latter stages and for which the change is well on it’s way to becoming a norm in your life.

Part of my role as a trainer and coach is to keep you on track and hold you accountable. It’s not just about the workouts, the weight loss or the ‘clean’ eating; being healthy is a way of life and it can become a sustainable means to an end.