Why your social life could be ruining your fitness goals

Getting fit is rarely as simple as buying new gym clothes, downloading a workout app and promising yourself that this time will be different, because the real challenge begins when your fitness goals collide with your social life.

You may be serious about exercising during the week, drinking more water and watching what you eat, only to find yourself sitting at a restaurant on Friday night with friends who have ordered enough food to feed a small office, and while someone suggests “just one drink” and another orders a platter, before you know it, your carefully planned healthy weekend has disappeared.

This does not mean your friends are bad for you, because it simply means that people influence people, and our habits are shaped by the environments we spend time in, while food, alcohol, sleep and physical activity are often deeply connected to our social lives.

The problem is especially noticeable when socialising always means eating, drinking, sitting or staying awake until ridiculous hours.

When every celebration involves food

Food is one of the biggest ways your social life can interfere with fitness, particularly because birthdays, dates, office parties, family gatherings, brunches and casual meetings often revolve around food.

In Kenya, telling someone you are watching what you eat can sometimes feel like announcing that you have joined a strange new religion, because there is always someone asking, “You are not eating?”, followed by the plate of samosas, then the cake, then the nyama choma, before someone tells you that life is too short to count calories.

Of course, enjoying food is part of life, but the problem begins when nearly every social occasion becomes an excuse to overeat, because if these occasions happen several times a week, the extra calories can quietly undo the deficit created by your workouts.

You do not have to reject every meal with friends, but instead, become more conscious of portions and how often you are eating simply because everyone else is eating.

The weekend can become your fitness enemy

Many people are disciplined from Monday to Thursday and then completely change personalities on Friday, because during the week, they wake up early, exercise, prepare meals and drink water, while come Friday evening, the rules disappear.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying your weekend, but two or three days of overeating, drinking and sleeping badly can make it difficult to maintain consistency.

Alcohol is particularly tricky because it can contribute calories while also affecting sleep and recovery, and poor sleep can then leave you tired the following day, making exercise feel like an unreasonable personal attack.

This creates a cycle where you go out late, sleep badly, skip your Saturday workout, eat heavily because you are tired, and then promise yourself that Monday will be different, only to find yourself starting again when Monday arrives.

Your friends can influence your habits

People naturally copy behaviours within their social environments, so if your closest friends spend most weekends going out, eating takeaways and staying awake until sunrise, it becomes easier for you to do the same.

The opposite can also happen because a friend who enjoys running can make you more likely to run, a colleague who goes to the gym after work can make exercise feel normal, and a partner who enjoys cooking healthy meals can make better eating habits much easier.

This is why choosing your environment matters, although you do not need to abandon friends who have different lifestyles because you simply need to recognise which habits you are repeatedly adopting from the people around you.

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