Stop Just Ticking Boxes and Start Changing Your Body: The Psychology Behind Results
The Brutal Truth on Why Your “Perfect Routine” Isn’t Delivering Results
After I’d been exercising 1-2 days per week for a year and then decided to take things more seriously with both my training and my nutrition, it felt like I was making a millionnnnn choices every day… cardio, meal prep, tracking, supplements, getting to bed on time, scheduling my day, but not getting as much progress in return as I was expecting.
I was ticking boxes left, right, and centre, but my body didn’t look or feel any different to how it did 2 months prior.
And that’s when I realised: being busy is not the same as being effective.
Doing everything yet not seeing results
You might know the feeling… where you’re showing up to every workout, meal prepping on Sundays, trying to hit your steps, tracking food, even squeezing in extra cardio, yet your progress pics look identical to the ones you took a few months ago.
It’s frustrating because you’re mentally feeling stretched thin and like you’re already doing everything, but your effort isn’t translating into tangible results.
The truth is, not all actions are created equal.
Some are needle movers.. and others are “false effort,” things that feel productive but don’t move you forward.
The psychology of ‘false effort’
Psychology research shows humans are wired to crave completion.
Crossing something off a list gives us a dopamine hit, whether or not that action makes a difference.
That’s why buying a new gym outfit feels good even if you skip a few sessions this week, or planning your meals feels like progress even if you end up having a bunch of snacks off plan and not tracking them.
Your brain rewards the act of “doing,” even you’re not making noticeable forward progress.
This is why many women burn out.. they’re spending their limited time and energy ticking boxes instead of focusing on the things that actually drive results.
What you think vs what you actually do
Meal prep is a classic example.
Prepping food can be fantastic tool, but only if you eat it.
If you keep planning meals you don’t enjoy, skipping them, and then ordering takeaway or grabbing a bunch of snacks when hunger hits, it feels like you’re putting in effort… but you’re not benefiting from it.
All you’re doing is giving yourself the illusion of hard work.
I’ve seen clients batch cook plain chicken and broccoli, or beef and rice, just basic meals that they don’t reallllyyyy enjoy (they’re just hoping one day they’ll wake up and want to eat it) then have to put it into the bin at the end of the week while they spent more money on Uber Eats.
Don’t get it confused, it’s not usually laziness, it’s generally a mismatch between planning and behaviour patterns.
It’s ‘busywork’ disguised as progress.
For instance, if you love exciting flavours and fresh food, but dread the plain meal prep you’ve had sitting in the fridge for 3 days, why did you make it in the first place? Did you think it was what you were ‘supposed’ to eat for your goals.. or see that someone else eats it and figured it would work for you too?
In this particular situation I recommend doing a little ‘food audit’ where you figure out what you like to eat (flavour/temperature/texture and so on) and build your meals around the things you enjoy that also work for your goals. If you look forward to the meals you’ve made other options feel far less tempting. I walk you through this process in the Meal Planning Workshop available inside Power Curve.
Why cardio isn’t the magic bullet
Overdoing the cardio is another big trap.
Many women assume more is better, so they grind out 30–60 minutes every day when they want to lose some body fat.
It feels virtuous, like you’re “burning calories” and therefore making progress.
But here’s the science:
Cortisol and stress: Long, frequent cardio sessions elevate cortisol, the stress hormone linked with fat storage in the midsection. If you’re already very busy or have a high stress lifestyle, this will backfire on you very quickly.
Adaptation: Progress happens through supercompensation.. you stress the body with training, THEN it adapts during recovery. Without enough recovery, there’s no or slow adaptation, mostly just accumulating fatigue.
You don’t need daily cardio or training marathons.
You need a balance of strength, smart conditioning, and proper recovery so your body has the chance to respond.
What really moves the needle
The game changers are deceptively simple:
Lifting with intention and progressive overload
Planning/organising meals that hit protein, fibre, and energy needs, and actually eating them
Managing stress so your body doesn’t live in “hold mode”
Allowing recovery so muscles and the nervous system can adapt
They’re not flashy or complicated, but unless you know yourself and your behaviour patterns, it can feel really tricky to “force” yourself to do these things.
How to go from busy to effective
Once you identify your needle movers, everything feels lighter.
You’re no longer buried under endless checklists of “shoulds.”
Training and nutrition will stop being a grind and become a system where every rep, every meal, and every rest day has purpose. You’ll stop wasting energy on things that look like progress but don’t actually move you forward.
That’s exactly why I created the PowerCurve Method. Inside the app, you’ll find tools to cut out the noise and focus on what matters most, check it out here.
The recipe calculator and meal planner make it easy to plan meals you’ll actually eat and enjoy, not bland food destined for the bin. And the recovery tool helps you assess how you’re feeling each week, showing you when to push and when to pull back, so your body gets the balance it needs to adapt and change.
Because the reality is, you don’t need to do everything. You don’t need an hour of cardio every day, you don’t need perfect meal prep for every meal, and you don’t need to obsessively tick every minor habit. However, you do need to do the right things that have the biggest pay off with enough patience to let the process work.
If you’re tired of doing everything yet not seeing results, maybe it’s time to stop chasing the ticked boxes and start focusing on the needle movers.
Hey there, I’m Rachel!
NUTRITIONIST, PERSONAL TRAINER, WELLNESS COACH
If you’re ready to ditch the all-or-nothing mindset and build a strong, confident body—you're in the right place.
✨ Start with my free 5-day Mini Mindset Reset to design a healthy lifestyle that actually fits your life.
🍑 Or join The Power Curve Method, my signature hourglass training program built to shape your glutes, waist, and mindset from the inside out.
While we make every effort to make sure the information in this website is accurate and informative, the information does not take the place of medical advice.
