Do you ever struggle with sticking to your exercise and diet routine?

One skipped workout leads to another, and another, and another. Then, before you know it, your fitness progress grinds to a halt.

This frustrating cycle is all too common.

Many of my clients have asked for a brilliant tip to stick with their exercise plan, and I found the solution in an unlikely place: from the mind of Jerry Seinfeld.

The story goes like this…

A few decades ago, when he was a touring comedian and the Seinfeld show was new to TV, a young man approached him behind stage at a comedy club to ask for advice. How can I become a better comic?

He told the young comic that to become better he should write better jokes. And to write better jokes, he must write every single day.

Seinfeld went on to describe his Chain Method for staying consistent. He hangs a big calendar of a whole year on the wall. On every day that he writes, he marks that box with an X. After a few days you have a chain that continues to grow longer. Now your job is to simply never break the chain.

Don’t break the chain!

While Seinfeld used this brilliant technique for writing jokes, we can use it for fitness. Every day that finds you in the gym gets a big, satisfying, red X. How gratifying to see your fitness chain grow on your wall calendar!

If your goal is to drop body fat and build muscle then consistency is key. Stick to your program every single day.

Build the chain; see the results.

If you aren’t yet one of my prized clients then let’s do something about that. Feel free to reach out to me via email or phone to get started on an effective exercise program.

If you’re struggling with your diet then get a healthy eating chain going. Use a different colored pen than your exercise chain. Make a big X on every calendar day that you successfully stick with your healthy eating plan. You’ve got this!

Start with the recipe below…

This quick and easy recipe combines chicken, sweet potato, butter beans, green beans and tangy BBQ sauce. It’s simple, the meat turns out tender, and there’s virtually no clean up!

Be sure to slice the sweet potato very thin, as you want it to be tender at the end of the 30-minute baking time. This is also why we are using thin sliced chicken breast, in order to make sure that the meat is cook through.

Courtesy of RealHealthyRecipes.com

What you need
Servings: 4

2 shallots, thinly sliced into half moons
1 sweet potato, peeled and thinly sliced into half moons
1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 (16 ounce) can butter beans
½ cup natural BBQ sauce (avoid ones with added sugars)
4 chicken breast, thin sliced
2 tablespoons fresh chives, minced

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400º F.

2. In a large bowl toss the shallots, sweet potatoes, green beans and butter beans with half of the BBQ sauce. Rub the remaining sauce over the chicken breasts.

3. Cut four 12-by-16-inch pieces of parchment paper and fold each in half. Open the parchment paper and arrange ¼ of the sweet potato and green beans and a chicken breast in the center of the top half of each parchment. Generously season with salt and pepper. Top with a sprinkle of chives.

4. Fold the bottom half of the parchment paper over the chicken and veggies. Start folding and crimping the parchment paper ends together from one end all the way around to the other end, creating a sealed envelope. Fold the end under the packet. The packet should be fully encased, with no breaks in the parchment paper for steam to escape – we need that steam as part of the cooking process! Place the packets on a pan.

5. Bake the chicken and veggie packets for 30 minutes and remove from the oven. Serve the packets on plates, tearing them open just before serving. Enjoy!

Nutrition
One serving equals: 268 calories, 4g fat, 22g carbohydrate, 3g sugar, 625mg sodium, 5g fiber, and 35g protein.