Yesterday is gone. What you did last night, last week, last month, last year doesn’t matter! That was the old you, who has nothing to do with who you are today. You are a clean slate, and today is the first day of the rest of your life.
I don’t care if you’ve tried to get in shape and lose weight a hundred times before today; this is different. Previous attempts weren’t failures, they were merely stepping stones to get you where you are today in order to make a serious change. Everything happens for a reason. Having said that, here are a few tips to help you achieve your goals for this challenge.
1.Live everyday with a purpose– I have a picture hanging in my room with a quote from my favorite movie, The Shawshank Redemption:
“Get busy living or get busy dying”
I read it every morning before walking out the door, reminding me to make the most out of my day. Whatever your motivation is to get in shape (yourself, your wife, your kids, your job, your pride, the cute waitress at the coffee shop), make that the first thing you think of in the morning so you live each day with that motivation; feel free to print your own quote and hang it up somewhere you can see it. I don’t care what your motivation is, as long as it gets you to take care of business.
2. Set Goals– Plan out your goals for the future. Your success along the way at hitting these milestones will determine if you’re on target or if you need to make a change. secondly, maybe getting below 200 pounds seems like a pipe dream; if you just worry about the first 5-10 lbs, then work down to the 20, 30, 40, 50+ lbs your after. If you do this, then this challenge will seem much more manageable.
Also, try adding goals that aren’t just focused on the scale either: ten straight push-ups, one pull-up, run a 5k, etc. As you get stronger and accomplish these goals, your weight will start to fall as a side-effect. Determine what you expect to accomplish in the next few weeks with your fitness, and what you expect to accomplish in the next few weeks with your life. Success in one can snowball into momentum for the other.
3. Push yourself hard, but safely– This is non-negotiable. I want you to finish each workout sweating bullets. If your going to spend 30-60 minutes exercising, you might as well use that time as efficiently as possible right? We will determine a weight for each exercise that is a struggle for you, and then next time, we’ll ask you to lift a little bit heavier. The heavier you can lift, the more calories you’ll burn and the more muscle you’ll build.
No half-assing it. I want you to push yourself every time you exercise. Now, obviously if you feel like your going to pass out or hurt yourself, stop. But, you’ll be surprised of what you’re capable of beyond the initial “eh, I can’t do this” moment. Step outside your comfort zone a little bit further everyday. Lift one more pound, do one more rep, run one second faster. Finish this challenge with the pride of knowing you gave it everything you had. Don’t finish in 6 weeks and think, “hell, I should have trained more.” Leave everything in the gym at each workout.
4. Remember that your human– I know your incredibly busy; we all have stuff that gets in the way each day that we didn’t expect. Life happens. Sometimes the weather prevents you from exercising, jury duty takes an extra day, your friends kidnap you to go shopping with them all Saturday (you poor soul). What this means is…
If you miss a day or eat bad food one day, don’t beat yourself up. I repeat: don’t beat yourself up! Just don’t let it become two meals, or two days, and then three, etc. Before you know it, a week has suddenly gone by and your right back to square one. If you mess up and skip a workout, get RIGHT back on the horse and get back at it the very next day. Don’t make excuses, just do what you need to do to take care of business.
5. Remember that you are not alone– There are others doing this challenge with you, and other people who are looking to turn their lives around. If you have a question, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask. You can reach any of our trainers at any time through email. We also have the private facebook group which is meant for your questions. We will all do our best to answer your questions to the best of our ability, and as quickly as possible.
6. Never underestimate the power of momentum– If you’ve never exercised a day in your life or given any thought to what you should eat, it is going to be tough to establish a good routine for exercise and diet in the beginning, but it is absolutely doable!
Science has taught us that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion, tends to stay in motion. This means that getting started can be really tough, and thoughts of doubt can creep in. Your will to succeed and your motivation for exercising are very important in the beginning. Fortunately, once you get moving with good habits, momentum will work in a positive way and keep you going. It’s a great feeling to have, and one that will start to pay some pretty significant dividends for you in life. The great news is, the confidence you’ll get from your first “hey, did you lose weight?” comment will carry over into every other area of your life.
It’s never too late to change, and don’t ever underestimate momentum!
7. Keep track of everything– How much your lifting, how many sets and reps, and how you felt after each workout. If you don’t know how you did last time, you won’t know what you need to do this time to get better. Use excel, write in a notebook, or use www.myfitnesspal.com to track your diet or your workouts for free!
8. Build a support group around you– Start a blog, tell your friends, your co-workers, significant others, family members, rent a plane and sky write it, just get it out in public. If you have people constantly asking how you’re doing, you’ll be far more likely to stick to your routine so you get to report good news along the way. Again, use the facebook group and tell us who you are, what you hope to accomplish, and how you expect to get it done. A support group, even online can do wonders for accountability.
The more people you tell, the more places you post your goals, the more likely you’re going to force yourself to succeed. You don’t want to be known as that guy/girl that can’t keep a promise, do you? Now, once you start to see results, you’ll be inspiring the very people that helped hold you accountable.
9. Understand that your diet will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure– You can’t outrun your fork, and you can;t out-train a bad diet. The more positive changes you can make to your diet the more success you will see.
10. Don’t get stressed– Stress is often considered one of the leading causes of weight gain: cortisol, a hormone that is released when you’re under stress, seems to work with insulin to create visceral fat (the bad fat in your body). At the same time, cortisol can also prompt you to crave “comfort foods” like deserts, and mom’s famous mac and cheese.
Several recent studies have also shown that workplace stress has been linked to obesity. Telling you not to stress so much about work is probably useless, but at least try to remember that your work isn’t your life. Please don’t forget that!
