Top 10 Secrets to Achieving Lasting Health and Fitness: 14 Yeas of Insights Revealed
Millions of people every year spend an incredible amount of time, money, resources and energy on trying to make meaningful change in their health. Whether its fat loss, building muscle, feeling amazing, whatever...
Some are successful.
Most aren't.
A Society of Pain and Frustration
For those who aren't successful they sort of just go on living their life. They continue to "go back to the drawing board."
They are constantly frustrated with themselves and their life.
At best they learn to live with it. They accept that they won't ever be in the kind of shape they were when they were younger, before they had kids or before "life" happened.
At worst, they begin to defend and make excuses for why they are stuck.
"This is just how I am built."
"Its a genetic thing, it runs in my family."
"I don't have time."
In short, Its someone or something else's fault. Always.
How You Make it Better
I have helped thousands of people over a 14 year career as a lifestyle coach. I have seen every excuse, every reason and commonalities among the people who succeed and those who fail.
Based on that experience, here is a definitive list of the MOST IMPORTANT things to know when getting in shape, fit and healthy.
1. Fat loss will always come down to energy balance. Calories in vs calories out. Keto, paleo, fasting, it doesn't matter. They help you achieve energy balance. So start where you like and iterate from there. Don't overthink it.
2. Logging food can up to 30-100% inaccurate. You might log 4 ounces but in reality it is 7 ounces. Instead weigh your food to be more precise and have a real idea of who much you are eating. Take the emotion out of it, its just feedback. Over time, you can be more intuitive.
3. Drink water. I promise you, you aren't drinking enough water OR you aren't drinking good water. I used to drink 2 gallons of water a day and was STILL dehydrated. Stop filling up from your faucet. Getting half our bodyweight in ounces of clean spring water will aid digestion and sustain energy. Water is good for you, drink more of it. You can read more about the benefits of spring water here.
4. Resistance train 3x a week to build or maintain muscle. Incorporate compound movements and add in accessory work as you please. Stop doing "busy" workouts that aren't doing shit for you. Yeah you are sweating, your watch says you burned 500 calories, it doesn't matter. You will burn more calories breaking down and rebuilding muscle over time than you will doing" 5 round of anything but weight lifting"
5. Eat 25-50g of protein per meal and aim for 1g per pound of bodyweight. Yes, its a lot. Yes, I know you are older (this is why you need it MORE.) This will keep you full longer making it hard to overeat processed crap, will maintain and build muscle. Perhaps most importantly it will manage hunger and cravings, which is crucial when dieting or building muscle. Again, I don't care what so and so said about the recent article about protein. Its one of the most studied macronutrients on the planet and is about as close to absolute as you get. You need it, and you need more than you are getting. Period.
6. Check bio-feedback. Your body has ways of telling you if you are on the right track. Sleep, hunger, mood, energy and food cravings. These are just as important as the scale in your process. Trying to lose weight or build muscle and ignoring these feedback loops will GUARANTEE failure. If you are losing weight and your hunger, energy and cravings suffer you will LOSE that battle every single time. Adhering to the above, will help ensure you don't lose.
7. Walk. 8-10k steps each day is a good goal. This leisure movement and daily activity is called NEAT (non exercise associated thermogenesis, you can see more below) and accounts for more calories burned than your exercise. You're missing a big piece of the puzzle sitting around all day. The big 3 of movement, food, exercise are ALL important. Don't just focus on food and exercise.
8. Veggies. Getting greens in with your protein will ensure good digestion and curb appetite. The combo are also naturally low calorie, high nutrient making them a winning combo. Aim to make them 80% of your overall intake. Have fun the other 20%.
9. Unique psychology. You have failed over and over because you fail to accept you can't follow a diet. You have unique likes and dislikes and you must honor them. You don't follow a diet, you must create one. Add in just enough fat, sugar, alcohol to the above to make things enjoyable without sabotaging progress. This is the combo of art and science.
10. Plan. Plan your week. Plan your meals. Plan the days and times of your workouts. If you showed up to work with no plan you'd get fired. So why aren't you planning your healthy lifestyle? It literally must be that important. Most people (who fail) take a "I'll see how it goes" approach. NO! You can't do that. As the saying goes "failing to plan is planning to fail." I created a video a while back walking you through this Easily Plan Life
This isn't about having every part of your life planned out and scheduled. It is about knowing how you are going to stick to the things you say are most important until it becomes second nature. Plan things out and give yourself a chance to succeed.
These are all things I have personally done and coach my clients on. You can read about client experiences here.
At this point you may have learned a thing or two.
However, information is not power it is potential. It is useless unless acted upon.
My guess is that this was more of a reminder and hopefully a kick in the butt to figure this out once and for all.
So if you have a track record of not acting on the things you know you should be doing I'd encourage you to reach out via this email with the subject DONUT for 10% off any coaching option or apply to work together at the link below.
I have limited space for 1:1 clients but have a few spots open in my group coaching.
LINKS TO BOTH are below.
Enjoy your day.
