Hey Team,
Happy 2022 to one and all. We have a pretty big year planned at the gym – looking at the calendar from now until Easter we have:
| 30th Jan – Beach Day @ CY O’Connors
7th Feb – 28-Days-Later Kickoff 7th Mar – Strength Fundamentals (for Girls) 4th April – “Dad Bod” Back to the Gym Challenge |
On top of all that, we have the monthly ‘challenges’ initiative we kicked off in December to keep rolling, the pending return of Beginners classes, some time-table revisions to try and facilitate the return of some longer classes AND a membership pricing change that will include the launch of our “Mates Rates” campaign for our long-term members (start of March). AND we have things like the current $79 ‘Unlimited Sessions for a month’ special running right now with a couple of other ‘Get Started’ specials also in the works for later this month + Feb. It is genuinely crazy and hopefully with the rest of the team on board we can pull it all off!
This week’s blog – well, it’s a bit of a response to an email I received earlier in the week that asked:
“Hey Round 1 Team,
I am determined to make 2022 the year I finally achieve my ‘lose weight’ New Years Resolution. Every year I say it and then by February I’ve already given up. I want to do the challenge but I know it doesn’t start until February – have you got any tips I can follow to try and help me ‘get started’ on the right track before the challenge starts so I don’t fail in the first week…’
Anyway, the email went on to ask about an eating plan etc (which I am happy to give some broad strokes help with), but ultimately this week’s blog are the SIX things I think give you the most ‘bang for your buck’ when it comes to trying to make a change to your eating habits.
ONE: You CAN’T EAT what you DON’T GOT!!!
Get rid of all the ‘tempting’ food out of your cupboard. Yep – I know, you have paid for it and ‘what a waste’ but I am pretty sure you don’t want those potato chips or chocolate adding kilos to your frame anyway. Let’s face it, we all only have ‘so much’ willpower and none of us lay in bed dreaming of broccoli…so get the stuff you DO dream of out of the house!
TWO: FOCUS on what you LIKE […and don’t eat the stuff you don’t!]
There is no single food that unlocks the secret to weight loss. Eating Brussels Sprouts dont make you lose weight, nor celery, nor apple cider vinegar…there is NOTHING that you MUST eat. So don’t let yourself get ‘pulled down’ because you “Don’t Like” food “x” and it was part of the plan you saw in the latest edition of Mens/Women’s Health. Simply focus on eating good, healthy food that you DO LIKE. If you do that, you will feel great AND you will look forward to meal times.
THREE: It’s hard for a while…but it GETS EASIER!
The first few days after you make a change are probably going to be hard. You will be fighting some habits and – no doubt – some sugar cravings. It might even be REALLY HARD. You might even feel excessively tired and battle with some headaches – but by the time you get to day 5 or 6 those feelings will pass. Just stick at it.
FOUR: Focus on the ‘BIG STUFF’…don’t sweat the rest!
You will have been reading about Intermittent Fasting, eating 5x meals a day and all kinds of other ‘stuff’. All of those type of ‘ideas’ are really secondary to the ‘main game’ – eating fresh healthy food. SO – rather then get bogged down in the weeds, simply focus on eating THREE meals each day starting with a good breakfast. Be sure to PRIORITISE protein with each meal – in particular be sure to get some protein at breakfast. Try to avoid snacking as much as possible – if you are ‘starving’ between meals then sure – grab a couple of nuts or a piece of fruit (but don’t eat too many nuts or too much fruit). More importantly, if you are ‘starving’ then increase the veggies you are eating in your meals so you don’t get to that point. You want to be eating enough in each meal to ‘get you through’ to the next meal.
FIVE: Food post-training avoids the ‘urge to cheat’ later!
Try to eat ‘something’ within 30-minutes of exercise. Not sure what to eat? Well, a protein shake and a piece of fruit is a great post-workout meal – and takes 1.2 seconds to prepare!
SIX: If you KNOW you sometimes can, you wont always WANT to!
You don’t have to be perfect – but IF you schedule in a time each week (hell, even each day, I don’t care) when you can have that ‘one treat’ you can’t live without, well, you will be a LOT more relaxed about it. Can’t live without chocolate? Fine – include a little bit as part of your afternoon routine! Can’t live without ice-cream? Maybe after dinner every Saturday is ice-cream time. Give yourself a break – small treats are not the difference between success and failure…be sensible about this stuff (you don’t get to have a bag of chips, a block of chocolate AND a bottle of wine EVERY afternoon) but there is 100% the opportunity for treats inside everyone’s day to day life!
Good Luck,
See you in the gym,
Michael.
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