Your Step by Step to Getting in Shape Quickly and Safely
Whether it’s a New Year’s Resolution Goal, your clothes fit tighter than you want, or simply want to feel better and healthier, we’ve all declared that we want to get into shape.
However, the hardest part is actually following through on your declaration. Starting a healthy lifestyle journey isn’t always easy, but that’s where I came in. I’m going to show you the exact strategies I use with my clients to successfully start their journey.
This step-by-step strategy guide will tell you everything you need to lose weight and get healthy starting today without massively overhauling your life.
Step 1: Why do you want to get in shape? (Motivation and Inspiration)
We’ll begin here like this is the most important question: Why do you want to get in shape? Why are you reading this guide?
Do you want to get in shape too:
Start dating again?
Wanna look good naked?
Win a weight loss competition at work?
Be able to hike without quitting?
Be able to play with your kids and/or Grandkids?
The point is you need to have a reason!
Working out because “you kinda know you should” isn’t strong enough inspiration/motivation.
The road to perpetual weight loss and healthiness is littered with perils and up and downs.
Even the best-laid plans will end up in a ditch on the side of the road unless you have a damn good reason.
After all, life gets busy, and there will never be a perfectly magical moment when things get easier. You cannot escape work, your personal life, career responsibilities, and/or family demands, nor can you escape your need for health and fitness within your life.
You find to find a balance, so you can live your life while adequately taking care of yourself.
In order to identify your reason, you need to answer the question, “why does this matter to me?” and be crystal clear on that emotional reason.
Ask yourself:
Why do you want to lose weight?
What will losing weight means for your life and/or happiness?
What will you be able to do because you lost that weight?
With my clients, we call this “Your BIG WHY.” It’s this reason that will help you keep going when it’s raining outside, you’re feeling tired or had a crappy day, and you just wanna binge-watch the latest Marvel show and eat takeout.
Your BIG WHY will be the motivation and inspiration you need to remind yourself and persevere throughout your journey.
You may be wondering, “Why does all this focus on inspiration and motivation?”
Because getting in shape will never be “easy,” and the longer you wait, the harder it will be to start.
Take a look at Ben, who started his fitness journey after failing to keep up with his hiking buddies TWICE! Ben knew he needed to make a change, and if he didn’t do it now, he would never do it. The longer he waited to take action, the less likely he would be able to achieve his goal. After determining his why, Ben transformed his life and overcame his previous hiking “failure” and can now BIKE up the mountain! Absolutely insane! YOu can check out this video by clicking right here.
Unless you find the motivation, inspiration, and discipline to push through those tough days, it becomes easier than ever to give up at the first sign of resistance.
Step 2: What to Eat (Nutrition)
Without question, if you want to get into shape quickly, you’ll need to start making better food choices.
Unfortunately, this is where everyone messes up by massively overhauling your nutrition.
You may have heard that 80-90% of your success will depend on your diet/nutrition. This is true as you cannot outrun your fork and you cannot out train a bad diet.
However, how you lose weight is how you’ll maintain that weight loss.
This is why people in this yo-yo dieting purgatory and never achieve the results they desire.
Most people won’t be able to spend the rest of their lives:
---> Not eating carbs
---> Doing juice cleanses
---> Only eating chicken, broccoli, and rice
---> Refusing to socialize with friends at happy hours or gatherings.
The list goes on and on, but you get the idea. Say, you follow the keto diet to lose weight. You completely eliminate carbs and watch the pounds fall off.
The problem? You love carbs and cannot see yourself giving them up forever. If you only know how to lose weight by eliminating carbs, then only that approach works for you.
However, as a carb lover, you’re extremely likely to eat carbs again in the near future. Therefore, your low-carb diet approach doesn’t really fit your lifestyle.
The end result? They usually regain their weight once the diet is done because temporary changes create temporary results!
This just reinforces what I said earlier: How you lose weight is how you’ll maintain that weight loss.
Again this is why you need to make sustainable changes rather than massively overhauling your diet.
Rather than massively overhauling your nutrition, I want you to focus on two things:
Small changes
Possible associations
This is why we want to start by focusing on making slightly better food choices. This usually means filling your plate up with plenty of protein and veggies, yet this is highly individual.
To get into shape, you can try:
Switching to diet soda
Eating 1-2 servings of protein with each meal
Eating more veggies
Drink a glass of water with each meal
Eating better snacks
Cooking your own meal X times per week.
Regardless of your choice, commit to making one small change for two weeks and assess your consistency. These small changes can lead to big successes in the long run.
I know changing your diet can be overwhelming, and sticking to those changes for the long term is really tough. This is why I want to focus on adding to your nutrition, as this helps with your mindset. By focusing on adding to your nutrition, this helps creates a positive association with those changes.
This provides a HUGE mental relief from all the restrictive nutritional talk that we are used to hearing.
This allows us to shift your mindset to “I wonder if I can add in this pizza” rather than “oh, I definitely cannot eat this brownie.” This is crucial for improving your self-talk when it comes to nutrition.
Once we introduce these healthy behaviors into our nutrition, this often replaces the less healthy foods we eat without the negative self-talk.
This is why a coach is essential to your success so they can tell you exactly how to transition your diet slowly so you can lose weight the right way and transform your physique permanently, like Ben.
Step 3: What to do for Exercise (Movement!)
By now, you should be feeling fired up and inspired and thinking
“Ok, Mack. These fitness tips are cool. I’m ready to get into shape. How do I get started?”
In order to get started, we need to pick goals that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely). Without these SMART goals, you’ll lack focus, clarity, and direction.
This is why it’s important to be specific with your goals so you can actively plan on what steps are necessary to achieve your goals.
When it comes to creating SMART fitness goals, it is always better to frame your goals around your behavior rather than the outcome.
Example: I’m going to walk for 30 minutes every day after work for a month. If I do this, I win.”
This allows you to review your day/week with a simple question: did I do what I said I was going to do?
When it comes to setting your goals, it’s important to be deliberate in your actions.
If you’re setting goals, be SUPER SPECIFIC, write them down and plan them out.
If you’re building new habits: add them to your calendar and set alerts/alarms/notifications and do them every day
Understand that Rome wasn’t built in a day. This isn’t a diet or quick fix, but rather a lifestyle change. Don’t expect results overnight, yet know you are on your way.
Identifying your Kryptonite
An often overlooked aspect of goal setting is identifying your kryptonite, aka “what didn’t work for you.
Think back to the last time(s) you tried to get in shape and lose weight and ask yourself
How successful were you?
How long did you stick with it?
What made you fall off the wagon
Ponder these questions and seriously answer these questions as they are crucial to your success.
Yes, these answers are crucial to your success because you ALREADY KNOW WHICH “IN SHAPE” METHOD DOESN’T WORK FOR YOU!
To quote Albert Einstein, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Unless you are someone who enjoys wasting your precise time in not getting results, don’t try to get in shape the same way you did last time…. That shit ain’t gonna work and you already know it!
If you tried WHOLE 30, ran on the treadmill, and did group classes, yet you weren’t happy with your physique and/or results, it’s time to try something new while still enjoying your workouts.
You should be prioritizing enjoyment with your workouts! You should be looking forward to going to the gym and doing your workouts because you ENJOY doing it! Your training program should be something you look forward to!
As a coach, I cannot tell you how many times clients told me they dread going into the gym to do their workouts.
Your training program should get you excited and motivated to go into the gym while making consistent progress.
A training program that gets you excited to hit the gym is one you’ll stick to and go hard at.
More than anything, this is how we create a lifelong habit - by turning this into something you want to do, rather than something you need to do.
Step 4: Tell someone your goals:
It’s one thing to do all the research and come up with the perfect plan, yet if you don’t have someone to hold you accountable to the plan, then it’s worthless. The perfect plan doesn’t amount to anything if you don’t take consistent action toward your plan.
That’s why public accountability is such an incredible motivator.
Make sure to tell your friends, significant other, co-workers, or anyone else who will encourage, motivate, and hold you accountable for it. With that secret ingredient, you can have someone hold you accountable when you fail to follow through on that free advice.
Instead, you’ll start making dramatic changes to your body and life and become more capable and productive.
The two critical factors to whether your training program succeeds or not?
Accountability
Structure and a clear plan to follow
My online coaching service provides you with both. At Mack Performance, I firmly believe that the best diet is the one you enjoy while making long-term, objective-based progress.
Together, we’ll create a tailored plan to get you to the physique you’ve always wanted and expertly guide you through every step of your transformation.