So how was your first week back? Are you happy with the effort you put in, do you feel like you have a plan in place to tackle your 2016 health and fitness goals. For many people, last week was like training through a veil of syrup – sluggish bodies, weak muscles, difficulty breathing and general pain pain pain. Guess what – this week is going to be better. YAY! By now you should have crossed the “first session back” barrier and almost recovered from your delayed onset of muscles soreness (loving the 3 days of not being able to lift your arms or sit on the loo without strategically lowering yourself). You should have hopefully either gone cold turkey on crap food and picked up a lean/clean eating plan immediately, or, by now have finished the Christmas/New Years leftovers so no excuses. Most of you are back a work after a break (or party season), so your mind should be focused and re-energised. This week, let’s just make sure ALL the foundations are in place to ensure your success –remember: It’s YOUR body, YOUR year, YOUR choice – make it happen.
2016 Nutrition – SORT IT OUT
It may take you a couple of weeks to settle into an eating plan but given the amount of booze, carb dense foods, party canapés and general crap consumed over the Christmas/New Year period, most of you should find that starting up a clean eating plan is easy, and more to the point, incredibly appealing! If you are not craving the dodgy food, yet you are still struggling to stick to a plan. It’s time to look at why. From experience I would suggest it simply boils down to the following:
- You are mentally not ready to commit to your goals – and for me this is simply psychology and mindset. You cannot get upset with the results you didn’t achieve, by the work you didn’t do. Nobody is going to magically strip you of 5kg body fat; there is not a little angel who is going to turn up with your lean/clean meal every 2.5 hours; food does not suddenly appear from the supermarket in your fridge! You need to DECIDE you WANT to eat clean and COMMIT to doing so
- You decided on an eating plan and didn’t follow through with any concrete actions – in other words, you became a “gunna” and not a “doer”. As your trainer, I don’t want to hear that you’re “gunna do a supermarket shop tomorrow or Saturday” or that “you’ll buy food when you’ve got through everything else”. DECIDE on plan then GO BUY FOOD required. You don’t see a marathon runner rock up to a race without shoes, get your back of house in order so you can deliver on plan
- You decided on an eating plan, bought all the food and then forgot to prepare for the day in advance – basically did the hard yards and simply couldn’t carry it though. The old adage of “failure to plan is planning to fail” rings true; you absolutely MUST know what you’re eating a day in advance. You must be prepared with meals, snacks and the times that you will consume these. This will prevent blood sugar drops and spikes, remove the opportunity for you to cheat and ensure that you are nutritionally balanced/sound for fuel for the day.
Quick checklist for yourself then – am I 100% motivated and committed to this? Can I stick to plan 5 or 6 days without fail per week? Do I have the correct food in the house? Do I have a menu sorted? If the answer is YES then you are good to go. Nutrition is THE most important part of your training regime, if you are eating poorly, you can train for hours on end and you will never see results. Get yourself booked in with a PERSONAL TRAINER to advise you on the best plan: contact a RIM PT TODAY
DECIDE, DO, DELIVER and you will witness the fitness results.