I forgot to mention the Thanksgiving Party / Bootcamp 3rd year birthday party we had a few weeks back! The truth is I don’t remember much of it. I actually missed most of it, but I wanted to thank everyone who came along and made the night special.
There was around 60-70 people who all brought a ton of food to share and a good time was had by all except yours truly who had to check out at 8pm with a migraine. I did get to share in main course which was amazing, but I did miss dessert which is probably for the best. It’s so hard to resist the home made desserts that come out on Thanksgiving night.
Anyway you’ve got just under 6 weeks now that we’ve started the Transformation Competition.
You can make a massive change in this time!
Some people will switch their eating entirely and start on a disciplined eating plan and have no problems. But some people will look at the same eating plan and feel completely overwhelmed.
So if the new eating plan works for you then great. Do it.
If you just need a few tips to point you in the right direction, then let’s start there.
Change just one thing each week until that habit is so ingrained, that you can continue it for the rest of the competition or even longer.
For example, if you’re used to skipping breakfast then eating something for breakfast will be a big step for you. It may not be ideal but it is a good start and allows you to stretch yourself a little further in the near future.
Maybe you’re eating cereal for breakfast. We don’t really like cereal in a fat loss diet because of the high amount of carbs and low protein (don’t let their marketing fool you).
You may try to eat a different breakfast of scrambled eggs with some chopped tomato, onion, spinach or capsicum thrown in. Ladies 3 eggs is a good number for you and for men, somewhere around 4-6 is ideal for you.
Maybe a smoothie is more to your liking or you want a few different breakfasts for variety. Try 200ml of milk with a scoop (30g) of whey protein powder (with no carbs) and some frozen berries. Or if dairy doesn’t like you then you could try 100ml of coconut milk and 100ml of water with pea protein powder and some frozen berries instead.
Perhaps a protein shake might be all you have time for now. So find a shake that mixes well in water or milk and take it with you and remember to drink it!
Maybe your lunch is hard for you because you don’t know what to eat. If you work in the city, try swapping the sandwich or wrap for a big salad with plenty of meat, some avocado, a little extra virgin olive oil dressing and a ton of veggies.
Maybe you can convince your partner to make your lunch for you?!?!
Maybe you sign up for a meal delivery service so someone else is preparing your food.
Maybe you have leftovers that you can take to work. Just write yourself a note so you remember to take them.
Maybe you do a big cook up on the weekend and store your lunches in the fridge at work so you have something there each day so you’re not tempted to go and pick something up that may be detrimental to your results.
Remember to get creative with your meals as well. Start throwing different foods into your meals to see how they taste. You may surprise yourself. I had an amazing strawberry and blueberry salad in the USA in July and it was sweet enough that I didn’t even think about dessert afterwards!
Maybe turning up to Bootcamp is a big step for you already. If so just focus on keeping that up.
If you’ve been coming along and training the same way for a while, maybe you should step things up and plan an extra cardio day or two in your schedule. Pick a time on a few set days and stick to it even if only for 10-20 minutes. That short amount of time will be a huge boost for your results!
Maybe you are already in a set training routine and you know it works for you so don’t want to make a big change. Tweak your workouts then.
If you’re doing a long 30 minute run at a steady pace, change it and run hard for a minute and easy for 2 minutes for a total of 30 minutes. Or sprint between the light posts. Or pick a more hilly route for your 30 minute run. Or do some sprints for 30 minutes instead.
Sometimes just a small change will have a huge ripple effect. Ever heard of ‘The Butterfly Effect.’
Why not ride into work one day a week just for an extra edge.
Maybe you aren’t pushing yourself at your workouts. Step up to the plate and give it 100% each time.
Ladies maybe you don’t lift heavy enough because you don’t want to get bulky. That’s very unlikely to happen unless you want to take steroids or your have some hormone issues that may cause over-zealous growth.
Guys if you think you are gonna get bulky from lifting heavy you are very wrong. Only a few men are that lucky but the rest of us have to eat like we’ve been starved for a month so that we gain muscle. So lift heavy as you can every time you train!
Why don’t you start reading the labels of everything you eat so you know exactly whats in them?
You never know how many grams of carb, protein and fat you are actually eating until you read the labels. They are there to educate you.
Is an injury stopping you from training or training regularly or training hard? Get it looked at and work hard at getting it fixed! The sooner you address it the sooner you’ll be able to do what you wanna do, be what you wanna be, yeah.
Are you still drinking your calories? Why not stop just for the 6 weeks of the competition? I’ve already had a few conversations about weight loss and drinking beer…lots of beer.
Lots of beer or lots of any alcohol for that matter will really get in the way of weight loss or even cause a weight gain.
If you can do without, fantastic. If you can’t, be brutal and cut it back dramatically. 6 weeks wont kill you!
Take a rest day and actually rest on the rest day. Too many people will run around like a headless chook on their rest day (usually one of the weekends days) and be exhausted by Monday! Try planning nothing for the day. Turn down invitations to do stuff and just sleep in, do whatever you feel like on the day and DON’T RUSH AROUND! You’ll feel much better come Monday.
Why not try eating smaller meals more often? Eating every 2-3 hours can help boost your metabolism. Just make sure your snacks are also protein based. If you can’t do every 2-3 hours, just do what you can.
Are you portions too big? Cut them back a little.
If you missed it here’s the Precision Nutrition portion control guide:
www.precisionnutrition.com/calorie-control-guide
And when you eat your meals, start with the protein first, then the vegetables and finish with the starchy carbs (if you’re having any) and leave some on the plate if you’re already starting to feel full.
If you’re not sure what to eat, repeat the same meals over and over until you can’t do it any more. The people who are most successful at sticking to a diet will eat the same thing over and over because they know exactly whats in it and they know it works for their goals. Boring? Yes. Effective? YES!
Keep some healthy snacks with you so if you are stuck without food at a meal time you still have something healthy to much on. It’ll save you from smelling that greasy takeaway and having that scent drag you into the fast food joint.
Are you a night owl? Try going to bed earlier on a regular basis. You’ll likely find you can get some extra sleep and that extra rest will help your body repair and regenerate so you have more energy for the next day and can do everything more awesome. Work. Rest. Play.
If you eat something thats not conducive to your diet, don’t let it get you down and keep eating crap because you’ve given up. Just leave it in the past and get on with making your next meal extra good. Nothing is so bad that it will ruin all of your efforts.
Plan when you’re gonna have a cheat meal and plan when you’re gonna keep everything perfect.Remember to aim for 90% good and 10% of the time eat your favourite treats.
Get the meal planner I put on the blog for you last week and write in everything you will eat for the week including when you plan to go out with friends, plan to head out to dinner or when you’re going around to your mum’s house and know she’s gonna have a cake or something out for dessert and you know you won’t be able to say no!
Focus on that one thing for the week.
Get it right all week.
Move onto the next thing next week.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will a lifetime of good habits. But you can pick up a bunch of good ones in a short space of time and do some amazing things with them.
Good luck and let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
Trav
