You have probably seen some people with transformation goal in mind, and they are still looking the same as they were last year. but there are only a few who are actively changing their lives.
If you're planning to change your body and life in the new year and to become a NEW YOU, then you will need to start looking at yourself in the mirror.
I think this is what we do most of the times where we are alone in the bathroom and thinking 'what am I doing? where I'm going with this? etc... we all ask such questions at some point in our lives. this is where all starts: Shifting the Mindset!
A right mindset is everything and the most important one in terms of transforming ourselves in life with all limitations that we all have.
It isn't age, education, or gender that affect you to reach your goal. And it's certainly not access to a TV trainer of the year!
It is simply doing small things the correct way most of the time not all the time either. because you will miss doing some of them along the way but that isn’t important. because setbacks will always be there. if you don’t stop and keep doing what you have to do consistently, then you will achieve your goal.
The stuff that you have to do to transform your body are quite simple yet effective. from my prospective who have helped numerous people to do so, the process of any transformation boiled down to a few key factors.
Mindset
I'm starting here because it's an overlooked yet crucial part of the process. Diet and exercise are key, but it's the way you think that gets you off the bed early mornings or keep you awake when things get tough without ending.
So, ask yourself: Why do you want to lose weight or build muscle if these are your goals?
Be honest. whatever it might be, it should motivates you and doesn't have to be a long list. keep it short and sweet. All that matters is being honest in your motivations.
I started to lift and eat healthier and live the way I do now because it helped me look better and get confidence . Today, I appreciate the way it makes me feel, especially after a stressful day at the gym where I train my clients and work day in day out .
if you skip this step, believe me that you will not achieve the transformation you are looking for.
Set goals.
The more specific you can make your goal, the better. "Next year, I will lose weight" is not a goal but rather a wish! for example; "I will lose 10 kg by 1st of March 2023" is better. Just not easy.
Run then walk.
It's common to hear fat loss or muscle gain described as a marathon, not a sprint. But that's wrong. Realistically, changing your body long term is really a series of sprints, or periods when it's your primary focus in life, interspersed with rests, when you don't push so hard.
Set a goal, commit as much energy as you can toward achieving it, and then pull back and evaluate.
Behaviour Change - Don’t Change your entire life
Be prepared to change some of your approach towards food and lifestyle.
what it means is, you will need to cut back on some of your favourite foods and weekend friendly night outs or watching football in your local pub every night.
if this is hard, then remember that you have asked at the beginning of your journey “WHY”
It is all about Progress and not Perfection!
You will skip workouts, miss meals, and eat peanut butter at 1 am, If you are a little better than last week, that’s all matters and ditch any other guilts and bad feelings about yourself.
Keep Track of your Diet and Exercise – This is a King
Keep a FOOD and EXERCISE LOG. This is the most important piece of advice that I can give you.
it does not have to be a fancy app or journal, it should be simple, doable, and more importantly enjoyable and practical for you.
At first you don't even have to note calories or macros. Just record what you ate and when. That's enough for now.
this will reveal what food choices you have had when you were happy, angry, tired, when at work, or when bored.
Once you're consistent with your food log, everything else here will immediately make a lot more sense.
Eat Mindfully
Be present while you are aware of your feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. this applies to when you are shopping for food, preparing your food, cooking your food, and finally eating your food.
Mindfully eating applies to all type of diet and even “cheat meals” cheeseburger and fries for example.
By truly paying attention to the food you eat, you may indulge in these types of foods less often. In essence, mindful eating means being fully attentive to your food as you buy, prepare, serve, and consume it.
you heard this many times: “Never eat in front of the TV” unless you're trying to gain weight. it means, you will be out your mind if you do so! just kidding. you got my point!
Focus on natural foods.
if your diet is 90 percent or more unprocessed whole foods, your appetite and hunger cues will be much more accurate than if you choose KFC.
Set three dietary goals.
· Protein Intakes, (a portion with every meal),
· Water Intakes, (0.33 LTR per KG of your body weight)
· Vegetables and Fruits Intake (2-3 servings per meal).
Cook your food.
If switched from eating at restaurants several times a week to barely eating out at all, instead prepping, and cooking your foods at home not only save you £ but also it is easier to track your food intakes because you would know what is in there exactly and how much.
Skip the Cheat Days.
if you haven’t followed most of the tasks that you had to do, if you haven’t taken most of the steps that you had to, you haven’t earnt that ‘Cheat Day’
Progressing
progressing in your workouts is the key. if you keep changing from one workout to another spending not enough time to allow your body adapting to the new changes, you won’t see the progress that comes with the consistency of your workouts.
To do so, you will need to log and track your workouts and record what you are doing.
Tracking your progress should include the followings:
· Lifting more weight
· Perform more reps
· Less Resting Time between the sets or intervals to increase endurance and density
· Doing more work in less time
Pick a sustainable training routine
There are many workout schedules that can work for your goals and limitations.
Build your workout around the basics. Every workout should have some variations of the basic movements patterns:
· Squats
· Hip hinges
· Presses
· Pulls
It's okay to do other stuff of course, but the basics always work. Use that to your advantage.
Practice to Improve
Work on the basics mentioned above every day and you will improve and pass your objections.
Use variety of the exercises.
Your body is designed to adapt, which includes adapting to resistance training. So, you have to change exercises regularly.
it is more practical if you stick to a simple workout for a while and using variety of exercises, but this doesn’t mean to make things up just because you feel good about certain exercises. monitor whether or not it still makes you sore and make changes accordingly.
there are some ways to implement without changing your exercises too often.
· Drop sets (10-second rest between weight drops)
· Rest-pause or cluster sets
· Heavy partial reps
· Slow eccentric (negative) final reps
· Isometric holds
· Supersets, giant sets, pre-exhaustion, post-exhaustion
· 25-rep sets (last set only)
It is not recommended including all of the above at the same time. keep it simple.
Rest and Recover
You must recover to make progress. as well as leaving some ‘rest day’ between your sessions, you should have enough sleep at night too.
Celebrate and share your achievement
Remember that the key to successfully changing your body is consistently taking the small steps that you supposed to take. as long as you do your tasks.
To motivate yourself, it is great to give yourself enough credit and celebrating your achievements however small they are because they will become big and eventually your ultimate goal will be achieved.
So, celebrate every improvement you made, every little fat % you have lost and every little weight you have lifted, All the little things matter.
