Congratulations to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for being chosen as People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.
Note: This is also win for the ladies who like a little beefcake, that’s for sure. 🙂
The Rock is a fitness icon! He is an athlete and clearly he lifts!
Not only is he a super positive force in his career, he knows how to eat for his physique goals.
One thing we can all be sure of he has his food correct !!
Plus, he likes pancakes.
Pancakes! After he finished filming “Hercules” The Rock held an epic cheat day! On this day he whipped up his famous pancakes and ate 12 of them!
I love this picture because in our world of IIFYM, we call this a ‘carb up’ or refeed.
When a person has dieted for a while, a few things happen.
1. The person gets weary of the diet. Even on IIFYM the fact that we are on a hard cut means we are eating less.
2. Our bodies can become adapted to the lower calories/macros.
A simple carb up or re-feed or in this case.. cheat day will help in both those scenarios.
So while “The Rock” called this an epic cheat day, he still utilized the concepts of body building and IIFYM. He is eating with purpose!
In our program, carb ups or re-feeds are given to clients with specific instructions. It’s not a random cheat day or binge day, just so you know.
The Rock is a huge dude so 12 pancakes fits his macros. Most of us, ladies.. not so much. That’s why we tailor our carb ups for our clients so they have the best results.
If It Fits Your Macros is amazing because it’s all about the YOU. You can carb up on things YOU like. I like Fro-yo and Cinnamon Toast Crunch! Our clients have a lot of fun when it comes to their re-feed!
If you would like to know more about IIFYM and learn the secrets of success, please check us out on LEARNIIFYM.COM We will teach you online!! We will work with you to help you reach your physique goals!
Working with as many clients as I have for the past 37 years, I have noticed certain patterns of sabotage that can destroy physique goals. My goal is to help clients recognize and problem solve.
You don’t even have to try!
Problem: All or nothing attitude.
“Well.. I just blew my diet so I may as well eat everything I want then start back tomorrow.”
Does that sound at all like you? So many clients tell me they are either hardcore dieting or propelling into a buffet, face first at warp speed. The “all or nothing attitude” can be created by habitual on again off again diets.
What you should know. Consistency not perfection is how you make progress in your physique goals. No one is perfect and we don’t need to pretend to be.
Solution: What we need is a plan that will allow us to eat things that make us happy so we can follow through on that 7 days a week. Falling off a diet is not a fail. It’s a learning experience. Why did you derail? Was it lack of preparation? Was it a certain food triggered your hunger? Each time you notice a concern, problem solve it. Fix it the same way you would fix a leaky faucet. It’s not personal. If you need to plan ahead more.. do it.
Even when we derail, remember tomorrow’s tracker is empty! We keep trying again and again. Soon you have strung together weeks and months of successes and those blips won’t matter.
Dr. Oz gets a check. #truth
Problem: Diet ADHD “I blew my diet so I will just go on the Whole 30, or Keto, HGH or Dr. Oz’s new total starvation plan”
You need another style diet like a hole in the head. Switching gears to, yet another diet isn’t the solution when the diet isn’t really the problem at all. Diet fails aren’t really fails. They are learning opportunities. No one is perfect at their diet but we can get better by problem solving.
I call out the Whole 30 because basically you get a whole lot of nothing to eat. Food group elimination seems like the perfect reaction from someone who has just felt that they failed their current plan. It’s super OCD, restrictive and straight up punishment for your screw up!
Your multi level marketing ‘diets’ are sold by the masses promising you dreams of extreme weight loss. It’s money you could just toss into the wind. I’ve been doing this job for 37 years and have seen it all. Extreme plans that promise extreme fat loss will result in disappointment unless, you can sustain them.
Can you live on no carbs? What happens when you hit the weekend and binge? It’s a repeat of the exact things you’ve done before that do not work! Think smart!! If all these
magic formulas worked, the nation would not have an obesity problem.
What you should know: Thinking that one diet works better than another because it is more restrictive is setting you up to fail. Studies show that 80% of restrictive dieters will rebound.
Solution: Consistency wins over perfection. The diet you should do is the one you see yourself doing a year from now. Not half ass doing but for reals. How about, while you are at it, stop punishing yourself with food or lack of!! That would be great. Problem: Detox Debby “If I do a juice cleanse, detox, detox teas, zero carbs, 24 hour fast, I’ll lose weight so I’ll do that.”
Again, you are switching gears and how has that worked for you in the past. This client is throwing things at the problem to see what sticks.
What you should know: You don’t need a detox diet because you have a liver.
“Your liver detoxifies harmful substances in two steps. The first step uses enzymes and oxygen to burn toxins, especially fatty ones, so they are more water soluble, making them easier for the body to eliminate.”
When you do a juice cleanse, you are still ingesting calories and carbs and well.. macros. These are things should be eating anyway! Juicing removes much of the fiber!
If you take out all the fiber.. why is that a good thing? You could add juicing to your IIFYM plan if you like it but restricting food other than veggies still leaves you with a restricted diet. And where will your protein come from? You still need protein. Remember?
Now.. if you are juicing for weight loss.. remember science. To lose body fat you must be in a caloric deficit. Basically starving on really healthy food is still starving.
If you are doing the low carb/no carb plan, you are going to see the scale move because you are losing water. Carbs draw water into the muscle so once you get off your plan and eat again.. scale will go back up. Did you lose fat.. .. though? It was water. WATER.
If your detox tea makes you pee or poop, you could really start with some dandelion root tea and eat fiber each day! Dandelion tea is at the grocery store and is a natural diuretic. It is in a lot of products with the word “shred” on it. Good info, Yes?
Solution: Stop wasting your hard earned money on magic potions and solutions. You are smart enough to know that these protocols are very temporary. Being honest with yourself , can you see yourself living on this plan for the next full year? What is going to happen when you stop this restriction? Will you find yourself in a binge?
Sustainability wins over perfection.
Static diets are great until … whoops.
Problem: I eat great during the week then blow it out of the water on the weekends.
Well.. this is really just about everyone I know and this is a big one! Being “good” during the week is somewhat easy because it’s more routine. The weekends are social or off routine.
Let’s talk about Mary: She’s on a fat loss plan and she’s doing great Monday-Friday because she has a routine. Weekends she finds herself at the ball game, bbq, having a few drinks .. well you get the picture she’s in a surplus of calories from her plan. (Binge)
Monday rolls around and she’s upset because she didn’t lose any weight. She might be heavier on Monday and begins a plan to “really get it together”. This week she tells herself she will not have any sugar, dairy, or carbs. (Restrict) That lasts for a bit until she derails again. (Binge)
Several months pass for her and she’s steadily gaining weight and highly frustrated!
What you need to know:Consistency wins over perfection.
Mary needs to be in a deficit for the the entire 7 days for fat loss. The 5 day a week deficit was great but the weekend put her calories into a surplus for the whole week! Those numbers would be super bulking numbers!! Her body is now set to store not lose fat.
Solutions: Mary is great at her work week and a simple weekend plan would be one thing she could do. Mary could go to her tracker and put the macros in for the food she is going to eat on her date this weekend. She could plan the amounts of food she can eat that will fit her plan and stick to that.
She could also save some carbs from her week and use them for her event on Saturday. She would still need to eat her nutrition/macro goals but she will eat what she likes and be accountable . Since she is consistent with her total calories for the week, she will be remain in a deficit and continue her fat loss.
Problem: End around the plan so you can continue to “do what you want”. Examples:
“I saved all my carbs and fats for the whole week so I could go to Craft Beer Fest 2016.”
“I ate no carbs and fat all week and had 300 g fat so I could eat at the buffet and drink all weekend.”
“I save all my carbs all day long so I can eat what I want on the couch and watch movies.”
What you need to know: These things just chap my hide.So let me start this one by saying, this attitude/behavior is never going to help you ever get the physique you want.
We all need to eat for our health, and we have macro nutrient needs that we must meet daily. Our bodies need macro nutrients, protein, fats and carbs especially if we are training or body building! We must not eliminate them in attempt to save calories for binges!!
Our brains require certain nutrients and we certainly don’t want to mess up our hormones!
Eating on our macros daily is good for our physique but also good for our health. We all need a balanced diet.
Solutions: One thing a person could do is carb cycling. Carb Cycliing is basically taking your carbs for the whole week and eating more on some days and less on others. If you like that idea, that’s fine as long as you are fueling your workouts. Fat cycling is not a thing. We all need our Essential Fatty Acids and fats daily for proper nutrition.
Problem: Treat Yo- self mentality “I’ve been working so hard on my plan, I deserve a cheat day.” “I worked out hard, I deserve a treat.”
Wait.. what?? no we don’t. There is no such thing as a cheat day. That’s a binge and it’s going to put you in surplus.
Whatever we call it, we are basically repeating the same behaviors that have not worked!
Solution: Plan your treats into your day to day so you don’t feel restricted. I like to use sites like RippedRecipes.com to have variety and make my food fun. It fits my macros so I never feel the need for a cheat.
I’m not using that term anymore either.. my mindset is not to use negative connotations to my food. Food is not “bad” and I’m not doing something “wrong” aka cheat.
Problem: Carb hording
Sadly, this is becoming a problem because clients are seeing an opportunity to binge.
This is not an example of problem solving an issue with your physique.
It is way to “cheat” your plan and do what you want.
Saving carbs for your evening movie night, isn’t wrong as long as you are accountable and have met your nutrtional goals for the day. Carb hoarding is a slippery slope.Clients not reaching their protein goals but overeating carbs can also find themselves in a surplus of calories or eating too much discretionary food.
Solution: Make a plan. If you are looking forward to movie night, pick something that fits your macros and put it in your tracker ahead of time. Be consistent throughout the day with your nutritional requirements of fruits, veggies, fiber.
Booze:
If you are solidly committed to drinking a lot on a fat loss plan, you will be disappointed in your results. Unless your macros are high and you have room for discretionary calories, finding room to fit booze is tough. Frankly, I have yet to find a weight loss plan that allows you lots of booze.Personally I don’t think you should drink while you are cutting . You can read more about alcohol and macro tracking here. if you want to know why I’m such a hard ass on that subject.
These issues are not essentially diet related issues but non commitment.
Take aways:
1. Stop trying to be perfect.
2. Consistency wins in this game
3. Consider your health as well as your physique
4. Notice concerns and don’t personalize them.
5. Work on solutions one day at a time.
6. Stop doing things that don’t work.
7. Don’t try to end around your plan.
8. Problem solve for success
I know you are working hard. I hope this helps you in your journey.
I am so happy to introduce to you our new coach, Michelle Palumbo. I am thrilled to have her on our team. She will bring so much to our bikini team, lifestyle clients!
Michelle is by far the best macro counting wizard I know. She just competed and brought her best package to date using IIFYM. No starving!
Here is her transformation story!
Alright Team Sleek Body! As a new coach and after coming off my first show in 10 years, I wanted you all to see where my journey began. I was never an athlete growing up and after my freshman year of college, I was the heaviest I’ve ever been. That’s me in 1999 the summer after freshman year. I wasn’t happy or confident. With a family history of heart disease and obesity, I made the choice to change my genetic path and am so thankful I did. My first leg workout, I literally crawled up the stairs to my dorm room for the next 2 days. I post this to say it wasn’t easy, there were ups and downs along the way but it has certainly been worth it. Yes, it takes a lot of time and effort to do food prep but it’s totally worth it!
When I started prep for bikini, I was eating what I thought was the right foods but not tracking or measuring anything. It makes a huge difference!!! And when you get to eat foods you like, it makes it easier. So when you don’t want to measure your food and count your macros, just remember your goals and envision yourself on that stage. We are strong women. #proveyourselftoyourself#striveforprogressnotperfection
If you read my blog, you may already know lots about me. I want to just take a moment and tell you some things that maybe you don’t know.
1. I’ve been coaching/training/weight loss since I was 16 years old. That is 34 years! I’ve always been passionate about fitness!
2. I am not thin and always struggle with my weight, physique.
3. In the 80’s I was treated for eating disorders. That is now under control but I, like many of my clients struggle with Binge eating disorder. Mostly restrict binge! 😦 I hope you can tell from my blog that I work very hard to focus on health and keep that under control.
IIFYM is the best thing that has happened to me! I have peace! I have grown so much!
I accept that this is part of my journey! I’m not perfect. I just strive to be consistent! It has made a difference!
DARK PLACES
At age 40, I was dealing with a torn quad. I gave up on the gym!
Rob and I owned a web development business that kept us chained to our desks 18 hours a day. We worked so much we started having our groceries delivered. We had all food delivered. We never left the house. I was in my jammies for days. My kids asked me if I was ever going to get dressed again! I was depressed and miserable.
I was 40 pounds over weight!
It’s so frustrating to KNOW what you need to do, but not be able to begin. I had no joy in my life. I was on high doses of anti depressants that left me really unable to care. I felt dead inside. Mood swings were horrific. I was a mess. I’m so sad for my family that they had to deal with this. I was sick constantly. I had a terrible cold for a full year! I was on so many medications.. sigh. I just gave up. One day, our smoke alarm was going off and I just laid in bed. I never even thought to get up and get out of the house.
Enough
One day we were set to go vote and wanted to walk to the poling place. I couldn’t make it. Walking around the mall was impossible. I felt like I couldn’t even breath!
I said NO MORE.
I started by eliminating sugary stuff from my diet and made small changes at a time.
I began walking our puppy then started training hard at home. I got off my medication, and went to more holistic/supplements. I began immersing in ways to improve my health as well as my physique!
I was happy to get back to training/coaching and we reset our priorities. Rob and I had lost 100 pounds between us.
Moving forward to success: Fast forward: I moved on to competitive body building and am so happy! My studio has over 100 clients in lifestyle training.I have amazing online clients and I have a figure/bikini team of like minded, strong women who believe that you can be healthy and compete!
I will never judge someone for their journey. I believe we all can eat well, train hard and be healthy!
I am 50 years old and my doctor told me my tests results were amazing. She said “I’m freakishly healthy”. I actively strive to be healthy, strong and yes.. have a competitive physique.
I want you to know that my coaching comes from the heart. I care but I’m tough. I want my team to succeed because I believe in them! We all have work to do! We can be examples for those around us! Keep pushing hard! We never give up, right!?
“I’m not going to make it”
“I’m not changing fast enough”
“I won’t be lean enough”
You are normal. It’s ok! Don’t let doubt overwhelm you!
I quit 3 times in prep. My 5 week out mark is always my worst. I am 5 weeks out. I just hit milestone goal in my prep and immediately threw myself under a bus. It’s almost funny how I always self -sabotage and get down on myself at this point.
Trust the process. Don’t give up
Three weeks out is another hard time. Suit arrives . Never fits. I know I’m not going to make it.Crying crying then I pull it together and ROCK OUT with a vengeance.
I always make it. You will too. Everyone who is on stage has doubts.
They don’t weigh you on stage. You will be lean enough. You will get you there.
Skip over those doubts and know that you are going to be spot on. Visualize your success!
Every aspect of it. When you step off stage, you will have done something very few have done!
For my clients..Believe me.. if you are worried, I’m on it. I will adjust you so we are on point every step of the way.
Trust this process.. cliche but real.
Your job now is to focus each day and bring your best! I believe in YOU.
You have this!
So you have been prepping for your show and right now you want to quit.
Trust me I have been there! If you discover that competing isn’t for you, I get it. Maybe you are on the fence. Maybe you need some tough love and strategies.
PREP
First of all, during prep, there are a lot of emotions. Being a competitive body builder is hard. It’s HARD. It doesn’t matter if you’re bikini, figure or body building, it’s incredibly demanding. That is what sets us apart from fitness seekers.
Reasons you might find yourself wanting to quit.
1. Restricted dieting. As you get further into prep, the food gets harder. Even doing flexible dieting you still have to be leaning and that means eating less.
I typically question why I ever started competing when I see people leaving Quik Trip with bags of treats. What did I do? They look happy. I am dying. Sometimes I actually get angry!
2. Schedule: Contest prep training schedule is very demanding. We all have to work, tend to our families and obligations. I am up sometimes at 3:30am for my workouts. Many people have to carve out the time to make it happen. It can be very overwhelming and exhausting.
3. Fear of not making it. I usually quit 3 or 4 times per prep. The worst times are at about 5 weeks out. I lose it. I just know I won’t make it. It’s not worth it. I’m hungry. I’m tired. I’m sick of whatever. Then I cry and refocus. I also freak out when I get my new suit and it doesn’t fit. About 3 weeks out I break down in the gym and cry then I get my eye of the tiger back. So much of prep is mental. We all already know how to lift.
4. Negativity from those who are close to us.
When others question you, it’s easy to question yourself. Frankly, body building is a lonely sport. You often train alone, eat alone. If your friends/family are critical or not understanding it is very hard to sustain the drive to succeed.
Let’s just say.. the bloom has fallen off the rose.
5. Derail
If you end up having a weak moment and derail, that may cause you to want to quit altogether.
I want to share with you some things that helped me considerably in my preps. Let me explain how they were different.
My first show prep was adrenaline driven. The show was ALL I thought about. It was my everything. I had zero balance. I feel like this is common with a lot of competitors in their first show. It’s actually pretty awesome. It doesn’t mean it isn’t grueling, or you aren’t hungry. It’s just different. Stepping on stage after that prep is a high I cannot begin to explain.
Subsequent preps I try to do with more purpose. I work hard in off season to bring up lagging parts, improve my physique each time. Prep is now very different.
Thank you for this!
I, in fact have a love/hate relationship with prep. I think it’s incredibly grueling and requires much more focus and strategies than adrenaline.
Mistake number one
I don’t want to be perfect. I want to eat. Ice cream is all I can think about.. Why am I doing this? Do NOT throw everything away for a cupcake. If you are truly, at wits end because of the food, try to find something in your macros that will feel treat like. What I know is after a free-for-all food binge, many clients suffer with remorse. A weak moment can wreck your prep mentally! Trust me. Problem solve! Talk to your coach. Remember:
A betchy word about discipline and commitment and being elite.
Discipline and following through on what you said you would do is an elite quality. Every lay person who fails at a diet proves this point. Yes.. that was super betchy. I’m not speaking to fitness seekers who need help with their diet. Competitive athletes set them selves apart from fitness seekers by choice and by their actions.. I’m not being touchy feely here and I’m not apologizing. Wanting to drink with your friends and throwing your whole training away for that is NOT what athletes do. Sometimes you flat out have to remind yourself YOU set yourself apart from the other fitness seekers. Level up!
Before you quit: Ask yourself these questions.
1. Will you feel remorse or relief?
2. Are you quitting for someone else? Because of pressure from others?
3. On the day of your show, will you be upset that you are not there?
4. What will be different when you officially quit? Do you have a plan?
Sometimes I just need to accept that I feel this way and refocus.
How I focus
First and foremost: Reminding myself I chose this journey.
I also want to remind myself I can finish this project …
1. Knowing I am capable to do what needs to be done. Fear has no place here!
2. Knowing my food will be colorful. I will eat things I like and that are fulfilling because I choose the right things to forward this process. My health is important to me!
3. Knowing that it’s going to be very hard sometimes but I will prevail. 🙂
4. Knowing that skipping the struggle isn’t an option.
5. Knowing that I’m going to feel weary, and want to quit but I won’t.
6. Visualizing myself being on stage with my best package.
7. Knowing that others will question me not support me, be rude, comment on my body/food or try to make me feel like it’s ok cheat on my plan. I will prevail because my goals are important.
8. Knowing that everything that tempts me, will be there after my show.
9. Knowing that this challenge is something that very few people actually complete and that I can do it.
10.Knowing there will be times when I doubt myself, feel I won’t be ready, feel I’m not going to do well . I will push past that with the mindset that I am bringing my best. Negative self talk is out of place.
11. Knowing that I can give 100 percent to this goal every single day. I will be disciplined when desire/motivation fails me.
Stop trying to skip the struggle: So, in my last prep, I realized that I’m pretty much, always wishing I could skip the struggle. It’s not an option. Did I embrace it and work through it? Sometimes. Sometimes I was just angry and questioned why I ever really wanted to compete. Once that light came on for me, I really found myself pulling it out at the end. This is typical Tracy fashion. Getting out of the comfort zone is like me jumping off a cliff willingly. hmmm..
Sometimes I wish I was flying blind again like I was in my first show.However, I have learned a lot about myself. I find the challenge of prep the thing I most appreciate about doing this sport. My goal is always to bring a better package but now I also have a goal to perfect my prep each time. I grow an incredible amount during this process. It is worth it on the other side because I prevail on the challenges I set for myself. When I step on stage, no one knows all of this, no one cares. It’s my journey.
I encourage you pause and make peace with the rest of your journey whatever it is. The internal struggle is by far the hardest thing about prep. Every prep.
I believe we can push ourselves far beyond what we think is possible. Whatever you decide I wish you luck in your journey!
If you have been training hard and have a show picked out, you will be starting your “prep” about 12-16 weeks out from your show date. Perhaps you are sick of feeling fluffy and ready to get lean! I get that!! This is very very exciting. It’s mind blowing how quickly things just got real.
You are officially just weeks away from stepping on stage! OMG!
I want to share with you some things that helped me considerably in my preps. Let me explain how they were different.
My first show prep was adrenaline driven. The show was ALL I thought about. It was my everything. I had zero balance. I feel like this is common with a lot of competitors in their first show. It’s actually pretty awesome. It doesn’t mean it isn’t grueling, or you aren’t hungry. It’s just different. Stepping on stage after that prep is a high I cannot begin to explain.
Subsequent preps I tried to do with more purpose. I worked hard in off season to bring up lagging parts, improve my physique each time. Prep was very different.
Thank you for this!
I, in fact have a love/hate relationship with prep. I think it’s incredibly grueling and requires much more focus and strategies than adrenaline.
Mistake number one
I’ve had coaches in the past tell me to go eat whatever I wanted right before prep because it’s the last meals I would get for 16 weeks. I hate starting like that. I’m immediately feeling deprived and my focus is on what I am going to miss out on, not what I’m gaining. I do not ever want to start prep, bloated, and mad at myself for a “sanctioned binge”.
Going straight from several dessert runs to turkey chicken and fish effected me negatively. It reminded me of all the “I’ll start my diet on Monday so I may as well eat everything I want” experience. This is NOT how I want to start an competitive training schedule.
How I focus I choose to start my prep in a positive mental state..
1. Knowing I am capable to do what needs to be done. Fear has no place here!
2. Knowing my food will be colorful. I will eat things I like and that are fulfilling because I choose the right things to forward this process. My health is important to me!
3. Knowing that it’s going to be very hard sometimes but I will prevail. 🙂
4. Knowing that skipping the struggle isn’t an option.
5. Knowing that I’m going to feel weary, and want to quit but I won’t.
6. Visualizing myself being on stage with my best package.
7. Knowing that others will question me not support me, be rude, comment on my body/food or try to make me feel like it’s ok cheat on my plan. I will prevail because my goals are important.
8. Knowing that everything that tempts me, will be there after my show.
9. Knowing that this challenge is something that very few people actually complete and that I can do it.
10.Knowing there will be times when I doubt myself, feel I won’t be ready, feel I’m not going to do well . I will push past that with the mindset that I am bringing my best. Negative self talk is out of place.
11. Knowing that I can give 100 percent to this goal every single day. I will be disciplined when desire/motivation fails me.
Stop trying to skip the struggle: So, in one of my preps, I realized that I’m pretty much, always wishing I could skip the struggle. It’s not an option. Did I embrace it and work through it? Sometimes. Sometimes I was just angry and questioned why I ever really wanted to compete. Once that light came on for me, I really found myself pulling it out at the end. This is typical Tracy fashion. Getting out of the comfort zone is like me jumping off a cliff willingly. hmmm..
Sometimes I wish I was flying blind again like I was in my first show.However, I have learned a lot about myself. I find the challenge of prep the thing I most appreciate about doing this sport. My goal is always to bring a better package but now I also have a goal to perfect my prep each time. I grow an incredible amount during this process. It is worth it on the other side because I prevail on a real challenge I set for myself. When I step on stage, no one knows all of this, no one cares. It’s my journey.
I encourage you to take some time before you begin your prep and make peace with the next part of your journey. If it’s your first time, you can benefit from adrenaline prep and strategies!
I believe we can push ourselves far beyond what we think is possible. I wish you luck in your competition journey! xoxo
Do you every think about losing weight?
Getting lean?
Seeing your abs?
Getting healthy?
What does it take to get that?
It takes a whole lot more than you are doing now.
Sorry if that sounds harsh. You probably want to stop reading now!
Hear me out.
I’m a comfort zone person. I actually dislike change. I’m not thin, I’m not athletic, I struggle with binges, I would sell my soul for cupcake icing. I’m never ever freaking satisfied with my physique. I never have been. I just never could find it within my self to master the stuff that held me back.
I have never once minded working hard. I will kick azz at any time or place. I just never worked hard enough on the things I needed to change to reach my goals. That would have meant leaving my comfort zone!
Mastering the stuff you are no good at I’m going to get to the point. There is something you don’t have the skills to accomplish the goals you want. There is something that you haven’t put the time /effort in. You have made excuses as to why you can’t do it.
In your heart, you know what it is. This is the time to stop making generic resolutions and focus on that issue.
For most of my clients and myself, it’s the food. Studies have shown that more people would rather learn to do their taxes than ‘learn’ how to eat for their physique goals.
What is it about the food? Do you suffer from FOMO? Fear of missing out? Sometimesclients tell me, I want to see my abs, I need to do more ab work. Once again, trying to throw the same old solution that hasn’t worked thus far at the problem.
My answer: You need to get your food right. You know in your heart that abs are not going to show up while you are posting giant margaritas on Facebook. You have to decide that mastering your food means that you will get what you want and you will give up giant margaritas to do that.
Fear of missing out on all the good food? Sure, but is what you are doing making you happy. Are you riding the same hamster wheel year after year because you can’t quite commit? If your commitment is to over eating
and complaining about being overweight then you have accomplished that goal. That’s not even funny. Move forward past that. That stuff is always there.
My blog is filled with strategies to help you have the things you love while you are getting your physique on point. The hard part is the actual commitment to the project.
Arbitrary goals: meh
The most wishy washy of goals is the “I want to lose weight”. Whatever.
Ooo. my mom bought some keto stuff and lost 10 pounds without even exercising.
She gained it back right away plus 8 more.
Try to understand that no changes were made. No next level was present in this. It was a restriction, with a fast track back to old habits which we all know keep us in the place we are unhappy. Same level, same results. Year after year. Decade after decade.
Never give .up
POSITIVITY
Listen.. I have been the worst at beating myself up when I ‘fail’. I will throw myself under a bus.. over an extra cookie. Here’s some truth bombs for you. Nothing grows in shitty soil. I said it. If you are trying to harvest a bounty in a junkyard, it ain’t going to happen. We have to start being kind to ourselves as we take this journey. We must be willing to know that change will come when we understand where we need to change and try new things to problem solve. Do you see what I’m saying? When it doesn’t go the way we like, we can use that information and learn from it. We can use it as data.
We can wake up tomorrow with a new plan.
Life sometimes happens and we aren’t perfect. It’s fine. We can look forward, not backward. Beating myself up never made me better. What makes me better is understanding.
Hack: in the last 37 years of clients I have discovered (myself included) that negative self talk is swirling the drain as we head toward self abuse. WHAT? Have you ever thought “I’m my own worst enemy?” I have. I’ll find the sneakiest ways to self abuse. I ate a pickle off my show prep and beat myself up like I was the worst on the planet.
I am human and I have added those macros to my tracker. I will plan my snacks out so I have some good options and not let myself get so hungry.
That was 100 x better than “You are a piece of garbage who will never look good on stage and everyone will know you suck.”.
Wow.. that was heavy.. right?
Perseverance/ consistency wins.
As you being to learn to master the skills that will take you to your next level, you will flounder be sore mess up be frustrated begin to see change feel proud mess up want to give up (trust me) keep going because next level YOU is never a straight shot to success.
I think my success should be a straight shot to the sun.. just sayin.
Striving for consistency over perfection is key in your next level journey.
Create a plan and manage that for the 18 hours you are awake.
If you falter, so freaking what! Move on and start the next day with the next level mind set.
I’m telling you that you can have what you want if you get out of your comfort zone!
I have done more in my last 6 years than I ever thought I could. I have mastered so many aspects of food. Those things drug me down in my life so many times. You have no idea. When I find myself back in those places where I’m not my next level self, I have to remember that now, set backs are temporary. That is a huge part of being your next level self. You can rely on the fact that you have it within you to move forward. When you uncover your next level YOU.. the possibilities are endless!
When I began competing, it was all I thought about. I was in beast mode 24/7. I started with the determination and will of steel.
The next time I competed, I was fired up, but had a hard prep. I was sick and injured. I relied on sheer will when the motivation was lacking.
Maybe you have also felt that way when you began a program. You were excited, on point until you got weary.
I’ll be honest.. sometimes I think of quitting when I smell the neighbor’s bbq .
Then I have to re-evaluate my whole life.
Motivation fades and discipline has to take over.
This year, I am doing a long cut. I am not interested in a fast weight drop with the potential to rebound so I have made a decision to take it slower. I think in some ways this is a different struggle than being handed a menu with six meals of chicken turkey or fish. I HAVE to make good choices. I have to make choices that further my goal and it’s all on me.
The other day we drove by a QuikTrip. I saw lots of very overweight people leaving with their slushies and bags of treats. That place is heaven on earth. Every craptastic snack treat under the sun is present and accounted for!
All the people leaving looked happy.
They looked like they were going somewhere fun!
For a moment I asked myself “Why do you want to be an elite athlete?”
“Why get leaner? Those people look so happy”.
Now, I know in my heart that I would never and have never been happy eating mounds of junk food. I straight up do not feel well. Been there. I know better, but that internal dialog is a real B. I chose my sport. I know it so I need to level up and
get my cut done.
The Mister has been with me in every prep. He seems to know the right thing to say to help me out.
SECRET
Prep in our house lasts only 18 hours. I have to get through these 18 hours. I can do anything for 18 hours!
That means I’m eating this weird elephant 1 bite at a time. I’ve always had better luck if I don’t look at the project as a huge undertaking. I’m better off stringing together lots of successful days . This feels much more do-able than 4 months on cutting macros.
Cutting is hard. It’s not fun, you do the best you can to make it as delicious as you can but the bottom line is you are eating less. Take your project and create a small incremental goal. One day, one week , YOU CAN do it.
