Fit-Bullets Friday: December 30th, 2022
Fit-Bullets: Weight Loss Facts, Reforming Habits, Losing Weight AND Keeping It Off, The Only Way to Fail, and Coaching
Happy Fit-Bullets Friday!
Here are 5 things I wanted to share with you this week...
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23 Facts About Weight Loss for 2023
Yesterday I posted 23 super important facts about weight loss that are going to help you on your weight loss journey in 2023.
The first four are:
1) You won't lose any fat unless you're in a calorie deficit.
2) There's no such thing as a fat-burning workout.
3) There's no such thing as a fat-burning food.
4) Hitting your daily protein goal of 0.7-1g protein per lb target weight will work wonders for reducing hunger.
You can read the other nineteen facts here.
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Reforming habits
If you've just taken the last couple of weeks off your usual habits, don't try to restart everything at once on Monday.
That's gonna make failure almost inevitable.
Instead, pick no more than two habits to reform at a time.
Here are some of the habits you might need to pick back up:
- Working out
- Going for walks
- Tracking food
- Eating protein and veggies
- Drinking water
- Going to bed on time
Choose one or two of the above. I'd recommend you start with the one or two that feel most achievable.
Spend 2-7 days working on them.
Once they feel like habits again - which means they require minimal thought effort to do each day - choose another one or two habits to work on for another 2-7 days.
I repeat: work on no more than two habits at a time. And even two might be too many.
But Daniel, what do I do If I'm right at the beginning of my weight loss journey and I've never actually formed any of those habits before?
No worries - I've got you covered. Read my blog post Getting Started With Weight Loss for tips on forming those habits for the very first time.
And for supplemental reading, check out the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. It's f*cking fantastic.
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Losing Weight AND Keeping It Off
A lot of people are great at losing weight, but not at keeping it off.
They have the discipline to follow something like keto for 8-12 weeks and lose a ton of weight.
Or maybe they drastically cut calories, ignore hunger for a couple of months, and manage to drop 15 lbs.
Then they go back to their old way of eating...
And they regain the weight within a couple of months.
If this describes you, then I'm confident you can turn it around.
After all, it's hard to eliminate carbs for 12 weeks. It's hard to ignore hunger for a couple of months and drop 15 lbs.
In other words, you're capable of doing hard things. Respect.
But you're working hard in the wrong places.
Because if this is the cycle you currently find yourself in, then something needs to change. You're getting results, but you're not keeping the results.
And you're not keeping the results because you haven't learned sustainable habits. The habits you use to lose weight should feel very similar to the habits you use to keep the weight off.
Seven HIIT workouts a week isn't sustainable. But a couple of strength workouts and 7-10K daily steps is sustainable forever.
Eliminating carbs, sugar, and alcohol isn't sustainable. But following the 80/20 principle and eating a balanced diet is sustainable forever.
Trying to survive on 1000-1200 calories a day isn't sustainable. But taking your target weight, multiplying it by 12, and eating that many calories per day for weight loss is sustainable while losing weight - and your maintenance calories, when your eventually hit your goal weight, will be somewhere around 300-500 calories above that number.
Put your energy and focus on forming the above habits.
Reset your expectations and accept that losing 2-4 lbs per month is a reasonable rate of progress.
And know that by taking more time to hit your goal weight, you're giving yourself more time to internalize those long-term habits - and setting yourself up for long-term success.
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The Only Way to Fail
There's literally only one way you can fail at weight loss.
And no, not being able to lose weight doesn't mean you're failing.
You're not failing because you're still trying.
Sure, I'm sure you've had one or two days where you've said "f*ck it" and gone off the rails.
Who the f*ck hasn't been there? I know I have
No.
The one and only way you can fail at weight loss is if you completely give up and stop trying for the rest of your life.
But as long as you're still trying, you're still reading my content on IG, and you're reading this newsletter - then you're not failing.
I want you to do your best to adopt a growth mindset.
A growth mindset is one where you:
1) Believe that you can succeed as long as you put in the time and the work.
2) View mistakes as a positive: as learning opportunities.
So please stop thinking of yourself as failing. Adopting this growth mindset will help.
And realize that if you're not seeing results, it's time to learn from it and change your approach.
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Coaching
I will have spots opening up in January for coaching.
You can find out more, and apply, at https://www.rosentrain.com/online-coaching
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See you in 2023,
Daniel