“Thats it! I can’t stand another day in my own skin. I need to exercise and start losing weight again!” you think to yourself. With a burst of renewed ambition you set out to lose weight and get healthy. You pull up Google and type “Best Exercise Program To Lose Weight”. You scroll through, and one program catches your eye. It reads “Burn Fat & Get Fit in 60 Days”. You think to yourself “This is what I need!”

I can almost guarantee, if this is you, you either gave up before the 60 days or a year later your back where you started. Again, you’re thinking nothing works for you and that you are doomed to life of unhealthiness. That is until you summon another burst of renewed ambition.

I can relate to the story above, I used to be on this endless cycle myself. Although I would love to share with you in great depth how to end this cycle, and something is coming soon I promise you , I will give you a tip. To explain the tip, I would like to share with you an experience I see over and over again.

Sprinting in a Half-Marathon

After getting in a good season of training for a half-marathon (or any race for that matter) I would get to the start line. This is one of the most exciting parts for me. The energy is high, people are excited, heck I am excited! When the gun goes off, I know the excitement allows me to run a pace that is quicker than I should be going. Since I have 13.1 miles to run, I try to contain this excitement and keep a reserved pace so I am not dead before the finish line.

Without out fail, at the start, I see people sprinting like they are at the end of the race and not the beginning. After about a mile in, I see these people are already walking or have slowed way down. I feel bad for them because they still have 12.1 more miles to go and it’s going to be a very tough race for them. They are racing as if they were in a 100 meter dash instead of a half-marathon.

People are trying to sprint when they are actually signed up for a half-marathon. What I mean is that everyone wants to be healthy and fit for life, but yet they are choosing a 30, 60, 90 day program. Why are individuals picking a product designed to work for 60 days, yet expect it to be the answer for a life time? Don’t get me wrong, I am okay if these programs are used for a “quick fix”, but then what? Usually there is no plan except to extend the 60 day program, continuing to sprint, until they fizzle out? What’s the solution to losing weight? How do we make a fitness plan work for us?

Sprinting to Marathon Lifestyle

If you already invested your hard earned money in a program lets take advantage of it and not throw it away. Going forward try these 6 steps to transform a sprinting program into a marathon:

1. Do the Program: You bought it, use it. However, I want you to change your mindset on why you are doing it.
   • Lets Sprint-There is nothing wrong with sprinting to get quick results if your mindset is correct. Just understand that the results will not likely last.
   • What Works-There are going to be things you like and don’t like about the program. Let’s learn what those likes and dislikes are, you will need that in step 2. The first step is all about you, learning about yourself.
2. Categorize Your Eating Lifestyle: In this step you will take the eating habits in the program and categorize everything into 4 groups No Change, New Change, Would Like To Change, and No Way.
   • No Change: This category represents the foods, recipes, and habits you already had and they also show up in the program. You don’t have to do anything different here, just keep doing them.
   • New Change: This category represents the foods, recipes, and habits that you learned in the program and that you enjoyed. Just keep eating those foods and doing those habits to keep your momentum going.
   • Would Like To Change: This category represents the foods, recipes, and habits that are in the program and you want to keep, but find them difficult to follow through on. Most likely this category is filled with habits you should include and/or foods you should remove. Write these items in a priority list that you would like to accomplish them in.
   • No Way: This category is a no go. You are not willing to make a habit change or remove certain foods from your diet. For me it’s ice cream, I refuse to give it up. Write these items on a list as well.
3. Small Step & Stack: Now that the eating portion of the program is categorized, let’s tackle the “Would Like To Change” and the “No Way” list.
   • Would Like To Change: For this category you will take the first item on this list and create a step-by-step process to start incorporating it. With your step-by-step process:
     • 1) Take Action: Make sure the steps are so small you don’t notice them and start your step now.
     • 2) Adapt: You want to keep doing your current step until you can honestly say to yourself “It’s just what I do”.
     • 3) New Item or Next Step: If you have completely adopted a new habit move to the next one on your list. If you have another step in the current habit go to the next step. This is how we create new habits.
       • An example: Remove cream & sugar from coffee. Start with removing 1/8 teaspoon of sugar & cream than normal. Once your taste for this change has adapted, remove another 1/8. Keep going until no sugar & cream is added to your coffee.
   • No Way: For this category you only have to make a small change. You don’t want to remove these items completely. What you will do instead is eat them less frequently and in smaller proportions.
     • An example: When I ate ice cream you bet I was getting the largest size available, I like it too much. Instead of trying to deny myself what I like completely, I now order a medium or small. I will also eat it less often than usual, but I will still have it without regret.
4. Exercise: What trips up most people with exercise, is that you don’t adapt it to your life situations. They key here is if you can do the program in full, do it. However, if you can only do 5 minutes, then do that (see my writing “The Power Of Doing Something”). If you get bored with the program, go to Youtube and do a random workout to mix it up. Or if you’re in a pinch go for a walk. The point is to always be doing something.
5. Create Rules: Now that you stoped the program and are making some modifications, you may start gaining weight again. Instead of waiting till you gain all the weight you lost back, and starting all over again, create rules. After you create the rules, if they get triggered you go to step # 6.
   • For example: I personally have three rules set-up to let me know if I am falling off track with my weight. I check how the wristband of my watch feels, how specific t-shirts feel on my body, and I give myself a 5 pound deviation from my base weight.
6. Start The Program Again: Thats right, you are going to incorporate a “jog, sprint, jog” strategy until you can keep “jogging”. Until you get the “Would Like To Change” list reduced, you may find that you have to “sprint” until you get back to your base weight. It should take less time sprinting because you are in better health. Once you are back at base weight, go back to your step-by-step process.

Although you are sprinting, you are doing less and less of it. You are slowly transitioning to a marathon lifestyle. In the long run you will find that these 6 steps are more realistic and will help you stay consistent on your health & fitness journey. Let me know if you try out these 6 steps and how it goes!

Hey NAC Warriors! I am almost done creating a free webinar that I plan to release before the end of October 2022. I am also currently giving access to resources that will help change peoples lives. To be honest I still have a lot to add to the resources, however If you would like to get early access to them, I am offering a huge discount to early supporters. You can get access here: NAC Warriors Mind Map Tool

Links:

NAC Warrior Resource Tool: https://nftathleticcommunity.com/product/nac-warriors-tool

NAC Warrior Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1425657907928681/?ref=share_group_link

Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3r2dH7jyIlJF4pHFuFXcCB?si=GOOoNg5rT7S1p2TBQfH_h

YouTube: