Doing All the Things

We can’t skip steps and expect results.

The basics work, but are often ignored.

I ask myself frequently:

What are my daily habits? (regardless if they’re good or bad, we all have habits going on)

What am I progressing in right now, if there is something?

What am I ignoring that I really should be doing?

What is in progress right now that I’m ACTUALLY working on?

What ALWAYS needs to be there to maintain my current results/symptom elimination/health?

If I was trying to lose fat, was I in a calorie deficit? Was I tracking? Was I using a scale or was I guessing? Was I doing the cardio I was supposed to be doing? Was I getting daily steps in?

If I was trying to build or maintain muscle, was I eating at maintenance or in a slight surplus, lifting intentionally, to failure on certain sets, tracking weight/reps/sets to progress, getting to my sessions every week, getting enough sleep, and recovering?

A lot of the time, ALL THE THINGS are not being done when someone sees no changes. Which things give the most return on investment? Start there. For me, it was getting extremely specific about nutrition and weight lifting. My first goals were: fat loss and learning how to lift with intensity (I’d never lifted weights before), and after the fat loss, put on muscle, then maintain. I knew going in to this I may have to repeat this process many times, over the course of years. I am certain I wouldn’t have reached those goals without tracking my food and working with a trainer to teach me how to lift. Both had to be happening consistently if I truly expected results.

WHAT ARE ALL THE THINGS I STARTED WITH (am still doing) AND WOULD RECOMMEND:

1)calorie intake appropriate for your body and goals, being managed somehow, with a wide variety of whole foods (managing could mean tracking in an app, or, building a plate based on portion principles learned through tracking for an extended period of time)

2)balanced meals containing a protein, a carb and a fat

3)physical activity (hopefully weight training with heavy weight at least 2x/week, 3 would be better) + walking

4)enough sleep to recover

5)stress management that hopefully is not alcohol or food

I can think about, read about, listen to all the stuff to educate myself about the basics, but, I have to actually DO ALL THE THINGS.