Take small steps

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/04/2021 (1644 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Everyone has a point in their fitness journey where they reach a crossroads.

It’s like a glass ceiling that you press up against as you progress where the discomfort that got you started dissipates and the pull back to your starting point is strong.

Research suggests that roughly 80 per cent of people who shed a significant portion of weight will gain back more than half of what they lose within two years.

There’s both physical and mental reasons for this. You may have heard of The Biggest Loser study done a few years back in which 14 reality-show contestants were tracked for a half-dozen years after appearing on the show. Each had lost at least 50 pounds during their time on the television series — and a couple had shed more than 200 — but the followup study found they’d regained about two-thirds of what they’d lost, on average. A handful ended up even heavier than when they first appeared on the show.

The reality is, if you’ve lost weight to reach 180 pounds, you’ll have to work harder than the person who’s always been 180 pounds. But there’s something to be said for losing it a little slower and more sustainably than with methods that require host Jillian Michaels screaming at you.

Despite this metabolic disadvantage caused by dieting off a lot of weight, the people who tested with lowest metabolic rates were the same ones who actually had the most success in maintaining their weight loss. The secret? They have maintained their good exercise habits.

Where most go horribly wrong in the diet world is getting to the end of the “diet” and saying “Hey, I lost the weight,” and they stop doing all the good things that helped them reach their goal.

This is one reason you want to lose it slowly and focus mostly on sustainable habits, not extreme methods. A gradual loss of bodyweight can help prepare the body to accept the new lower set point. Plus, the methods that got you there will help keep you there and need to be something you can sustain.

Now let’s get into the mental aspect of permanent weight loss.

Act like the person you want to be in the future, today

Right now, you have a vision of the person you want to become.

Ask yourself: what good habits does future me have? What bad habits does future me not have? Write a few down for each and focus on swapping one of your bad habits for a good one this week.

To get to the goal you have to first become the person who’s already achieved the goal in habits and rituals. It’s just like a lottery winner who hasn’t learned how to manage their new-found money and loses it all. Losing weight without developing a healthy lifestyle to support the loss will lead back to where you started.

Learn to love the process

It’s not just about achieving the end result but how you change in the process. The real benefit lies in the journey on the way to achieving your goals.

Why? Because it’s during the process you learn things, challenge yourself (which promotes happiness) and pick up skills and strategies that you can maintain for life.

Because once the “high” of achieving your goal wears off, you’ll still have all the skills and knowledge you picked up along the way.

Had you just accomplished those goals with the snap of a finger and no effort, you wouldn’t value them.

But there’s another reason why loving the process is so important. It’s how most things in life are achieved.

Between where you are right now and where you want to be — the “before” and “after” — there’s a period of time full of boring stuff.

It’s the stuff that won’t sell fitness magazines. But it’s the stuff that matters.

And it’s where progress happens — in that boring gap where it’s just you and the dumbbells. But hang out there long enough and you start to see the fruits of your labour.

First come the subtle changes: the belt starts loosening up, clothes feel a bit different, you start feeling more energetic and happier, in general.

Now, eventually, people who haven’t seen you in a while will validate your efforts with compliments. That feels good, because you, being your own worst critic, probably didn’t notice the day-to-day gradual changes. And as you get little wins along the way, you build momentum and it keeps you going.

This is called trusting the process. You start to enter the promised land where this is just who you are. It’s not a grind to get your daily exercise and make good food choices. It’s on autopilot.

But it takes time to shift that identity, so don’t hope to take a 30-day challenge and come out of it transformed for life.

It’s not what you do during the good times that matter, but what you do when crap hits the fan

It’s easy to be motivated, optimistic and stick to your goals when things are going great and life lines up perfectly. It’s a lot harder to be and do those things when you’re having bad days, when life dumps a steaming pile of garbage on you.

But it’s what you do during the bad days that matters more, because the truth is, this is real life and you’re going to have more bad days than good ones.

If you can see the silver lining and push through, you will succeed eventually. An easy way to do this is to take your MEDs (minimum effective doses) when life throws a gut punch.

A MED is the minimum you can do without feeling overwhelmed. For example, instead of “do four hour-long workouts every week” you would focus on getting a 10-20 minute workout in three times that week.

If you can do more, that’s fine. But if you can’t, focusing on taking your MEDs will help you keep some semblance of routine and structure and help you maintain healthy habits.

And when things calm down again, you’ll find it’s a lot easier to get back on track than if you’d completely stopped.

Going from 0 to 60 is difficult. From 30 to 60? Not nearly as steep a hill to climb.

Amazing results (changes/progress) are a culmination of all the small things you do every day

Nobody makes a drastic transformation overnight.

It’s the culmination of all the small (positive) decisions that person’s made over weeks, months and years that eventually lead to huge results.

If you want to make huge progress in the long run, you should be more focused on accumulating as many good habits and doing them consistently until they’re ingrained in the deepest recesses of your psyche.

Mitch Calvert is a Winnipeg-based fitness coach for men and women like his former self. He lost 60 pounds and now helps clients find their spark and lose the weight for life. Visit mitchcalvert.com to grab yourself a free metabolism jumpstart or inquire about his next “Drop 2 Sizes” or “Gut Loss Protocol” coaching programs.