Done Dieting

Treat your fitness like a business. Plan it, schedule it, execute it, track it and revise it when it’s not taking you where you want to go!

April 20th, 2009

Treat your fitness like a business. Plan it, schedule it, execute it, track it and revise it when it’s not taking you where you want to go!

Plan it

Nobody plans to fail… they just fail to plan.

Pick a system that works. Something has proven results.  Pick something that has appeal to you.  This is why I’ve chosen Beachbody.  It has great exercises, proven results, and great supplemental products.  (disclaimer: I believe in Beachbody so much I am now one of there reps.  And I’d love you’re business http://www.beachbodycoach.com/donedieting)

Pick a meal plan that suits your goals.  Please no crazy diets. They don’t work remember anything you go “on” you’ll eventually come off… so please don’t go “on” a diet.  Make gradual dietary changes that you can stick to for a healthier life.  I’m a huge fan of http://www.shakeology.com meal replacement drink.  Its low calorie and has more nutrients then anything I’ve ever seen.

Set milestones and goals then give yourself rewards for achieving them. (Non food awards works best.)

Keep it fun.  Most people will quit if something is too hard.  Find something you enjoy doing and every once in a while try changing it up.  Do different exercises, run a different path, or eat something different but healthy.  This will help keep it fresh, exciting and also have the added benefit that your body will respond better to different exercises.  (I’ll save The benefits of varied training for another article, another time.)

Motivation, the key to staying on track is motivation… What is your reason “WHY”?   Know why you’re getting into shape.  A lot of people say… that if your reason “WHY” isn’t enough to make you cry… its not strong enough.  This may not be easy to pin point for you but its very important.  Develop your reason for health and fitness to the point where you can share it when asked.

Schedule it

Treat the time needed for health and fitness activities, like it’s a very important meeting, a critical doctor’s appointment or anything else in life you really have to do… or want to do.   If you keep a calendar, ink it in.  This is part of the plan.

If you schedule it in, you’ll remove the “I don’t have time” excuse.  It may be tough to find time this week so here is what I suggest.   Pick a date outside of your normal planning window. For me, it was 2-3 weeks out.  Then pick 3-5 days a week your going to do your exercising.  Write it into the calendar before something else occupies the time slot.

Next, work your way back till the current date and place what ever time you can in the calendar for gym time.  This will get maybe 2 workouts this week, 3 next week then 5 every week from that point forward.

Last part of schedule it…  THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART,   What ever you do,  don’t let anything move your gym time.  Hopefully you’ve picked a time that won’t really conflict with your job or family obligations but this time is your health, your life, your fitness.  Treat this time as if someone is trying to hurt you or your family, because in essence they are… give up your health time give up your healthy life.  Maybe even give up a few years you should have spent with your kids.

Execute it

Plans are worthless without execution.  This is where the rubber meets the road.

Planning = a nice plan—à    More planning…  Longer plan…

Action = Results —–à More action…. Better results

Enough said on this.

Track it

Part of your planning should have been goal setting.  Whether you’re tracking yourself in pant sizes, weight, or with a tape measure. Pick a time interval and record your results.   I may get on the scale daily but I write down my weight in a log every Friday.  I use the tape measure the 30^th or last day of each month.

The second part of track it…. Even if you don’t count calories, keep a food log, write down everything you eat through out the day, every day.   It’s been proven in medical studies that those who keep a food log have significantly better success in weight loss.

Revise it

Here is the key… if you start to see less results, get board, your exercise is getting too easy, or start you feeling burned out.  Revise your plan.

If you owned a business and you started losing money (you know this because of tracking) Would you spend the time to figure out why and try a different approach?   The same goes for fitness and health… if what you’re doing isn’t working try a different approach.

Last but not least… Never give up…  while you may have different goals and even different plans through out life, health and fitness needs to be part of your lifestyle.

Good Luck and Good Health.

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