By this evening (Tuesday October 30th) you should have turned in your first 2 weeks of your “Lean Body Success Checklist” and picked up a new one.
So how did you do?
First of all I want to congratulate everyone who turned in their card, regardless of your compliance percentage. You took action, and that is what it’s all about.
You have discovered over the last 2 weeks where your strong points and challenge points are, and now over the next 2 weeks you can build on that improvement and keep getting better.
We have received a lot of feedback on the cards, and that is also good. Some of you were surprised at the level of (or lack of) your compliance and found the cards really helpful to keep you on point, while others expressed frustration.
Either way that’s ok, because now we have an opportunity to address some of those challenges.
Here’s just a rundown of some common challenges and some tips to help.
“I can’t eat 5 times a day” (review habit 1 here)
There is a pretty simple answer to that one. Just don’t. If 5 times doesn’t work back it down to 4 and work off that. Because the magic isn’t necessarily in the number of times you eat. The point is to make sure you are eating, and that you are controlling your cravings and blood sugar so that when you do eat you are in control and making good choices. If 3 meals plus a recovery drink after training works for you, then experiment for 2 weeks and measure the results.
“It’s too hard to eat vegetable with every meal, especially breakfast”. (review habit 3 here)
My advice here is to keep it simple. I eat baby carrots almost every day for breakfast because they are easy, I like the crunch and slightly sweet taste, and they complement all sorts of protein sources. I start off the day with some good fiber and carbohydrate, and they don’t spike my blood sugar like cereal or a bagel. Just do it for a couple weeks and it becomes habit.
“I can’t have cream in my coffee?” (review habit 6 here)
Coach Nancy has been working diligently to cut down her coffee and caffeine consumption. Since I (coach Dean) drink my coffee black, Nancy did some calculating just on the calories she was consuming in her coffee, and discovered she was going through a quart of 1/2 and 1/2 by herself every two weeks.
For some of you out in coffee land that is probably actually on the low side, but here’s the rub:
That’s 1200 calories every 2 weeks just from cream in coffee, which adds up to 31,200 calories a year! Drinking an extra 31,200 calories over your body’s energy requirements would result in a 9 pound weight gain over the course of a year – OUCH!
Before you tell me “I don’t use that much”, keep track over a week or two and check it out. And think about this – how much weight do you want to gain this year from drinking your calories? Is 4 or 5 pounds ok? Multiply that over the next (or last) 10 years and tell me how that works for you.
The cards are a tool.
Don’t let them frustrate you, but don’t dismiss them or give up either.
Make no mistake, you have dietary habits already. It’s a habit to grab a bagel and coffee, or cereal and toast, for breakfast. It’s just something you do, and have probably done for years. It’s a habit to have a sandwich for lunch, and a potato or rice with dinner.
Habits are created, which means they can also be replaced.
Pick just one PPW habit this week and work on it. Not all seven, just one. Make it the one that you think will be easiest, and build on that success.
As always, questions and feedback below.
Make It Happen!
Dean
I read every day. I find that in that reading there is sometimes more power packed into a few paragraphs than one hundred pages written on a subject.
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