There’s a new documentary film on Netflix making a big buzz titled, “The Game Changers”. It’s a story how a professional mixed martial artist goes on a quest, in search of recovery methods after suffering two debilitating knee injuries. On this journey, with the end goal to get back on the competitive stage, he comes across the
benefits of a plant-based diet. The movie ends with him learning how to fly after eating only plant-based food. Yes, that’s a joke. My post today isn’t going to be about converting you to a plant-based diet, it’s about the power of making subtle changes.
When people are looking to make a positive change, they believe they need to make a massive, seismic lifestyle change. The classic example is the person who eats Pop-tarts for breakfast, visits McDonalds for lunch, and has a Pizza for dinner. To improve his diet, he decides to become a vegan. For the record, I have nothing against becoming vegan, but how about just increasing your daily intake of veggies first.
The holiday season has gone from starting on Back Friday, to now the day after Halloween. That means New Year resolutions and goals for 2020 are starting to appear on the radar for many people. Seeing the
Christmas decorations in Home Depot was part of my inspiration for this blog post. Here are a few tips for making a positive change a habit.
To make a positive change a habit, you need to map out the steps. Don’t bank on willpower. Will power is a muscle and it gets fatigued. The Secret, popularized by Oprah, which was a best seller and then became a movie, gave many people the idea that if they create a vision board and believe in the power of abundance, they will get whatever they need. That’s like hoping you win the lottery, so you can retire. Leaning on willpower and vision boards are not ways you can insure you make a change.
If your goal is fat loss, research has proven that losing an average of 1- 2 pounds a week (depending on the size of the person), is a healthy goal. That means giving yourself 2-4 months to lose the weight is a realistic window of time. The key word is average. There will be weeks you won’t lose anything and weeks when you’ll lose 3 pounds. I would recommend you check your weight monthly, instead of weekly or daily. That will keep you sane. I would also recommend you have your bodyfat checked. This will allow you to monitor your levels of body-fat. I’ve routinely had people in the studio lose 10 pounds of fat to replace it with 8 pounds of lean muscle. The net difference on the scale is 2 pounds.
My next tip for fat loss is that before you completely revamp everything, start by adding 2 cups of veggies to your daily food intake. If I got anything out of the movie “The Game Changers”, it was that I need to increase my daily intake of veggies. I love a steak and I have red meat typically once a week. I don’t anticipate stopping this, but I’m more aware of the benefits plants provide nutritionally and the inflammation red meat can create within the body.
My final tip is to show up on the days you don’t want to train. It’s easy to workout when we feel great. Believe me, the gyms will be packed Wednesday, January 2nd. It’s those workouts in March when you don’t want to get out of bed or go to the gym after work that matter the most. Consistency will be the key to make changes in your body.
Remember, you can be in a room that’s 32 degrees Fahrenheit and ice will not melt. The temperature can raise by 1 single degree and the ice will start to melt. The difference is 1 degree.
See you at the studio.