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YouTubeI've been bandying it around a lot lately. And it's fun to say. This was my attitude going into the City2Surf, a 14km race from Sydney's CBD to its coast. I'd never run that far before without stopping. What sort of brazen confidence was this? I'd say a few things helped inform it along the way.
- Listening to People
Don't "hope" for it, fucking work for it. You're an intelligent person Marshy, so don't let stupid food choices win. This time, make it a permanent lifestyle change so that there's no 4th try. Don't prove it to ITM, prove it to yourself.The words resonated, as they should. The member calling me out achieved this transformation. Abosolutely awe-inpspiring.
EVERYDAY: eat clean food, train hard, sleep, and repeat.
It can be done.
- Training
You just fucking do it. There's no excuses. You make time. I've spent years looking for shortcuts, accelerating programs and burning out too fast, applying new theories to do anything but train. I get angry at old me just thinking about my old excuses. You find what works for you and you run with it. It's not meant to be easy, but it's not meant to make you hate yourself either. Once you start, they say 21 days is how long it takes to be formed. I don't know about that, but the thought of not running seems like a really, really stupid idea now. As does not logging what I eat, which is next.
I hate diets. I really do. The concept of doing something radically different to your normal habits in some sort of sustainable manner does not make sense. They work for some people, but not for me. For my situation, I didn't need a diet, I needed a transformation. My habits were already terrible and I needed to make myself accountable to myself and learn along the way. The only way that seems to work for me is by tracking everything that goes in my mouth. And that's what I do.
I don't envisage me doing this forever, but until I know enough to know when I can spoil myself and when I can't, I'm going to keep on loggin'.
And you do this every day. Every fucking day.
Then days like the City2Surf come up, and you get to wear a medal.
You've got this.
.
- Look at what goes in your mouth
I hate diets. I really do. The concept of doing something radically different to your normal habits in some sort of sustainable manner does not make sense. They work for some people, but not for me. For my situation, I didn't need a diet, I needed a transformation. My habits were already terrible and I needed to make myself accountable to myself and learn along the way. The only way that seems to work for me is by tracking everything that goes in my mouth. And that's what I do.
Yep, I'm commenting on my own achievements
I don't envisage me doing this forever, but until I know enough to know when I can spoil myself and when I can't, I'm going to keep on loggin'.
And you do this every day. Every fucking day.
Then days like the City2Surf come up, and you get to wear a medal.
Look at me, I got a medal
I'm not there yet. And I don't think I ever will be, because I'll just keep shifting those goal posts.
You've got this.
.
Good skills champ. Very proud. Biggest motivation for me has been getting married and since January I've shed 11kgs (although I've also put on a fair amount of muscle) but now feeling great and looking at a body in the mirror I never knew existed!
ReplyDeleteThe habit thing is very true, I've found myself getting twitchy and irritable if I haven't been to the gym/run for a couple of days but not from a sense of guilt but because I REALLY WANT TO SMASH IT! It's a really odd sensation, but to feel like a cooped up greyhound (read St Bernard) and then get that release without having to rely on anyone else but yourself and your demons is something you don’t experience in other parts of life. I know you’re getting stacks of advice from lots of far more knowledgeable people than me, and everyone’s bodies are very different and react differently to certain techniques but what I’ve found to most effective over the last 7 months has been:
1) remove as much sugar as possible from your life – there are the obvious things like Coke and sweets etc, but check out the amount of sugar in breakfast cereal/bread and also remove fruit. There’s a lot of people who swear by fruit, but natural sugar (fructose) only has one chemical bond more than processed sugar which means it might be burnt very slightly slower but it is still sugar and you don’t need it. Take your vitamins from green vegetables such as broccoli and salad or cauliflower/peppers, avoid root vegetables (anything with high levels or starch) and don’t go near dressing (low fat does not mean low sugar).
2) Take pictures – I’ve been a bit crap at this this year but I was looking at some photos from Christmas and I was massive in comparison. I’ve gone down 3 holes on my belt and my jeans are baggy, all good signs, but photos are definitely the most effective motivator (also stick a photo of yourself in your mankini on the fridge door/take away menu draw, it works wonders!)
3) Have a binge day. Be strict during the week but don’t make your body have a nasty reaction and go into starvation mode so chuck it some unadulterated sugar and fast burning carbs once a week. I normally do it on a Saturday, after a morning run and a protein shake, I then smash the croissants, ice cream and beer until I’m catatonic and then pass out for about 12 hours whilst my body tries to work out what the fuck just happened. The next day you’ll probably have put on 4 pounds but this is just water retention and not to worry about as it will drop off as you get back to your high protein, low fat diet and it should all be gone by Thursday before you lose a bit more just in time for the next binge day. It sounds counterproductive in a way, but it works for me both from a weight loss perspective but also keeps me sane! I keep a record during the week of everything I’m craving and then smash it on Saturday, it’s a very, very happy day!
Whoa I written loads, sorry. I get a bit carried away when I start talking about this. The last 7 months have been amazing and I’ve enjoyed nearly every week. The weight loss has been fairly consistent but there have been plateauxs, for example in April I lost nothing! Not a thing! And then in May I lost 2.6kgs! I noticed a pattern like that throughout which I’ve put down to building muscle and then using that muscle (I have no idea if this is accurate!)
Keep going my brother, your attitude is spot on and I know you’ve got this!
Ash
Thanks loads Ash, you've been a regular supporter of this initiative and keeping on it is very top of mind. I've been hopeless with photos - I will take some tonight I think. It's a great motivator as weight isn't the only indicator.
DeleteI've been running now for about 6 weeks, it's time to introduce strength training - and I just signed up for the Blackmore's Bridge run on the 16th September, love this momentum and am keen to keep it going :)
Thanks again for the support!