It has been a while since my last post, which I seem to always be saying! (When things settle down I shall write more frequently).
People love telling me they have lost weight……this is great….I love success stories….but of course most people haven’t read my post on the emotional roller coaster to know I am not one for getting over excited by results nor too despondent by the lack of them, especially in the short term. This is besides the point, what was interesting this week about the weight loss success stories was how they had achieved the results, or more appropriately how they misapplied who got the results.
Guy 1 – I have lost 4 kg, I have been on Paleo
Woman 1 – I have lost a few pounds – I have been doing the 5 & 2 diet
Guy 2 – I have lost 8 Kg….I decided to just follow a healthy diet.
To a neutral you would leave this conversation thinking that you better google Paleo, the 5 & 2 diet and check what healthy eating means. Maybe you could combine all three for optimal results…..steady on tiger……the real diet has even been mentioned yet….
Guy 1 – I have lost 4 kg, I have been on Paleo the willpower diet
Woman 1 – I have lost a few pounds – I have been doing the 5 & 2 diet willpower diet
Guy 2 – I have lost 8 Kg….I decided to just follow a healthy diet the willpower diet
……ok, but what is wrong with that???? I hear you say…………
Well, nothing!!! If you have read this blog for any time you know I love anything that gets results.
I am all about the transition plan and have no “beef” with any particular diet methodology…..it is just I’m here in the long term…I’m looking at the big picture….12 months ahead….3 years ahead……
For long term success it is helpful if you attribute success to its real causes. In all three of these cases as I knew the people involved and I could see that the difference between their success now and their failures before was that they have applied willpower and stuck to it better. It isn’t the diet itself, it is the willpower. The focus, the attention to eating more of what they should and less of what they shouldn’t.
Why is this important???
Because when you realise the willpower diet worked for you then you can start asking the real questions that matter????
What does the Paleo/5 & 2 diet / eating healthily willpower diet involve you doing?
How does the Paleo/5 & 2 diet / eating healthily willpower diet work?
How do you start the Paleo/5 & 2 diet / eating healthily willpower diet?
How do you maintain the Paleo/5 & 2 diet / eating healthily willpower diet?
Yep, you guessed it, if you spent some time answering what were the key components are of this approach compared to normal struggles you may just find a way to be able to easily drop into a willpower diet. While the foods within your willpower diet may change based off your nutrition knowledge of that time period the principle stay the same, here is Plan A….STICK TO IT!….and because I am on the willpower diet I will stick to Plan A through good or bad.
This hasn’t changed anything I have said about willpower not being the tool for long term success. It is a short term solution, a short term technique. However, if you have a strongly developed willpower and can stick to a diet for a period of days to weeks you are able to really get some things moving.
As I have mentioned before, if during this time of willpower high’s you change your behaviour patterns and beliefs then low and behold….you may just have cracked it.
Even when you are in a successful long term plan, being able to drop into some more intense willpower fuelled phases is quite the “icing on the cake” for getting into shape.
To learn how to do this you first need to start asking the usual questions but aimed at the willpower diet!
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Here are my guesses for some of these answers, but ask yourself these questions about the last time you were focused –
What does the Paleo/5 & 2 diet / eating healthily willpower diet involve you doing?
– It involves you doing the normal diet techniques but in a emotional state where you actually stick to it. To get to this I usually need to be supper pissed off because I just saw how “fat/out of shape” I am or I be gripped by fear realising my holiday/wedding/party is just xx weeks away.
How does the Paleo/5 & 2 diet / eating healthily willpower diet work?
– I will pick a diet plan with some rules I understand…..and then stick to it.
How do you start the Paleo/5 & 2 diet / eating healthily willpower diet?
– I start ASAP!!!!!! I’m so annoyed I cannot wait / I have just xx weeks.
How do you maintain the Paleo/5 & 2 diet / eating healthily willpower diet?
– I stay on this until things change in my body*….
* As things change your pain diminishes and motivation is lost and / or the pain of the diet just grows and grows and so out weighs any perceived pain you had to motivate you in the first place.
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July 30th – August 11th (10 days data)
Training hard twice a day with two days on then a day off. Diet on it and at near maximal intake levels below body fat gaining threshold except for a couple of lower calorie days I will discuss in another blog. With so much training but also numerous off days I am feeling beyond energised, looking ripped and feels like I am on steroids – Not that I have ever taken them but you get what I mean.
Diet – Protein – 213g, Carbs – 323g, fat – 62g, calories – 2711 calories, % P: 31% C : 48% F: 21%
Exercise – Weights x 18 sessions, 4 off days
Weight – 71.3kg average Body fat – 37.5mm* average
Supplements – Protein shake x 1/2 a day
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*This is my own 10 point self measurement system, it does not correlate to body fat scores. At a guess 40mm – 8%, 50mm – 9.5%, 60mm – 11%, 70mm – 12.5%. I do not take it everyday if looking to gain muscle or maintain as it puts me off wanting to eat more. If on fat loss phase I take it daily.
Chelsea – For Personal Training Chelsea please contact me. I am available for sessions in homes, private gyms or parks for Chelsea Personal Training
