When we set out on a new challenge we often start with high motivation levels.
We can’t wait to get started and then hit it with all we have.
A couple of weeks later this enthusiasm can start to dwindle.
This can be true of training, work, hobbies and new diets.
I remember trying to learn the guitar and this was true for me.
I just wanted to play it all the time but then my fingers started to hurt and I had to stop.
I spoke to a teacher who said:
“Just play a little bit every day”
“Your fingers will slowly toughen up and over the course of six weeks you will have made far more progress than if you practice really hard for a week then have a week off.”
That made sense to me.
He was right.
I played 20 minutes a day about 6 days a week – sometimes I had to force myself to stop which took discipline.
But that discipline was key.
It wasn’t just about working harder but about pacing myself.
Much like running any distance.
If you go off too hard you will pay and you won’t get a great time.
So many people make this mistake with diet.
Especially after a heavy weekend.
They decide to lose weight, slash calories and up training until Friday when they are knackered and fed up.
Guess what happens?
They fall off the wagon and have another disastrous weekend.
This is the MOST common cycle which I see and is responsible for the failure of so many diets.
Whats the answer?
Reduce calories by as little as possible to actually lose some weight.
Then when you don’t lose any, reduce them again by a very small amount.
Over the course of six weeks, you can easily be six pounds lighter, which for most people is REAL progress.
But how many calories?
It’s something I can help with in my Private Coaching Group – The Total Triathlete:
Give me some info about you:
Your weight, training volumes and aims and I can set them for you.
Then simply follow the plan until weight loss slows/stops.
Then I will set calories again.
The beauty of this approach is two-fold.
One, you don’t feel REALLY hungry and two:
You keep energy levels high.
WIN WIN – http://www.nutri-tri.com/the-total-triathlete/
Jamie “slowly does it” Leighton