So, you've decided to lose weight and get ripped. You've decided it's time; YOUR time. No more waiting. No more wishing. You've packed your bags and you're ready to go on the journey of a lifetime, full of high hopes and trepidation, belief and doubt, an idea of courage but mostly anxiety. That's good; that's what fuels the first step.
The paths that bring people to this decision are as many as the stars in the sky. Perhaps you've been trying to lose weight your whole life. Perhaps you've been lean your whole life, but child-rearing or the typical sedentary adult lifestyle has changed your figure in less desirable ways. Perhaps you've always had "a little extra" and were (and still are!) perfectly happy with that, but health problems have come into focus. Perhaps you are already lean, or an athlete, but you're looking to enhance your performance (and physique, of course!).
It doesn't matter what brought you here. The only thing that matters is, you've made this choice. YOU have made this choice. You. This is for you, not for anybody else. And only you can make this happen. There absolutely will come a point in your journey, no matter how much support you initially start with, where you will feel like you are completely alone in your battle. Therefore, you need to do a couple things right now before you depart on this incredible experience.
First of all, you need to take a deep breath and realize you ARE completely alone in this battle. I don't say this to discourage you -- I say this to motivate you. The most satisfying victory one can experience is by achieving a great thing by one's own accord. There is nothing quite like full ownership and the pride of knowing you accomplished a goal all on your own. The greatest changes we experience as humans are those that are earned throughout the process of overcoming great trials. At the end of the day, it can only be YOU who decides what you will eat, and it can only be YOU who decides if you really will stick to your workout plan, and how intensely you push yourself.
IT IS OK IF THIS SOUNDS TERRIFYING and completely unappealing... but don't let it deter you! When the blacksmith told the blob of metal, "Hey, I'm gonna throw you in the fire and burn you so badly that you'll melt, and then I'm gonna hammer the hell out of you!" Of course the blob of metal was terrified. That sounds awful! But the pain does not last forever, and when that blob of metal felt itself taking shape for the first time, endured the first few blows of the blacksmith's hammer, that's when it was able to feel the change and see the natural process of transformation begin. And in the afterglow of all the hard work of endurance and determination and patience, out of the fire came a sleek weapon of enviable form; something composed of the same material, yet entirely changed. And what, then? Do you think that blob of metal would wish to itself that it was nothing more than a blob again? I think not. There is so much pride, so much value, so much strength and so much beauty in the art of taking charge of one's own life, one's own physical form, and refining it to it's maximum potential. We are human, and our bodies are capable of incredible things. What have you got to lose?
Accept that you cannot rely on anyone other than yourself to do all the hard work that results require of you. It is your own rite of passage, it's only through the fire that you will truly change and grow. If you can accept this, if you can be OK with knowing that in your darkest hour, when friends become tired of your refusal to go out and drink all night with them, or "just have one bite, it's not gonna kill you!", or get upset with you that you have to leave an event early because you have a 6am trail run that you want to be fresh for, or that one morning when all you want so badly is to stay and sleep one more hour and not have to schlep out in the cold dark morning and trek to the gym, then I can 100% guarantee you that you will be successful. Having support is always a good thing, but do not make it the only crutch that's propping you up in this journey. Stand on your own two feet, and command them to work for you. You are in charge, and your prize is waiting to be earned. You need to BE EXCITED for the amazing things ahead of you, if you are willing to literally endure the sweat and tears (and sometimes blood, if you're a clumsy runner like me!) in order to earn the results.
If you CHOOSE to do this, I swear to god you will never regret it, not a single moment will you ever regret the sacrifices this journey demands of you. It will take all you have and will ask for more. If you give it more, it will return to you everything you gave plus dividends.
Next, buy a bulletin board and hang it somewhere where you can visit it. You might choose to put it somewhere public such as by your fridge, or by your bathroom mirror next to the scale, or you may choose to put it somewhere private, like inside the door of your closet. On that bulletin board, pin pictures, quotes, or things that remind you of why you want this as badly as you do. Pull out a pad of paper right now and list every single reason why you are doing what you're doing. Sure, the big items are important, but do your best to spend most of your time focusing on the little things, the personal things, the things that really touch on the nerve. It doesn't matter how petty or silly they are, how "immature" they might seem. We all have our reasons for wanting to improve our skills and appearance, so best that we use them to our advantage in the beginning. Pin this page on your bulletin board (or, as I call it, the Wall of Inspiration) and leave room for new additions to the list. Never throw the list away; it will one day become a sentimental relic, a tangible item where you can see your goals and dreams morph from what they were at the beginning, to what they will become as you continue to be successful.
Lastly, I want you to take to heart these words and know that they are a cliche for a reason: You can do this. There is nothing stopping you except your own self. Weight loss? Muscle gain? There is no grey area: it is all math. Calories in, calories out. There are a million programs and diets out there that you can "buy" and be promised results, but the reason why most of those fail is because the advertisements make everything look so easy. Once people realize that it isn't easy, but actually quite miserable at times, they quit. They don't think they're strong enough. This is not an easy endeavor you are choosing to take on. But just because it's not easy, doesn't mean it's not possible, and it sure as hell doesn't mean it is not euphorically enjoyable. It's just a matter of whether you are willing to give what it takes to see success. How bad do you want it? How badly do you want to be successful? Because I can tell you that you don't need to spend money to lose weight and tone up. Everything you need to know, which I will compile in this blog series I'm writing right now, is all on the internet for free already. You just need to be willing to invest the time, effort and patience into figuring out what needs to be done, and then do it.
That's why I'm writing this blog series, to gather together all of the basics, all of the important stuff, to get you set and going on your way. There's nothing I could have wished for more when I first started out. I plan to write a multi-blog series of everything from the basics of calculating your body metrics and a general idea of your caloric needs, to discussing the what clean eating is and why it's important, and then will discuss fitness techniques (weights before cardio... and why weights are important!) and everything in between. I hope to post a new entry every week or two.
