The smartest thing you’ve ever done to help you lose weight was to quit that last diet and exercise program.
If that seems a little contrary to what you expected from a fitness guy, I can certainly understand. After all, don’t we preach dieting and exercising to lose weight?
Of course we do.
So how can I possibly make such a seemingly absurd statement?
Simple. I really think you did the right thing when you quit dieting and exercising. You’re a genius. (No, I’m not sucking up. Stick with me here because I have answers that you’re going to want to read that will change your perspective and if you follow-through, they’ll change your weight loss outcome for the better).
Maybe it is because from your perspective you think you failed.
You think you failed because you started a diet and exercise program, and maybe even lost some weight, but you quit.
You didn’t fail. You simply recognized that the path you were on was unsustainable… and you quit.
Most programs are like that. They are designed to take advantage of your enthusiasm and emotions that are associated with novelty and a new beginning. Our energy and efforts are always greatest whenever we start something new that promises us the future we imagine.
We set out with excitement and vigor, ready to take on the new challenge because this time ITS going to work. It’s actually fun. It’s easy. This time you’ll lose weight and keep it off forever.
And you lose weight. In most cases, you lose weight rather quickly at first. Every week, the scale tells you that you’re on track as you see the numbers getting smaller.
But then something happens. When it’s no longer new, it seems that the level of energy required just to decide which vegetable you want to have for dinner increases ten-fold.
You’ve just hit what author Seth Godin calls The Dip.
The Dip is where progress seems to slow. Effort seems to increase. Everything is now harder.
What happened?
Actually, you know exactly what happened because the same thing happens with every other important aspect of our lives.
Every relationship has a Dip. Every job we’ve had has a Dip. Every home improvement project has a Dip.
You just didn’t recognize it before.
The Dip is that key moment where you decide if the direction you’re heading is the right one or if you’re headed for a dead end.
The relationship Dip let’s us know when we’ve found the person we’ll spend the rest of our lives with or if it’s time to split up.
The job Dip tells us whether we commit to doing our best work to make a company more successful or to get the promotion.
The home improvement Dip tells us we can really do it ourselves to our satisfaction or that it’s time to call in the professional contractor.
The Dip is there to tell us to dig in harder or get out and minimize the damage.
The Dip is the moment that you need to treasure and embrace because on the other side of the Dip is success.
Tactics of The Push
Remember the Dip is there to get your attention. To make sure you have everything in place for The Push through to reach your weight loss goal and beyond.
The Dip gets you ready for the long-term. The healthy lifestyle you envision.
Your Tactical Weight Loss Plan and The Push
Think about your weight loss for second. Whenever you weigh yourself, you’re actually measuring history.
Everything that goes into that number on your bathroom scale is the result of what happened in the past. There’s NOTHING you can do you change the scale measure in that moment.
If scale weight is a measure of the past, then it cannot be the best thing way to measure your progress.
The better way to measure progress is how well you execute your tactics.
To make The Push, you need a tactical plan in three parts:
1. The supportive eating plan
2. The right exercise program
3. Your support team
In the next blog, we’ll look at your supportive eating plan as the first step in your tactical weight loss plan. Until then make sure to download All Gain, No Pain and start reading. Your comeback starts today!
Get started on your pain-free comeback to the gym today
