Posts written by Michael J. Mahony

Reassessment is a necessary evil in all things that involve goals. When we first set goals we tend to over extend ourselves. The only way to know this is to create the plan, execute the plan, review the results and revise the plan as necessary.

You already created the plan and began executing the plan. Today we review and revise as necessary.

In order to do this, you need to accurately review your results so far. When I say “accurately” I mean with a critical eye. You can't let your emotions take over here. You have to be brutally honest with yourself. Excuses need to be set aside. Any issues you've had need to be thought through and you need to revise your plan to consider those potential issues in the future.  Your overall goal should be to get a minimum of 80% compliance to all of your goals. So where do you start?

I want you to go through the following questions and then make the adjustments necessary.

Are you eating clean 80% of the time?

Are you eating enough?

Are you planning your meals ahead of time?

Are you exercising at least 3 times a week with weights?

Are you getting at least 4 cardio sessions in a week?

Are you making excuses for yourself–whether real or imagined?

Now take those answers and get to work fixing your plan.

Not eating clean 80% of the time? Set a goal to eliminate one of the cheat meals you've been having. Thus, if you completely slipped and have not been eating clean at all, start out by eating one clean meal today.

Not eating enough food? Up your calories by 5% each day until you hit the number you should be at and then stick to that.

Not planning your meals? This is the biggest mistake you will make and your only possible correction is to do the planning.

Not exercising at least 3 times a week with weights? Add 1 day of weight training this week and another next week, and so on, until you hit this goal. Do the same with cardio.

Making excuses for yourself? Unless you are physically incapable of exercising all excuses are just that–excuses. If you really give it some thought you will realize that the excises are not valid. Simply don't allow your excuses to keep you from your goals.

Revise your plan and get back to working hard!

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You have completed 2 weeks of the challenge! It is now time for you to celebrate! You've done something most people do not do–you've already stuck this new program out for 2 entire weeks. It is time for you to think about the good things you have changed and celebrate those. Today is not a day for thinking about the negatives. We all have places we fall down and that is fine. Today is about remembering the positives and patting ,ourselves on the back for those.

Think back two weeks. What has changed? Are you exercising now? Are you making smarter choices? Are you aware of the choices you should be making? Have you learned anything new about approaching health and wellness? Have you learned anything new about yourself?

CELEBRATE THOSE THINGS!

Life is too short to keep focused on the things you didn't accomplish so far. Remember that when you started this challenge you set some goals. You set up a plan for accomplishing those goals. You started making changes to make those goals a reality. That's why you should be celebrating the changes you DID make. Enjoy them! Tomorrow we are right back to work!

Want to see all the messages in this May 2016 Challenge Series? I have them organized for you right here.

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We are fast approaching the end of week 2 and I wanted to let you in on a little secret. It is not something earth shattering or mind blowing, but it is something most people trying to lose weight don't realize. What is the secret?

You don't have to be perfect!

When you are changing your eating habits, aim for 80% compliance. This will give you close to 1 meal a day where you don't need to be compliant. Can you perhaps see why the reality of losing weight is that it isn't as hard as everyone makes it seem?

Exercising 4 days a week is more than enough to get the weight off. If you aim for 7 and you manage 4 you have accomplished a very important goal. This is why I always tell people the same thing.

Stop making it harder than it is!

Stop killing yourself with exercises you cannot handle. It is OK to lift less weight than your friend. Everyone is at a different spot. Don't make it harder than it is. Stop worrying about the bread you ate at lunch, it is not going to derail your weight loss efforts.

Keeping things simple makes it easier to stick with. Baby steps get you to your goal just like giant leaps do. It is easier to string together a consistent group of baby steps than it is to string together a consistent bunch of giant leaps. Think that one over.

Want to see all the messages in this May 2016 Challenge Series? I have them organized for you right here.

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We are almost at the end of two weeks for the challenge.  By now you should have established a habit of working out regularly and eating clean foods regularly. At this point we need to kick things into higher gear. It is time to work harder than you have ever worked before. Today you are going to assess your weight and cardio training and make some intensity adjustments.

Upping the Intensity of Your Weight Training

Up to this point you should be training with weights about 3 times a week, completing 1 to 2 sets per exercise. Today we will make some changes so that the intensity of your weight training sessions goes up. Try one or more of the following to increase your weight training intensity.

• More sets. Doing more sets increases the total volume of your workout. A higher volume means a higher intensity.
• More repetitions. Doing more repetitions increases the total volume of your workout. Like increasing sets, this means a more intense workout.
• Reduce the rest period. By cutting the rest time in between sets you naturally get a higher intensity workout.
• Take a set to complete failure. With each exercise, take the final set to complete failure. This means the point at which you can no longer complete a repetition with good form.

The above items will help to increase the intensity of your weight training workout.

Upping the Intensity of Your Cardio Training

At this point you should be doing cardio 4 days per week. We are going to increase the intensity of that cardio. We want to make sure your body is not adapting to the cardio program you have been on. To increase the intensity of your cardio workouts try one or more of the following.

• Add HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). Add one additional HIIT session to your week. It takes the place of one of your steady state sessions.
• Attempt to go further. If you usually walk 1 mile in 15 minutes, attempt to go a little bit further in the same amount of time.
• Extend your HIIT sessions. If you are doing 20 minute HIIT sessions, increase the time to 25 or even 30 minutes.
• Add Tabata sessions. We discussed Tabata early on in this challenge. Add a Tabata session after one of your weight training sessions to up the cardio intensity.

Extra intensity in both cardio training and weight training is going to cause a boost in your overall results. Enjoy the new intensity levels!

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