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Stop Lying to Yourself

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In my previous post Reevaluate and Be Real With Yourself I discussed the issues involved in holding yourself accountable. This is some important information because of the Mission Accountability I have embarked upon. There are several steps that you must follow. The first step is probably the most difficult.

Stop Lying to Yourself

Like anything else, nothing is going to change until you admit that there is a problem. You have no reason to change something if you don't perceive it as a problem. This is why lying to oneself is so dangerous. At first you lie and you consciously understand that it is a lie. Over time the lies become the truth to your subconscious. At that point, you believe the lies and thus, have no reason to change anything.

This is why your nutrition never quite makes it to where it needs to be. You convince yourself that you've done a good job even when you are not. Your workouts are not as intense as they could be because you go easy and become convinced that you've worked as hard as you can. There is no substitute for clean eating and hard training.

Be Real

We all have our limitations. Our job is to figure out that limitations and include them into our planning process. Don't take on more than you are able to. If you make huge promises that you cannot keep it will cause you to start lying to yourself. You will want to look as though you are accomplishing all of your goals, so you will find ways to convince everyone that you are. Stop the vicious cycle you are in. Be real and the rest will happen naturally.

If you admit that you have certain foods that you have a hard time avoiding you will be able to plan your eating so that you get those foods, but in moderation. I was recently involved in a discussion with some other people trying to get in shape and was given some awesome advice. Let's say that chips are your weakness (they are mine). If you start craving chips, wait until after a workout and then have a small portion. Because of the anabolic state your body will be in at the time, the chips won't matter as much to your diet. You will handle the craving and be able to move on.

I've spent the past 11 days eating healthy. I have only had one issue with cravings (potato chips) while in WalMart shopping with the family. I simply removed myself from the aisle that contained the chips and the craving went away.This is why the approach is so important.

It Breeds Consistency

By stopping the cycle of lying to yourself you are starting a cycle of consistency. You will be able to tackle the real problems you are facing. Would you go to the doctor and lie about your symptoms? Not if you expect the doctor to be able to help you. So why go to the gym and lie about what you need?

You cannot train properly if you don't admit the mistakes you are making in the gym. I believe in leaving everything on the gym floor. I train with as much intensity as I can muster. I get in the gym, work hard, lift heavy and then go home feeling exhausted, but satisfied. As a result, I've seen results that I would never have seen had I taken another approach. I talk all about this in my article Going to Failure.

How to Stop?

Just do it. Make a vow to be 100% honest with yourself and it will happen. Don't ever let yourself off the hook. If you slip up, forgive and get back on track. After all, your health is far too important a thing to mess with. Pick yourself up and stop the lying. You will be happy with the results you produce from that point forward.

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Reevaluate and Be Real With Yourself

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My Story

Have you been working out hard, but you are still struggling with seeing good results? Are you doing cardio with intensity, but jsut seem to hold the fat on your frame? Are you one of the people who works out consistently, but is still “fat”? If so, this post is for you, so open up your mind and heart to what you are about to read.

I began working out in earnest a little more than 5 years ago. I got involved with a group that was formed by Adam Waters. Adam is a guy who became somewhat famous by transforming his body real time in front of followers on the internet. He posted daily accountability photos and blogged daily on what he ate and how he trained. He called his approach “Real-time Accountability” and it clearly worked for him.

I joined Adam's very first “Group Shred” mission and set forth putting up photos daily along with a blog entry. I never missed a day and soon began to see some progress. I lost a ton of inches in my abdominal area, but could only get things to go so far. I trained harder than anyone at my gym. I did my cardio. At the end of the day, nothing really changed regarding my body fat.

At one point I even thought that maybe I just needed more muscle, so I went on a bulk. I was very successful with the bulk, adding mass to my back, shoulders, arms and legs. I am very proud of the hard work I did on that bulk, but the gut still remained.

I've tried alot of approaches the past 5 years, but the biggest problem hadn't been overcome. I was lying to myself. While I was convinced that my nutrition was good, it really wasn't. The problem wasn't the majority of my meals, it was the little binges I would go on.

Just this past week I realized that I needed to reevaluate. I realized that I needed to be real with myself about my nutrition. I had to figure out the real cause of my failure in this area. As I examined all the evidence it became very clear that what was lacking was something I have personally written about in the past. I wasn't planning ahead properly. I was finding myself caught in a tight spot nutritionally far too often. This was sabatoging my ability to burn the fat. I quickly realized that I needed to make some drastic changes.

How Does This Help You?

If you find yourself relating to what I'm saying so far you are probably asking how you can be helped by this. Hang in there because that is the next step in the process. I want to help you the way I've been helped.

Four Steps to Being Real With Yourself

There are 4 steps to being real with yourself.

Admit that you've been lying to yourself

In order to change the cycle you've been in you must admit to yourself that you are really the problem. You have to stop blaming other people and other things. If you have been blaming others, you have been lying to yourself. Admit it!

Find a source of accountability

After you admit that you've been lying to yourself, you must take immediate action.  The fist piece of business should be finding a source of accountability. You must find accountability amongst like-minded individuals. Think about what I said.

“You must find accountability amongst like-minded individuals.”

If you want to get a better body you do it by seeking accountability from others who have the same goals as you. I found a place that is called Serious Lifters and that's where I am currently getting my accountability. The people there don't judge me. I get nothing but encouragement. They have vowed to hold me accountable. The site has a place to enter what you eat and it can be seen by anyone clicking on your profile. Remember, public accountability ratchets up the pressure on you.

I also recommend setting up an accountability blog. I am using Welcome Inside My Mind (my personal site) for this very purpose during Mission Accountability. You can also find accountability on Twitter.

Plan Your Meals

It is absolutely imperative that you do this step. It is truly the key to the entire change you are trying to make. This is what will keep you from being caught without the right food to eat.

Fat loss guru, Tom Venuto has said that counting calories is easy if it is done during the planning phase. What he means is that you don't actually have to count if you plan ahead correctly. I just used this approach this past Sunday to insure that I ate well at my daughter's soccer party. Bringing your own food insures you comply with your nutritional needs. If you are really not sure what to do about your nutrition, I highly recommend Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book.

Plan your workouts

Just like not planning your meals will defeat you, not planning your workouts will derail you. Your weight training and cardio workouts are going to help you succeed, so be sure to have a schedule of when you will be doing them and what you will be doing. This is the key to great programs like Lean Hybrid Muscle Reloaded.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Now that you know the four steps, all you have to do is execute them over and over again. It is a repetitive cycle that you must stick to for teh long-term.

Conclusion

It is my belief that you will see much better results if you follow the pattern laid out above. It is a process that takes time. You approach it with baby steps. One small success that builds on a previous small success is the way to victory. String together a bunch of successes and you will be amazed at the results!

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Mission Accountability

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I recently posted a video at Welcome to My Mind (my personal outlet for my thoughts) regarding the difficulties I've had this week gettign my workouts in due to a change in how I am working these days. The video is entitled “Confession” and tells of my plight this week and my plans to handle that plight. Doing the video got me thinking about accountability.

I originally got my start blogging with accountability in mind. It eventually evolved into something larger, but accountability was at the core of my reasons for doing this at all. I feel like I need to go back to that system. I need to be completely transparent with what I am eating and how I am training. I need you, the reader, to comment and push me hard. Call me out when I don't do what I am supposed to do. Praise me when I do well. It all adds up to enhanced results in the end.

Starting tomorrow (which is Saturday), I will be back to posting daily photos. I will be doing this daily on my site, Welcome to My Mind.

I will then post a weekly entry here that gives the links to all of my daily posts on Welcome to My Mind. This will enable you to either follow my progress daily or weekly, whichever works for you. Either way, I would really appreciate being held accountable for my actions.

As another means of holding me accountable, you should definitely follow me on Twitter via @mikemahony. In addition to my accountability tweets, I post information daily that you will find interesting and fun to read. We will also be able to get to know one another. Any comments on this situation are welcomed. I have found that using social media for accountability really works, so I appreciate your time and effort on this.

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Anabolic vs Catabolic

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Yesterday a question came up in our gym that I thought would be of interest to you.   What does the term catabolic or anabolic mean?  There are multiple complex chemical reactions taking place in our bodies at any given time, and I am afraid I would have lost you all to TV land if I attempted to pass along too much information.  I don't think it as important to understand what chemical reactions are taking place, as it is to understand there is science behind the way we train and the advice we pass along.

Okay, let's get to today's topic.  You may have heard the terms “catabolic” or “anabolic”.  These are terms that relate to chemical processes that occur in our bodies.  They are responses to not only exercise, but illness, stress, diet and even pharmaceutical causes.

Catabolic refers to the chemical reactions that take place when complex molecules are broken down into simpler ones.  For example, when muscles are strenuously trained the muscle fibers are damaged.  During this process cortisol is released which speed up the breakdown of tissues.  The key with training is to reduce the rate of catabolism.  If this is successful, anabolism is increased which results in faster recovery between exercise sessions, a better performance during a workout or event and an increase in muscle growth.

Anabolic refers to the chemical reactions that take place when different molecules combine to form more complex ones.  This results in creation of new cellular material.  This is necessary for growth, maintenance and tissue repair.  Anabolic processes refer to the building up of tissues and organs.  This could result in increased muscle mass.

Basically, these two different states refer to whether the body is building up tissue or breaking it down.  The goal is to try and keep the body in an anabolic state as opposed to catabolic.  The way you eat and train will affect the rates of these two different physiological states.

There are a few ways you can help your body remain anabolic vs catabolic.  These are:

  • Proper nutrition is paramount.  You should eat meals every 3-4 hours.  Not eating for long periods of time can cause the body to break down tissue for energy creating a catabolic state.
  • Never skip breakfast.  After sleeping for 8 hours your body is basically in a fasting state.  Provide nutrients first thing in order to create an anabolic environment.
  • At VWP, we don't do long workout sessions anyway.  But, for general fitness purposes, workouts should not be longer than 60 minutes.

Rest and recovery are as equally important as good nutrition and working out.  It is during the rest period away from the gym, that the body starts the rebuilding and healing processes that will make you stronger, faster and healthier.  That is why  your workouts need to be designed and implemented to allow adequate rest and recovery between training sessions.

Train smart, gets lots of sleep, eat well and often – your body will thank you.

 

Till next time,

Narina

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Protein Shake for High Carb Days

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[pro-player width='530′ height='253′ type='video']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2lMzZp7mhc[/pro-player]

As you read in a my article entitled Time To Reload, I am utilizing a carb-cycling approach to nutrition at this point. In order to get the proper amount of carbs, I have come up with this great tasting protein shake that is high in carbs. This particular recipe is extremely tasty. The ingredients:

 

2 scoops of Cytosport 100% Whey (Chocolate)

1 banana

2 tablespoons of peanut butter

1/4 cup of apple juice

1 cup of orange juice

 

This makes a shake that is 590 calories with 38 grams of protein, 74 grams of carbohydrates and 20 grams of fat. You can cut down on the ingredients to change the totals depending upon your desired calorie intake.

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