The feedback on yesterday's blog (Mission 1, Day 56: Do you know what makes you successful?) points to another issue that's been on my mind lately.  The concept of decisions and how they effect us is something that I've spent some time thinking through and I want to share those thoughts today.

Every single decision we make is important.  When we decide to plan out our programs, we are conciously moving ourselves towards our goals.  When we decide to have a cheat meal, we tend not to overdo it because it is a planned event.  When we decide, spur of the moment, to cheat on a meal we tend to feel guilty and that guilt eventually drives us to cheat again.  It is almost as though we feel we've failed, so what does it matter if we fail again? 

Failure to consider our decisions carefully is a big cause of failure in any plan.  We can either be spontaneous or we can be methodical.  If we are methodical about our decision making process we tend to make better decisions, decisions based on properly addressing our needs.  When we are spontaneous with our decisions we tend to be impetuous.  We tend to just go with the flow, thinking that we can make up for lost time later.  We end up procrastinating because our spontaneous decisions seem so good at the time.  However, when we are methodical we look at all angles and make decisions that lead us towards the completion of our goals.  This is what breeds success.

Don't get me wrong.  There is a time and place to be spontaneous. I just don't believe that decisions regarding our health or finances should be spontaneous.  Those are the types of decisions that need to be methodical. 

I've noticed myself doing more and more planning where it relates to my exercise and nutrition.  I think the reason I enjoy the Metabolic Surge nutrition plan is that it is very methodical.  There is a rationale behind why we are told to eat the way it says to eat.  That brings me to a comfort zone.  It helps me understand what the goal is and because of that, I am much more successful at sticking to the plan.

Podcast listeners, you will get two podcasts tomorrow (Saturday).  My surprise is coming on Christmas day.  I decided that was a good day for it.  Who can guess what the surprise is?  Leave a comment and tell me what you think the surprise is going to be.

Until tomorrow…

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It is a tough question when you think about it.  Do you know what makes you successful?  Are you logging what changes you make and how they change your results?  Are you tracking your results regularly?  If not you could be short-changing yourself.

When we have goals the best way to accomplish them is to break them into smaller parts and then attack them.  By breaking them into smaller parts they become much more manageable.  It is easier to get to the ultimate goal.  It is not different with fat loss. 

First you have to set a goal and then you have to break that goal down into more manageable parts.  You then have to see how you are doing at each milestone.  For me, I have a long term goal that is set to happen on February 3, 2008, but I also have weekly goals that lead me to the long term goal.  Not only do those weekly goals help me get to my long term goal, but the act of setting them did two things.

First, by setting the long term goals, I was able to determine if my long term goal was realistic.  Remembering that goals need to be SMART (specific measureable attainable realistic time-specific), if a goal, when broken into parts, proves to be unrealistic or unattainable, you need to adjust the goal slightly.

Next, writing the goal down (including the smaller parts) makes it more likely that the goal will happen.  There are statistics that show that just by writing a goal down, you are more likely to attain the goal.  In fact, studies have shown that if you write down 10 goals and shove them into a desk drawer and forget about them, when you return in a a year, 80% of the goals will have been accomplished.  The act of writing them down does something to your brain and puts it into action towards achieving the goals you set.

I read on Jenny's blog that she doesn't want to become one of those people who become motivated and ultimately fall off.  There are so many people that do this and it is sad because everyone is capable of achieving their goals.  To me, the best way is to be realistic.  I've thought alot about this topic (as you might be able to tell) and what I've decided might be interesting to some, sacreligious to others. 

Most of the “experts” agree that you need to eat clean 80% of the time to be successful at fat loss.  If you eat 5 times a day like you are supposed to, that leaves you 1 meal a day where you can be less than perfect.  Now, that would be a minimal effort in my mind, but it is the truth–you can fall off on one meal per day and still see good results.  Will you see better results by eating clean 5 meals a day instead of 4?  Of course you will because your body will respond to what you put into it.

I honestly believe that the largest part of our success is our nutrition.  It makes us who we are.  Exercise builds up the look on the outside while nutrition builds up the foundation.  Without a strong foundation you are bound to fail.

With this said, please make sure not to beat yourself up about small setbacks.  They are bound to happen.  Anyone who says they've been perfect is lying.  Get in there and do your best.  Don't get down on yourself for the setbacks you might experience.  Measure the results you are getting.  Record the timing of the changes you make.  Observe what happens to your results because of those changes.  That will lead you inevitably to other changes.  Those changes, in cumulation, will lead you to the successful completion of your goals.

Until tomorrow…

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Today was a weird, but mellow day.  First, I had to re-record the podcast and it didn't record.  It was a completely empty sound file.  I am going to uninstall and reinstall the recorder software and give it another try tomorrow.  Hang in there.  I know you are dying to hear the next episode

I am working on my surprise for the blog.  Hopefully it isn't anti-climactic for all of you when I release it.

I spent the morning at the gym doing my cardio.  Tomorrow I will hit the gym for my squat and deadlift workout.  I love that workout the most.

Normally I hit the scale once a week, but I decided to check out my stats and already I've lost another 3 pounds.  I'm down to 222.  I've lost 14 pounds in 4 weeks and I'm on a roll ever since I moved over to the Metabolic Surge nutrition program.  It just makes sense and it is pretty easy for me to follow.  Yeah, there are some odd aspects of it, but overall, it is quite easy to follow for me.  I find myself eating alot of chicken breast and lettuce along with other green veggies.

I am very excited about visiting the blogs of all the new shredders.  This weekend I will add each of them to my blogroll.  We need to drive traffic to each other's blogs to help with the accountability factor.   Spread the word!

Until tomorrow…

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First and foremost, no podcast yet today.  I promise I will upload it tomorrow (Wednesday).  I recorded it and didn't like the way it came out so I need to take the time to re-record it.

Today was a very busy day.  I spent the day trying to figure out how to make a report work and how to get the data out of the database.  To deal with the stress, I hit the gym two times today. 

At 3 a.m. I did a rather lackluster workout by my standards.  I was very disappointed with how my workout went.

I did 30 minutes of HIIT on the stationary bike and called it a day–or so I thought.

In the middle of the day I put away the report and went to the gym for another HIIT session.  This time I got on the elliptical trainer for 30 minutes.  As I completed this HIIT session I reflected on the morning's workout.  While the weights I lifted were decent, I had no desire to do the workout and that's what bothered me.  Without desire things go awry quickly.  It dawned on me that a part of the problem today was that my routine in the morning was different than usual.  I've learned that routine is important.  I will have to pay attention to that in the future.

It seems my comment about a surprise has gotten some people curious.  I will say that I am definitely planning a surprise for the readers of my blog.  Unfortunately, what I have planned isn't all that unique, but it should be a good thing for me and hopefully you will all enjoy it.

Until tomorrow…

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Today was a rest day for me.  I changed things up a little due to my toe and the holiday coming up.  I am going to be working out Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday this week, then Monday, Wednesday, Friday of the following week and Monday, Wednesday, Friday of the next week.  That will get me around the holidays when the gym is open so that I don't miss a weight workout.

Today was Day 1 of Round 2 of Metabolic Surge and I find that I really do enjoy this.  As Christy said, it is spartan-like and I enjoy that alot.  I have found that celery and lettuce really do give me alot of energy for a very little bit of calories.  I'm enjoying eating my protein with those veggies.  It just makes sense to me now that I've been doing it for a few weeks.  I figure that if I'm going to be in the best possible shape I can by February 3, 2008, I'd better stick to this nutrition plan.

I had a meeting today that was scheduled for 2 hours and it ended up lasting for 4 hours.  I was guiding the team through planning for 2008 and we just had to continue until we were done.  The planning was great and everyone is now very focused on doing great things in 2008.

I am looking forward to my 5 x 5 workout tomorrow morning.  The podcast will be uploaded tomorrow.  I am putting the finishing touches on it tonight.  I might even have another little surprise at some point this week.  You will have to see it for yourself (literally).

Until tomorrow…

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