I got a really interesting response to my last blog "Epic Fail" from one of my Platinum Coaching Club Members.
She said she knows food is the problem, and that she's going to drop down to 1000 calories, starting today.
Everything is going to change!
Ok, I totally get it!
This is the most common human response. Unfortunately, it is the least effective.
Sure, some people have done this and made it work, but they are the exception, not the rule.
Advice About How To Change Your Life
The answer is rarely to go *ULTRA EXTREME, STARTING TOMORROW!*
Usually the answer is – this week I am going to focus on breakfast. No matter what happens, I am going to get breakfast right all week long.
And after 7 days of mastering breakfast, then we can work on your mid-morning snack.
It's really shitty to create a giant game (like 1000 calories per day) and then fail in a week.
*side note, I don't want anyone to ever go below 1200 calories. And unless you are really skinny, and under 23% bodyfat, women will see great results and lean up at 1400 or even 1600 calories. You actually want the highest amount of calories that you can eat and still produce a fat loss result.
It's much more powerful to pick a small game, like breakfast, and then to win at breakfast.
And then, only after breakfast is mastered, then we move to your mid-morning snack, or to lunch.
My point is, ONE SMALL GAME, master it. Relish in the mastery of breakfast. Plan breakfast. Prepare breakfast the night before even. Shop for breakfast. Live and die to have a perfect breakfast.
Log EVERYTHING you eat. But the only thing I care about this week is breakfast. I don't even care if you feel like you have breakfast down already. The only thing I want to hear about next Monday is how your breakfasts went.
Transforming Your Life The Way It Works In Movies
Most people do a lot of things really poorly.
Few people will take the time to master one thing, then move on to the next thing.
It works really well, it just doesn't seem as cool as it does in the movies.
You know, the music starts playing and they do a training montage.
The guy changes his whole life in the span of five minutes while "Eye of the Tiger" is playing in the background.
Movies teach us that you find the right system or teacher, and then you spend 24 hours a day doing everything different and then you are the Karate Kid winning the championship in a week.
Actually Karate Kid has a mix of cool lessons and lessons that suck:
Cool: Wax the car and paint the fence: Dude put in the work, and mastered the movement.
Cool: Miagi found unique ways to teach what Daniel needed to learn.
Sucks: Magical kick wins the turnamanet (Açai Cleanse weight loss anyone?)
Sucks:Daniel Becomes a black belt in less than a month.
Sucks: Probably the remake they are filming now.
Unfortunately, changing everything in a day doesn't work in real life.
At all.
Trust your own experience.
Statistically you've tried that with fat loss and failed at least six times so far.
My Story About Sucking at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Has A Lot To Do With Your Nutrition
I thought that the best way to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was to fly to Brazil and train at a really well known school 8 hours per day.
WRONG!
I couldn't pick up everything they taught in an 8 hour day.
It was a big overwhelming mess trying to do eight hours of new techniques, every day.
So I got private lessons from a black belt. He didn't teach me 1000 things.
He taught me two or three things per week.
Getting one on one instruction from Jeff Maura was the best thing I ever did.
At our second training session he asked me if I'd mastered
the two things he had taught me the week before.
It was pretty clear I hadn't practiced those two things and he told me:
"Practice the two things I teach you, all week long, or I'll drop you as a student."
In the 8 hours per day I was on the mat, I practiced those two things I learned that week, and those two things only.
Surprisingly, I got really good at those two things. I could pull them off all the time.
And if someone had a counter for it and it didn't work, I just brought that to Jeff the next week and he taught me what to do, then I practiced that all week long.
(For those of you reading that are into BJJ, what I worked on with Jeff was almost exclusively passing the guard.)
A funny thing happened. I went from really sucking at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for a really really long time (and still being a white belt), to practicing two things a week suddenly I was passing gaurd on blue belts and tapping out blue belts.
The point is, I went from being really bad at 1000 things, to really mastering two things per week. That took me from really sucking… to all of a sudden producing new results, and producing those results regularly and systematically.
Practicing at the park, in Barra De Tijuca, Rio De Janeiro
Master One Thing, Then Celebrate
It's much, much more effective.
This week, your homework is master breakfast.
Don't even stress about your workouts. Get them in, but the most important thing is breakfast.
Next week you can work on lunch.
If it doesn't go well, then re-visit my last post "Epic Fail". Two steps forward and one step back is actually a fairly normal progression. As long as you keep finishing a step ahead you'll be a rockstar in the long run.
Josh is the author of the ever-popular fat loss e-book: The Stubborn Seven Pounds
If you've already completed The Stubborn Seven Pounds, take it to the next level with one of these two programs:
Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss for Women
Josh has been featured in USA Today and The Denver Post
Josh is a Level 2 RKC (Certified Kettlebell Instructor), Certified Personal Trainer, and Z-Health Movement Re-education Specialist
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"Hey Josh, just wanted to say thank you! I'm 4 weeks in to the programme (Josh Hillis Platinum Coaching Club) and still loving it. I've lost at least 7lbs and 2% body fat already and my stomach is getting flatter by the day… I have to say I think the food log is one of the biggest parts of that – who knew that just writing down what you ate and planning ahead like that made such a difference." -Ruth Cozens
i think this is a really important post… not everyone is starting from lean, already working out with only 7 lbs to lose… one thing at a time.
How is it that you always know the perfect thing to say to punch a hole in my ridiculous thinking?? 😉 Deciding to do “everything perfectly tomorrow” is something I’ve done often–and often failed at, of course.
You are so right. One thing at a time. Starting this weekend, I’m going to focus on breakfast!! (I got the weekdays pretty well covered, but since I don’t have as solid a routine on the weekends, I can go a little nuts….) THANKS!
Josh, I need to give you a huge “thank you” for helping me get to where I am. I’ve been reading your site all summer and have successfully lost most of the weight I gained at college by planning meals, restricting my indulging to a once-a-week “cheat day” and doing circuit workouts with kettlebell swings.
I’d love to incorporate boxing into my workouts, but my school’s gym doesn’t offer boxing classes or have any equipment. Is there a way I can still do a boxing workout in the confines of a dorm room?
Thanks again, and best wishes.