Many times we get frustrated with our progress. I think this roots in a couple of different issues.
First off, have we done a good job managing expectations? Is it feasible to lose 50lbs in one month? The answer is, yes and no. It is possible to lose 50lbs in 1 month. It would be short term fix, highly unhealthy, and as soon as the month is over, you’d gain it all back plus some. So to do it healthy the answer is no. On the other hand, if you are very overweight, it is feasible to lose on average 2lbs a week. So, in 1 month that’d be about 8lbs. We typically don’t look at the scale that often, as it’s not a good indicator of progress, but for this example, you get what I’m saying.
It’s critically important to manage and set expectations appropriately. That way, when a month has gone by and you’ve lost 7-8 lbs, be happy with the progress. There are tons of parameters we could look at besides weight, but the weight one seems to be common source of disappointment among members.
I think the best way to handle and set realistic expectations is to meet with a coach and define what success looks like. These are commonly referred to as goals. Do you have goals? Have you met with your coach and defined specific goals to accomplish?
I’ve had my staff reaching out to you to set specific goals and measurable outcomes with you, surprisingly, many people are opting out of doing it. In my opinion, this is setting yourself up for disappointment and failure. If you fail to set attainable goals, two things happen.
1) You never know if you’ve actually achieved or accomplished something realistic because you didn’t set up something realistic to begin with. This usually leads to disappointment because subconsciously the goal post is always moving. It usually goes something like this: In your head you want to be less fat. You train for 3 months, drop 2 pant sizes. In reality this is fantastic progress, but you never met with a coach and set achievable outcomes, so for you this is enormous disappointment because you wanted to drop 4 pant sizes in 3 months. Then you get discouraged and down on yourself because you didn’t do as well as you thought.
2) You have nothing concrete to work for so it makes it easier to slack off. There’s a workout with a movement you don’t like, so it’s easier to skip it. While you’re doing the workout, it’s easier to not push as hard because you have nothing you’re working towards. This happens subconsciously.
So you see, it’s critically important to manage expectations and define what success looks like. Reach out to your coach and get this set up, so they can help guide you to something achievable. Then work on your action plan to get there!
11-17-16
Strength:
Back squat, while resting complete sets of auxiliary work
MetCon:
Rowing for calories x 1 minute
1 minute rest
10 rounds
Go as hard as you can for first interval and try to match that number eachsubsequent interval- record the calories for each interval