Hey hey!
I am attending a StrongFirst certification event this weekend. It feels great to be back in events like this, albeit wearing a mask for the entirety of it. I was thinking I’d have to wait until next year but thanks to the Instructors for making this happen. This is a barbell cert, and I have not worked with barbells in 10 or so years, except with the deadlift. Which I’ve been on and off with, except for the last year. But I started lifting with barbells and did that for the first 3-4 years of my training. So, coming back to the basics and getting instructed after so many years feels amazing. Feels familiar but new. And with the inevitable advances I’ve made, coupled with the brilliant drills - loving it.
Enough about me. Here are the 3 things for today.
3 surprising factors that are stalling your fat loss.
3 quotes, as always.
Your fitness journey is a mass movie. What can that mean? And what can you learn from it?
3 surprising factors that are stalling your fat loss
The standard answers for fat loss tend to be one, or a combination of the following:
a lot of exercise
a severely restricted diet
This works, of course. Because at the end of the day, calories in vs calories out are the underlying factor. But unfortunately, it stops working. Why? Because we want fat loss and not arbitrary weight loss. We want to lose the adipose tissue that is deposited in our abdomen or thigh or hip, and not our muscle. And that requires us to burn fat, as much as possible.
Here are 3 factors that I have seen which have helped people continue fat loss after progress has stalled.
#1 Removing inflammatory substances from the diet
Gluten. FODMAPs. Lentils. Legumes. Milk. Nightshades.
There are a lot of substances that cause discomfort in your gut. Your body does not process them properly and it leads to an inflammatory response. You feel bloated or gassy.
For some of you, removing the substance from your diet for a short duration (4-6 weeks) will help. And then gradually re-introducing it back in. For some of you, it might unfortunately need to be a longer-term thing.
If you have the patience, you can figure this out on your own. One month at a time, pick one of the above food groups and eliminate it. See how you feel. If you feel less bloated, less achy - well, good news! If it feels no different, you are not intolerant to this and you can move on to the next piece of the puzzle.
It can be tempting to remove everything but be a good scientist - change only one variable at a time.
Be warned - when you reintroduce the food, do not go crazy. To quote a friend of mine, it can feel like someone dropped a cannonball on your stomach.
#2 Sleep
Sleep more. Get 7-9 hours of sleep every night. If you are already here, then see if you need to sleep better.
Dark blinds. No light in the room. Including taping up the A/C LED lights and what-not. Dampening the noise that enters the room. They all will help.
If you feel amazingly well-rested, there you go!
Good sleep sends the "all is well" signal to your body and this means the machinery works better. All roads lead to fat loss.
#3 Low intensity
If you are into a lot of high-intensity exercises, that's wonderful. But high-intensity tends to use sugar as the primary fuel as it needs fuel IMMEDIATELY. If you want the furnace to burn fat, we need to work at lower intensities.
Keep doing your regular activity, the one you love. But on the other days, pair it up with low-intensity activity. My favourite is walking. I put on a podcast and I walk around. Traditional forms of yoga, or swimming are also great alternatives.
In conclusion
If you have stalled with your fat loss, look into one or more of these factors. You do not need to keep trying harder in the current avenue. Your effort is brilliant - you just need to channel it a wee bit differently.
Patience. Trial and error. Tracking. That will get you where you want.
3 quotes for the week
Impossible is always a checklist.
– Steven Kotler
Knowing what you want to do over the next few years, knowing what the day-to-day steps and goals to achieve that is. And then doing it. The first two require a lot of careful thought. The third requires doing.
All are easier said than done.
Use the ego as a tool.
Those who are materialistic
still hold onto the ego
as though it were a possession,
rather than using it as a tool.
Inwardly,
psychologically,
be a nobody.
– Bruce Lee
I've been spending some time breaking down sentences differently, as well as reading out loud. Try it out here, even though it feels a bit off.
Just find creative ways to be considerate.
That's the best marketing.
– Derek Sivers
Simple. Clear. As always.
Your fitness journey is a mass movie script
Most mass/formula movies have a similar plot. How about I map out a few similarities and stretch this metaphor to a fitness journey? And as with all movie scripts, show you a twist that changes EVERYTHING.
As with all metaphors, don't take it too literally.
Start with a bang!
The hero is introduced. Either with a title song or with a fight sequence. Starts with a bang and gets the adrenaline racing.
You find a new diet. Or a new workout routine. And this is what you are gonna do. You can already feel the positive energy with this decision. You just know that this is gonna be awesome.
When I started going to SF CrossFit, that's how I felt. While running was a slow burn i.e. it took me a few weeks to fall in love with it, CrossFit was just perfect. I knew this was it. I knew that by the time the end titles came around, I would be a different person.
Start with a bang. The first week or two weeks is just BOOM. You go daily to the gym. You don't have any cheat/treat meals and are following the diet to the letter.
Intro to the world
It is all happy times. You get introduced to the hero's world. You meet his friends and family, and inevitably his love interest. It is a care-free time where all goes swimmingly well and things are fun.
The energy is still high. You are figuring out the lay of the land. Your initial energy carried you through the first 2 weeks. You woke up early, you made it to the gym, you figured out your cooking, you prioritised your health and fitness above all else and that made it possible.
You are slowly figuring out the intricacies and nuances of this lifestyle. A few edge-cases and problems appear but you figure your way through - either with coaching or just trial-and-error.
Overall, things are still great and smooth and going well.
The results start to pour in
The hero romances the heroine in exotic locations. Everything seems to work out positively.
Results keep streaming in. You keep putting in the work and you keep seeing positive results. It fuels you further. This is so easy. How come you have struggled before? Why do other people complain so much?!
The cracks start to appear
The villain makes his entry. The plot is revealed. The hero falls down, has a huge problem in his hands. How is he going to solve it?!?!
After a few weeks, life starts to catch up. You can only stay away from family functions and social events for so long. You can only say no to alcohol/dessert/whatever for so long in these places. Assuming you are still holding strong at home. Even that's difficult - other characters in the household want their sweet-fix and it makes the temptations seem to be all around you.
You have a few ups and downs. But nothing crazy.
And then it blows up. You are starting to get angry. There's only so much you can do. Meetings take priority. Work takes priority. You start missing the gym here and there. A few meals are just impossible to stick to the template because you didn't have time to solve it and just ordered in.
The big slump
The villain makes his presence felt. There's no simple solution to this. He needs to be taken down. But you are also hurt and ailing.
The downs happen more often. You are in a slump. The honeymoon period of the start of this feels eons ago. How did you manage 100% compliance? Where are the results? Why is the weighing scale stuck? How dare it go back up a bit?!? Who do you punch?
After a few weeks or maybe a couple of months, we are here. Too much to take on.
The hero's journey
In the movie, the ending is inevitable. The big bad villain is dismantled at ease after the hero figures himself out. With an overly dramatic climax, all is set right in the world. Everyone lives happily ever after.
This is easier said than done. But definitely doable. If not, you will not see too many success stories. You will not find people going back to the gym.
Of course, a lot of people fail in the previous steps as well. Not many have a 100% success record. It happens.
It does require a hero's journey to make it here. You have to conquer your demons. You have to solve your problems and solve them well. You just cannot keep running away from them and hope it will go away. And so, when you step up, you find that you can beat it.
The plot twist
The movie ends. The hero is victorious. Everyone, except the villain, is happy.
Except if you think that's your case, you will start the inevitable slide. For you, the above themes continue on an endless loop. You have to keep living with the same elements again and again and again.
You will find a new tool. You get your honeymoon period where you prioritise fitness and health over everything else, and it feels so easy.
You will run into glitches. Small life events and big life events. You have to conquer them. You will have saboteurs. You will have helping hands.
But it all comes down to you. You have to go on your hero’s journey. And you have to keep winning a lot more often than not, to keep making forward progress. The movie doesn’t end. Don’t get fooled by climactic moments, and assume that’s the end. That’s a peak, and now you have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
And it does not end.
It is an endless loop. It is Groundhog Day.
Remember, it is not just the before-after. But the after that comes after the before-after.
Enjoy your mass movie! You are the hero. Do what a hero does.