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Wake up, jumped out my bed,
Gotta get to the gym to smash the weights with my bro Jared,
Deadlifts are on the program that he gave me,
I won’t die, but it’s gonna be a crazy workout for me.
– Snoop (probably)
Happy Friday, Coach J here from Anyman Fitness – and welcome to the latest edition of The N.W.A. Newsletter.
For today’s N.W.A. Newsletter, we’re going to give you a bit of a different format.
Today, I will be giving you The 6 Most Important Habits to get LEAN and Stay Lean – for LIFE.
I will also give you my single favorite piece of social media content from AF over the past week and link to it on either Instagram or Twitter.
Without any further ado… let’s get started, shall we?
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The 6 Most Important Habits To Have If You Want To Lose The Weight – Forever
In 2010, I weighed close to 300 pounds.
I had been yo-yo dieting for close to 8 years… I would lose 30-40 pounds, look and feel better, become complacent, and eventually the weight would pile back on.
This happened about a half dozen times to me between the ages of 22-30.
It wasn’t until I developed a systemized, proper approach to fitness that I finally lost the weight and kept it off.
For the last decade, my body fat percentage has remained between 8-15%, in the healthy range.
There are some habits that really helped me along the way.
These are the SAME habits I teach to our fat loss clients.
And I have a secret for you… almost universally, the clients who follow these habits get tremendous and permanent fat loss results.
The clients I have who don’t follow them… not so much…
Here are the 6 most important habits to have if you want to lose the weight forever:
1. Plan your meals at least 1 day in advance.
2. Track your intake daily.
3. Take regular body measurements.
4. Train with weights consistently.
5. Have a short memory.
6. Have planned, hedonistic fun at scheduled intervals.
Let’s break down each habit, so you know exactly what each of these 6 items means.
1. Plan your meals at least 1 day in advance.
I cannot stress to you how important this is.
People tend to fall into 1 of 2 categories:
– Planners
– “Wing it” People
The “wing it” people ALWAYS struggle.
And it’s not because they’re not trying hard… it’s because the suffer from decision fatigue.
When you constantly have to make decisions, your willpower decreases over the course of the day.
This has been studied in scientific environments numerous times.
My favorite study on this phenomena is the “cookie and radishes” study.
A group of college kids were told to fast for 3 hours before they began the study.
When they entered the room where the study was being held, the smell of fresh baked, chocolate chip cookies hit them.
Their stomachs instantly started rumbling…
The kids were split into 2 groups – one group got to eat some of the cookies, and the other group instead was given… radishes!
What a bummer… imagine having to sit there, smelling the cookies, and all you’re allowed to eat is a radish…
After 30 minutes or so, both groups were given a test.
The test was an unsolvable math test – but the subjects didn’t know it was impossible to find an answer.
But the researchers weren’t looking for a correct answer – they were looking at how hard and for how long each subject worked on the difficult math problem.
The results were interesting… the group of students who ate cookies made over twice as many attempts at solving the problem, and worked on the problem for twice as long as the radish group.
The moral of the story, and the takeaway from the study?
Willpower is a finite resource – when you deplete it, you’re less likely to continue to show discipline later in the day.
If you wake up and you don’t have a game plan, you have to make constant “in the moment decisions”.
Each one of those decisions zaps your willpower meter just a little bit.
And by the end of the day, you’re mentally exhausted from having to make constant choices throughout the day.
During the “Danger Zone” between the end of dinner and when you go to bed, it will be hard to resist the Doritos and beer if your willpower meter is zapped…
Contrast this to someone who wakes up with a proper game plan.
They know EXACTLY what they’ll be eating the next day.
They don’t need to make any decisions – they just wake up and follow that day’s plan.
ALL of their willpower is preserved.
And those Doritos and beer don’t stand a chance – they’ll have a full energy bar of willpower left over at the end of the day.
Successful fat loss clients NEVER go to bed without having tomorrow’s game plan ready to go.
If you fail to plan, you can plan to fail.
2. Track your intake daily.
Ooooooh, this is the least sexy item on this list…
But the Law Of Thermodynamics has NEVER been defeated.
Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m eating MORE now, and I’m losing weight! Calories are a lie!”
Yeah… they’re wrong… and they’re really bad at math, too…
People underestimate their caloric intake by up to 50%.
And people also overestimate their calorie burn by up to 100%.
That is a WICKED combination, and it’s exactly why tracking is always the way to go.
You can track your:
– Calories
– Calories + Protein
– Full Macros
But nutritional awareness is extremely important.
You’ll learn a TON by tracking your food and you’ll take those skills with you forever.
Remember, the goal isn’t to track your food.
The goal is to track your food NOW so you learn about proper nutrition, and you’re good for life.
3. Take regular body measurements.
Developing the proper feedback loop is crucial to your success.
It SHOULD work like this:
Puts in effort => Sees concrete results => Motivation increases => Effort increases => Results improve => Rinse & Repeat
But without verified, concrete data showing you were you’re losing fat from, you can easily get frustrated.
The scale can mess with you, especially if you’re not taking weekly averages.
As such, you should grab a tape measure and see what’s REALLY happening to your body.
If I had a dime for every time I heard “Wow, Jason! If I wasn’t taking these measurements, I would be so frustrated, I probably would have quit!”… well… I’d probably be retired…
ESPECIALLY with women.
I’ve seen women lose 7 inches off their waists, and have zero change on the scale.
Read that again!
The scale does NOT tell the whole story – but your body measurements and data never lie.
For a detailed look at how our clients track their body measurements, tap this link here.
4. Train with weights consistently.
This one may surprise you…
But every client I’ve ever coached who has kept the weight off has made strength training a staple in their fitness program.
And it’s not for the reasons you think…
Weight training mimics the process REQUIRED to get lean and stay lean long term.
If you’re willing to consistently go into the gym and push for a few more reps or pounds, you understand this process.
Nobody gains strength without showing up every day and putting in work.
And you may not reap the benefits of that work right away… you need to have faith that it’s the best thing for you long term.
Fat loss is a process as well.
You need to stay in your deficit, even when you think it’s not working.
Even when you’re tired and you just want to hit up fast food and veg out.
Even when everyone around you is pigging out… you need to remain disciplined and take care of business.
Plus, strength training builds muscle, which helps you burn fat while you sleep.
But in my professional opinion, that’s secondary to the mental benefits of training with weights.
Either way, it’s a no brainer.
If you want to get lean, and stay lean – start lifting today.
5. Have a short memory.
Say it with me: YOU WILL MESS UP!
There’s no way around it.
We all do.
Myself included…
And when you inevitably DO mess up?
Forget it immediately and pretend like it didn’t happen.
Don’t punish yourself with grueling workouts or nothing but salads the next day.
Just move on and pretend like it didn’t happen.
Our most successful fat loss clients understand this.
The ones who are less successful try to “atone” for their sins.
But remember – there is NO morality in fitness.
You didn’t “mess up”… the only way you can mess up is to quit.
You just ate some food.
No biggie, brush yourself off and keep moving forward.
Remember, fitness isn’t for “today”.
Fitness is for forever.
Don’t let one, small misstep get you down – have a short memory and relax.
6. Have planned, hedonistic fun at designated intervals.
We’re all gluttons at heart!
At least I am…
When I say “planned, hedonistic fun”, don’t mean having a cheat meal every weekend.
That’s a surefire way to spin your wheels and never get lean.
I’m talking about once every 8-12 weeks, having a night and just going “yolo”.
Go out to eat, and don’t worry about a damn thing.
Have an appetizer, a few drinks, whatever you want for dinner, and grab a dessert for good measure.
But just remember – when the dinner is over, you’re right back at it.
This is an excellent way to improve your adherence long term.
You have your “carrot” dangling, and you get to scratch that hedonistic itch every so often.
You may have seen The Rock’s MASSIVE cheat meals.
Be aware that he doesn’t eat like that often – likely every 3-4 months.
But when he does cheat (probably in between movie roles), he goes HAM!
And that’s the way it should be.
Eat right 99% of the time.
And 1% of the time, go nuts and scratch the itch if you want to.
Those are the 6 most important habits to get lean and stay lean for life.
What did I miss?
One Favorite Social Media Post Of The Week:
It’s to the point where not eating like shit and taking a walk once per week puts you in the top 10% of health.
That doesn’t mean you’re healthy, though.
It’s more a commentary on how *unhealthy* our society is as a whole.
I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Anyman Fitness N.W.A. Newsletter.
I’ll be back next week.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Best,
Coach J
Anyman Fitness
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I usually play this track first when I enter the gym in the morning. It’s a great way to start the day… (NSFW – lyrics)