In the PNP subscriber site we are focusing the month of December on details. It's called the Devil is in the Details Challenge and we're tracking it all: workouts, calories burned, how compliant we are with our eating plans and food choices, etc. Most of the girls are already commenting on how their clothes feel a little different this week. It's no surprise to me because I know that when you are diligent with your choices and intensity you see results. Tracking makes you a little more focused and intense.
This leads me to something I said in response to one of my PNP All Stars. She works hard and has a problem most of us would love: she has to work hard to eat enough. Lately she's been so stressed and busy that just getting her minimum calories has been a struggle. Today she fessed up in my weekly chat session with the subscribers and said she needs the compliancy and detail accountabiity. She said her rating would be embarassing. My comment to her was...
"I'd rather be embarassed and truthful than unrealistic and delusional."
What I mean by that is when you guess how many calories your burn or eat you aren't fooling anyone but yourself. When you eat more than you journal and exercise less than you report, I don't gain weight...you do! It's crazy to me when we (and I'm just as guilty) let go of the black and white of our dieting and exercise. I mean, we all have to work hard no matter what our goal is right? Why do we just do 75% of the work to see the other 25% sabotage us? We show up for our workouts like good little soldiers and work hard, but we don't write anything down. Then in three weeks we don't know if we've made an ounce of progress. We also end up not pushing ourselves hard enough because we never realize it's been four weeks since we changed our weights or reps.
Same goes with food. We eat good, clean foods yet we never record the calories or measure one stinking bowl of oatmeal. By the end of the day we have underestimated and licked or tasted our way into 200-300 calories that throws us right into maintenance mode. That's why we don't lose weight people! I defy one person to stand up with a detailed journal of:
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The time you ate.
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What you ate.
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Measured amounts.
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Your daily exericse including cals burned, sets, reps, and weights.
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What kind of rating you would give the day in terms of how you feel and satisfaction.
If you can show me a month of this and you still aren't losing then at least we could find a pattern. Otherwise, you are going to waste another three weeks of your diet life just getting to the details. It's so easy and yet we won't take the ten minutes each day to do it.
I have to say I'm in the same boat so that's why I put this challenge out to my people and wanted to blog about it today. I, too, get tired and lazy with the tracking. What I've discovered though it is so worth it. It makes me stay on track, it gives me history to learn from, and it reminds me that I can never get too comfortable. If we all want the body of our dreams we have to be willing to put in the work it takes to achieve those dreams. Dreams are never easily achieved. If they were easy we'd all be laying around in bikinis, rich off our butts with hunky man servants bringing us what ever our hearts desire. Well, now you know my dream. :)
What I am saying is that we all need accountability. We're coming up Christmas fast and that means we need structure more now than ever. It's never too late to break out a journal and get busy. Start today with a piece of paper and a pen. Doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to be true.