I ate quite a few sweets this weekend. Saturday was my daughter’s FIRST birthday. You only turn the big 1 once, and as a mom, you only throw your first baby her first birthday party one time. So of course, I went overboard. Accompanying the full taco bar, I prepared four different kinds of cupcakes, cake balls to appear as wintery snowballs, sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies from scratch (you seriously need this recipe), chocolate covered pretzels and strawberries, oh and yes, the smash cake (a healthy recipe you also need).
Of course I tasted it all.
So this week I’m going to hit it hard in the gym to make up for the sweet treats this weekend, right?
So. Totally. WRONG.
Have you ever heard the phrase “you can’t out-train a bad diet”? Or “everything in moderation”?
I don’t know if “moderation” applies to this weekend, but since I typically don’t eat sweets like this, I’m going with it.
It’s true. You can’t just undo whatever you ate with a hard workout or even a week’s worth of hard workouts. (I mean, sure, you could theoretically “carb load” or have a “refeed day” followed by a two-hour heavy lifting gym sesh, but these days are typically planned ahead of time.) What I’m talking about is the incorrect attitude or the mindset that many people get stuck in when they eat too many “bad” foods:
I ate terrible this weekend so I’ll just workout even harder this week.
This mentality doesn’t help you reach your goals. Especially if this is the strategy you use every weekend.
You know what does help you hit your goals? Burn fat or avoid unnecessary weight gain? A consistent routine made up of consistent healthy choices.
I consistently work out. I consistently make healthy choices.
Do I have crazy weeks where I’m opening a new business, planning my daughter’s first birthday, and renovating my house while battling a head cold? Yes.
Do I miss workouts sometimes and eat cake batter while planning the best first birthday ever?
Yes.
Do I let this bring my spirits down, beat myself up, and spend extra hours in the gym to work off a freaking cupcake (or three)?
Hell no.
Because making healthy choices and exercising consistently helps you when life gets in the way for a few days.
THIS is how consistency helps you:
- Just 18 minutes of an interval style workout (HIIT, Metcons, WODs, etc.,) will burn an extra 600+ calories per day when done correctly (meaning as intensely as YOU can perform them, safely.)
- One hour of strength training burns roughly 180 calories (during that hour–but will continue to burn 200-600+ over the next 24 hours after the workout)
- While it’s debatable how many calories one pound of muscle burns per hour (I’ve read anywhere from 7-50+), one thing is true: muscle burns WAY more calories than fat per hour.
- Making healthy choices 9/10 times keeps your insides clean, clear, healthy, and young. Think: less inflammation and better gut health. Clear thinking. More energy, fewer sugar cravings.
- Drinking water, getting enough sleep, practicing daily stress management skills…these all result in less mental stress, more physical energy, healthier bodies, and longer, more active lives.
It’s not just about eating well all the time or exercising every day. It’s being as consistent as possible in all healthy choices. It’s knowing that it’s ok to have a busy week but also knowing that your healthy habits don’t just stop–you do what you can until routine resumes. You create new routines, or adjust what you need when you need it.
Consistency means life-long practices. And it’s ok to start those life-long practices NOW, no matter how old, young, fit, unfit, healthy, inactive, etc. you are. But my point is that the longer you’re consistent in making healthy choices–whether that’s hitting the gym four days a week, drinking a gallon of water a day, going to bed by 10pm every night, reading a motivational book every month–the easier life gets as you grow with your practice, and the easier you can adjust when you have a few busy days here and there.
That means, when you’re planning your daughter’s first birthday party while renovating your house and starting up a brand new business, if you eat a few cupcakes and you don’t hit the gym every single day, that muscle you’ve built up combined with the metabolism you’ve gained from your interval style conditioning–those elements, those practices, those consistencies will keep you above water until normalcy resumes.
Start being consistent NOW. You don’t have to wait until January to claim a new you. Start today.
- Go for walk and get in the habit of walking every day. Build upon walking.
- Add in an extra glass of water a day.
- Turn down the office donuts but take your own healthy snacks to work with you.
- Commit to lifting weights 3-4 times a week.
- Add interval style cardio to your routine.
- Read self-growth and motivational books.
- Practice positive affirmations and mantras that help ward off negative thinking.
- Get consistently good sleep.
- Use a planner to organize your week, your routine, your life. It’ll eliminate stress. Heck, just the act of writing and making lists reduce stress.
Interval-Based Cardio / Metcons / HIIT
I know I had you hooked when I said that 18 minutes of high intensity interval training can burn 600+ calories a day, didn’t I?!
Right?! So let me help you accomplish burning those extra calories.
My Bootcamp
If you’re local to Harrisonburg, the bootcamp program I’m offering inside of CrossFit Harrisonburg does exactly this: we strength train and perform interval style metabolic conditioning workouts. Meaning, we build lean muscle and burn fat, all in under 45 minutes a day.
To read more about this new local program, check out our schedule, sign up for a class, etc., visit our website and you ABSOLUTELY need to schedule your first free class!!! (Make SURE you sign up ahead of time for any class you take so I can ensure instructors will be there! Seriously, I’m not getting out of bed at 4:45am if no one is signed up for class.)
Try some Metcons.
If you’re not local, I can still hook you up with some stellar interval workouts, but you’re going to have to find the motivation to do them on your own. (Consistency helps develop motivation.) I developed 365 Metabolic Conditioning workouts and you can purchase this .PDF of a year of fat-burning metcons for $10 right here.
Here’s Strongfigure Ambassador, Reagan Theurer, with metcon #17. Reagan is partnering with me to make videos of these metcons (I hate making videos and she hates workout programming so we’re a great team!) Follow Reagan’s YouTube channel so you can find more of our Strongfigure workouts!
What can you do to be more consistent this week? Take a couple more walks? Ditch three sodas and replace them with six glasses of water? Try out a workout from my 365 Metcons book? Workout with me at my new bootcamp?
Come see me!
If you’re local, come see me at StrongFigure Bootcamp! Sign up for a free class here (scroll to the bottom of the page) or sign up for our FREE SATURDAY WORKOUT this weekend! It’s never too late to practice new skills. Why not make consistency your goal for the new year? (And start it now, not January.) 😉
