“How To” Guide For Getting Back In Shape – Volume Two

 Getting out of shape is easy and fun up until your tipping point. We all have our own tipping points. It might be pants that are getting tighter, simple physical tasks are getting more difficult, or maybe a new jiggle when you move. I’ve been there myself. The tipping point is a place where you feel forced to make a decision either make a change or accept the condition and care less. You could also call it desire or a lack of desire. Know this, with enough desire you can do anything, especially get in shape.
Your desire is the origin and home for your goals and objectives. If you have the desire, read on.
In the first volume of my Guide To Getting Back In Shape, we covered steps one and two:
1. Identify Your Objective (what do you want and why?) Your desire paired with what will satisfy it.
2. Assess the cost (what will you or won’t you do what will you sacrifice to achieve your objective?)
This step is less pleasant to think of than your goal by itself. Especially in an industry with taglines like “no pain, no gain” and “feel the burn”. What normal person hopes for sacrifice, pain and discomfort? It’s all in the perspective. “Attitude: It is our best friend or our worst enemy.” – John C. Maxwell
You can look at your diet two ways. You can say, “I can’t eat anything I like” and be bitter. Another approach would be “I can eat whatever I want and thankfully I only want the foods that help me get to my goals” and be better versus bitter.
Plan your path (you won’t get your goals by accident)
I’m often told (by potential clients) that they have been trying or wanting to lose fat but failed. The reason for their failure is the foolish approach they take. For example, let’s say you want to lose 10 pounds. Most people watch the scale, lessen their calorie (and nutrient) intake and add some form of dedicated exercise for an hour three to four times per week. If this sounds like the right approach to you, you haven’t worked with me, or my trainers.
The right approach is understanding what kind of weight you want to lose. If you want to lose only fat, a scale is poor measure for that with more than a third of your weight coming from water. The right approach would be measuring your body fat to know first so that we can measure change. The right approach is understanding that each pound of fat has 3,500 calories and 10 pounds has 35,000 calories.
Include a timeline  (Find an amount of time that is reasonable to win)
In the example above, we wanted to lose 10 pounds of fat. Which is 35,000 calories. Now pick a time frame. It is reasonable to lose a pound of fat per week.  So, I chose 10 weeks to lose 10 pounds (35,000 calories) and 10 weeks is 70 days. So 35,000/70 days equal 500 calories a day. Now, those 500 calories, can be burned or reduced from your diet. Which is to say you can burn 250 calories with exercise and reduce your usual calorie intake by 250 calories would net your goal of burning 35,000 calories (10 pounds of fat) in 10 weeks without killing yourself or starving yourself.
As always, I hope this installment was helpful for your journey. For more information, help with athletics, weight loss or children’s programs, contact Jim Johnson at Ignition Fitness at 661-495­9225 or visit or website www.getignitionfit.com.