Best Tip You Received?

His name was Marco and we met on the French Riviera... wait what is this thread about? Uhhhhh "Eat Big, Lift Big, Leave a Big coffin"

You can't out-train a poor diet.

get a dog

Eat less, move more.

1. More weight is lost in the kitchen than the gym.
2. There is no Finish Line
3. WL is Simple: fewer calories In than calories Out BUT it's NOT EASY.
4. WL is not linear, do not set goals using a calendar.

Don't compare your progress to others. You are not them.

If you don't want to workout, just go to the gym. Sit in the chair if you must, but go there for your minimum time. If when you get there and you've sat in that chair for a few minutes and you still can't or won't do a workout, then that's okay, but go there. Make the promise to yourself that you will go to the gym when you are supposed to, for the amount of time that you are supposed to be there.

Honestly, I never get there and just want to sit in the chair, so I always end up doing something. Even if it's just for half an hour. Half an hour is my minimum exercise time per day, and normally I surpass that because I end up doing more. This takes the pressure off to do an hour long work out.

Also, if you want to be able to get up off the toilet by yourself when you are eighty, do squats now. Sound advice.

Go by the mirror, not the scale.

1: Exercise is easier if it doesn't feel like exercise.

I have a way easier time sticking to a workout regimen if it's a game or sport, or training for a game or sport. It has to be fun. Sure, I have a gym membership, and I go do the usual exercises there, because like I said, training for the stuff I like to do is pretty enjoyable, but...mainly I'm into fencing, I've played baseball and soccer and volleyball before, I just had my first rock climbing experience of my adult life today, I'm signing up for a bunch of obstacle course races...all of these things are fun in their own right. They're not chores I'm just drudging through to "earn" a better body or some junk food; they're things I'm doing because they're actually fun, and that makes a huge difference in motivation.

2: Your body is like a toddler - you should listen to it, but not give in to its every whim.

This is a lot easier in principle than in practice, but just realizing the principle helped me start to turn my life around. Your body will tell you when it needs something. But it can also be pretty demanding when it just wants something it's used to having, but doesn't actually need. Learning to tell the difference between your body's requests for true needs, for wants that you need to appease a little bit for sustainability, and for wants that you can push yourself through, is a pretty important skill.

3: It doesn't matter if you fall off track; what matters is minimizing the time you stay there.

This is something I understand better than most people...for all the most unfortunate reasons. I have issues with inertia - once I start doing something, ANYTHING, I have a hard time stopping until something else stops me. That...especially includes falling back into bad habits. If these things lasted only a day, they wouldn't even be setbacks; they'd be off days. But they rarely last only a day. Now, I'm making a conscious effort to remind myself of this - so far, so good.