What If I Don't Want to Track Calories? But Still Want Results?
A regimented diet doesn't happen over night, but does that mean you shouldn't even try? Of course not. Engraining portion control and meal prepping into your lifestyle is a skill like any other. Healthy eating takes time, trial and error, consistency, and discipline. Before putting all of that on your plate (no pun intended), it might be easier to digest (no pun intended) if you focused on performance based goals for your first year in the gym. They will act as the catalyst for your weight loss and muscle building goals without even focusing much on diet.
What are performance based goals? Performance based goals reflect on the progress made in the gym. Some examples would be goal of doing a full body pull up, being flexible enough to touch your toes, and running a 8 minute mile. No one likes tracking every calorie so starting your journey off with an activity you don't necessarily enjoy might poison the well for all the other wonderful benefits of health and fitness. Reaching performance based goals can be challenging, yet fun and are better for building a positive connection fitness when first starting.
For the first year of being in the gym. Try putting your primary focus into getting as strong as possible, fast as possible, and flexible as possible.
Tracking these activities and watching your progress improve week to week will put you in a more optimistic and positive mindset to follow a regimented diet. Think of it as a stepping stone. You won't be able to fuel your body properly for training, if you don't know how to train first. So why rush it? How many times have you heard of person trying to start a diet, exercise, and cardio routine all at once and then fall out of it 4 weeks later? It's because you can't rush a skill and certainly cannot rush learning 3 different skills all at once. The idea that you are supposed to be able to pick all 3 of these skills up and run is the reason people keep failing over and over again. Enjoy each part of the journey and have fun learning new skills. You will find out that skills honed in the gym will carry through to different aspects in your life.
Don't give up because you can't follow a diet. Enjoy getting strong, fast, and flexible. Trust the process and don't think of progress in terms of numbers on a scale. Your first year into lifting weights your body composition will change so much that a scale is not to be trusted as the only tool for progress. Celebrate your small wins in order to get to the big win. Wishing you all the best mentally, physically, and spiritually.
Love and Strength
- Coach Drake
