The Big Three…

People want to lose weight, so what do we do… we work out! We schedule our times, we show up, and we do the work. We then go home and stay up late doing work or watching TV, only to wake up tired the next day and try it all again. Generally, we try to eat better but normally that’s not as much a priority compared to working out. How do I know this? Because this was my life for years. I stayed up too late and ate okay for the most part and then really badly for other parts. I justified my poor eating because I was working out. Apparently working out means that I could do whatever I wanted to the other times in my life. False!

I have found that there are three things that MUST stay in check constantly or at least consistently.

Food – if your food is bad, you will not see the results you want, no matter how much you work out. If your food is off, you will be off. If you don’t eat right and well, then you will fail to reach your full potential.
Sleep – make sure you get enough sleep. You might find that you need less than you think or you might find that you aren’t getting enough. Either way, I bet you are not paying attention to sleep patterns and sleep quality. Your body and mind will not recover if you are not sleeping well. This is where I still struggle. I wake up at 4a each day but I might go to sleep anywhere from 9:45p to 11p. I would like to be asleep by 10p at the latest. I’m still a work in progress. My sweet spot is between 6-7 hours of quality sleep.
Exercise – This is last for a reason. The first two directly impact this last one. It really doesn’t matter what you do if you aren’t eating well. If you are killing your food plan and killing it in the gym and not sleeping, your body will burn out. Keep these three in check! Make them each a priority.

How are you doing with the big three?

Make the plan for your success in each of these, and Keep Going!