Things to do on a fitness journey

Part Two: Let’s get you started

You don’t need a fancy gym pass to start, or amazing cooking skills. All you need is your desire. I wanted to write this towards a general audience, I don’t know what your specific goals are.

- Start slow, if you are new to fitness or have a fair amount of weight you want to get off of you. Go for a brisk walk every single morning on an empty stomach. Start for 20 minutes, then progress at your own pace. This is a journey remember, not a race. You shouldn’t care how long it takes, just that it gets done. Losing weight and becoming fit takes immense amounts of trial and error – if you feel like you aren’t making progress, switch it up! If you can briskly walk for an hour in the morning with minimal breaks, congratulations, it is time to step up your game.

- Use the mirror AND the scale. Weight fluctuates dramatically, for some more than others. If you see changes in the mirror, that’s wonderful, but do not be discouraged if the scale doesn’t say what you were hoping for. A tip I have found when I tried to lose a fair amount of weight was to weigh myself multiple times a day, if I could, to see that weight is in fact just a number. This number will change, it will go up and down, but it should not come close to ruling how you approach your journey.

- Pay attention to how your clothes fit. If your jeans are fitting looser, or your t-shirts are becoming less snug, then you’re on to something if you want to lose weight. If you are trying to gain lean muscle, gauging progress via your clothes can be tricky (use the mirror instead).

- Read muscle magazines with caution. Don’t get me wrong, I love magazines like Men’s Health, Flex, and Muscular Development (I don’t read women’s fitness magazines since well, I’m a guy). These can give great generalised advice regarding nutrition, workout regiments, training tips, or motivational tools, but try and remember that what works for you is what matters.

I lost over 70 lbs because I didn’t skip a day of training or any of my meals for over four months. I trained every body part almost every single day, most people will laugh and call bulls***, but it worked for me. Trial and error is key, here. Try the new “fad” workout that everyone is talking about, it might work, it might not, either way do what you want.

- You will have bad days, and you will have days where you ask if your sacrifice is worth it. Find motivation in something. It could be simply your own desire, or a picture, a quote, a self-affirmation, a video on youtube, a song, or something a person said to you. Literally, anything. What motivated me will be far different from what motivated you in all likelihood, so do you and keep pressing on.