I have found that; everyone has something going on, “fighting their own battles” as it were. Because you are the pilot of your body, you might think everything is about you.
Don’t get me wrong, it is!
You are the master of your own destiny, you are the creator of your own reality and I just wanted to try and show you how this is an absolute fact.
So you want to lose weight?
How have you approached this? did you “try every diet under the sun”? or is that what you have told people?
Chances are you got really inspired by some YouTube video at 3 AM and it made you (at least at that moment) look to change your life!
You threw the ice cream tub in the bin and then went to bed dreaming of your new life.
Then when you woke up, you’re late for work because you were up at 3 AM on a Wednesday. Rushing out the door you don’t get anything for breakfast so you grab a bacon roll (or sausage, I don’t know your preference) from the food truck that’s next to your companies building. And in the back of your mind, the thoughts of all your dieting plans start to creep back to you. But you have already ruined it in your mind so why not start another day?
And this is probably the cycle you go through every few months right?
I know because I have been there many times, you might be reading this thinking I’m a super athletic gym trainer…I’m not.
I used to be all about the gym, and if you were to scroll back far enough on my Instagram (@joshmaddocks) you will see I was a bit of a beefcake.
I stepped away from the lifting in Better Bodies and my life went past at a thousand miles per hour… I know what you’re thinking, you don’t really care.
We have established this life is about you, but I just wanted to give some context and why you should listen to me, if I’m not a super athletic gym instructor, why should you listen to me?
Because I have seen both sides and I have been happy both sides (I’m not going to convince you that being happy is enough, we still have work to do!)
The reason we fail is simple: we are not prepared. And we have no plan… some guy had a saying about it once, I can’t recall it exactly but he pretty much said just have a plan, mate.
So the next time you feel this surge of motivation you need to go get a pen and paper (old school right? and no, you can’t use your notes app, because you close the app and you lose your goals…forever.)
Write down whatever you find most useful, I won’t go into blood sugars or cutting carbs we’ll start simple.
For men, the average daily intake of calories is 2500 and for women, it’s 2000. So if you write down 1800–2000 (for men) / 1500–1800 (for women) and start to pay attention to your food and start looking at labels the weight will come off.
What do I do?
Breakfast: Most mornings my breakfast is a single pot of Greek yoghurt (not the massive ones, they come in a pack of 4 for about a quid) and a packet of apple, I know I’m lazy. I dip them in like Doritos in salsa and I love it. That’s around 100 calories and I feel full up until about 12ish.
Lunch: If I get peckish before my lunch I will eat a few sticks of cucumber or maybe some carrot. Then for lunch is usually beansprouts and chicken (around 350 cals). again you can see you have room for other food in your journey.
If my breakfast AND lunch are less than 500 calories and if I were to overeat at dinner and somehow eat 2k calories I wouldn’t hate myself too much.
Dinner: It’s always changing, as me and the wife are finding new foods all the time. We found ‘Swoodles’ last night they are an alternative to noodles made from swede and not a hipster’s dog breed.
My favourite has to be the beansprouts, though. I have found myself chopping coriander, squeezing lemon and trying ginger in my food like I’m the next Jamie Oliver!
I have learnt the value of the calorie and that to make it count, make it full of flavour.
I am by no means there yet, I understand I’m overweight but I am happy and I am getting healthier. I think it’s great to love yourself for who you are but I think loving yourself also means respecting yourself, enough to pull your life together and start with the body.
You can expect to see many other benefits, including (but not limited to): Increased motivation, extra energy, not feeling hungry all the time, and you can look forward to buying some new (and smaller) clothes.
As I have said, I am not a health expert by any means, I’m not an influencer trying to sell you my diet PDF.
I’m simply giving you some information I have read that has helped me to get to my own goals. I had noticed that when I was paid to perform magic at a wedding this year, my suit was a little snugger than I had remembered it was before the lockdown and I set about changing that.
I also have the goal of reading 100 books by the end of this year, and I invite you to join me on this journey. You can start improving your life at any time but you must be the one to take the 1st step.
I can help with loads of tips and tricks along the way, and since you made it this far I will share some great ones with you now:
Eat 20 grams of protein within the 1st 20 minutes of waking up. -This will leave you feeling fuller for longer and just this one thing alone will help you shed the pounds.
Take a photograph of every single thing you eat (preferably before you eat it). You can then send that to a friend or your partner. If you don’t have anyone then please send them to me, I don’t care if you’re spamming me every hour, the idea is that you will get to a point when you're taking a picture of your 3rd Mars bar and you might think “Do I need a 3rd one? should I have eaten any today?”.
Eventually, you will condition yourself to think about what you are eating and start to take accountability for your actions, but you have to be honest and open.
I had half a bag of Malteasers last night, I shouldn’t have had them but I know that I shouldn’t be too hard on myself, and it’s okay to enjoy these things in moderation.
I hope you got something to take away with you, and if you have any stories you would like to share with me I would love to hear them, so please send them over! -Josh Maddocks