90/10: Committing to the Process
A certain level of dedication is required when striving to see fitness and nutrition results. In the case of nutrition this means committing to the process of meal prep, planning ahead for your week, designing a menu, making good choices on business trips and lunch meetings, or long weekends at sporting events for your kids.
Often times in the gym when discussing nutrition with clients we get questions like:
“How much do I need to be nailing it in order to see results?”
Or statements like:
“I AM doing it … 65% of the time.”
Sound familiar? The truth is in order to see real results and make your hard work pay off you need to be adherent 90% of the time allowing only a 10% window for non-adherence.
Recently I have had a few clients who had tremendous success right off the bat! They nailed it, lost weight fast, got complimented on how great they are doing, and then nailed it less. With others we get close to the goal, and then results begin to slow. It can be discouraging when you aren’t losing 2-5lbs a week anymore. We’ve all been there.
We tell ourselves that we are nailing it, tell our coaches we are nailing it, and then there’s that Ah-Ha moment. We realize our adherence to the program hasn’t been as spot on. We’ve lost a bit of that excitement we had when we first started.
It’s important to follow through fully with the plan, to eat ALL your meal carbs, all your snacks, etc. It’s important to do some extra work, add cardio, etc. It is important to do all of these things effectively, when we get close to a goal or experiencing a plateau, BEFORE you want to adjust your nutrition. Commit to your process. It’s important to be 90% on track and stay committed to the process.
Realize, when striving for weight loss, the more weight you lose the less body fat you have to lose. So when you near the end and the finish lines in sight, which is when the extra push comes.
The hardest work of all comes in the end, and in the end it is worth it!
Stay committed. We are all pulling for your success!