Achieving Dramatic Results

A new year often starts with new intentions and goals. The challenge is building the discipline and accountability to stay on track. Below I share my personal journey and actionable steps for you to make lasting change in your life.

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Confucius

· A story of my personal journey

· Actionable steps to apply in your life

A story of my personal journey

In 2022, the world was navigating out of the global pandemic, and I was at my heaviest ever, at over 200 lbs. (91 kgs). I was often sedentary at my desk, rarely exercised, and had poor eating habits. I was unhappy with my health and appearance, and knew I was heading toward risk for serious disease.

I realized that it was up to me to make a positive change. I started with cutting out alcohol and investigating options to improve my fitness. I found a local CrossFit style gym and decided to become a member. I had seen people at ‘transformation gyms’ achieve impressive results and knew that the group classes and accountability likely could help spark the change I was looking for in my life.

The gym community helped empower me toward my fitness goals. As a result, when I heard the gym was planning a ‘60-day transformation challenge’ I jumped at the opportunity to elevate my fitness to the higher levels I wanted to achieve.

The challenge started with clarifying your personal ‘why’ and defining clear goals for success. Where was I now? What did success look like over the next 60-days? My deeper ‘why’ was being a fit Father, who could keep up with my high-energy 3-year-old son when he was a teenager, and I was in my fifties.

My goals by the end of the challenge were to:

1. Lose 15 lbs.

2. Drop body fat percentage to 15 percent

3. Bench press 225 lbs.

4. Run a 7 min mile

At a high-level, the challenge followed basic principles, understand your basal metabolic rate (caloric burn) based on your age, gender and weight and create a ‘calorie deficit’ by reducing food consumption. The nutrition plan focused on high-protein, calorie-controlled meals and staying well-hydrated. The challenge was intense, with five 1-hour weightlifting sessions a week to grow muscle mass and five 30-minute cardio sessions per week (e.g. running, kickboxing, etc.) to help shred fat.

To stay on track, challengers needed to know how they were progressing toward their goals. We did this through weekly check-ins on a scale that measured our weight, body fat and muscle mass. Sticking with the challenge was difficult, particularly the strict diet. However, the community of effort was inspiring and seeing the progress each week kept me progressing forward.

In the end, I was blown away to exceed my goals, below are some actionable steps to help you do the same.

Actionable steps to apply to your life

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier

Just start

Like most things in life, big change begins with a strong desire and taking a small step. Transform your intention from ‘I want to do this’ to ‘I will do this’ to make your intention 100% non-negotiable in your mind.

Define success

Set clear goals, one method to do this is the SMART goal framework, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. Setting clear targets and timelines will help you clarify what success looks like and when you want to achieve it.

Find your approach

Identify a method to achieve your goals, this could be joining a group fitness class, performing workouts by yourself or personal training. Whatever method you choose, make sure it works for you, and you have the accountability to propel you to your goals.

Measure progress

A regular feedback loop helps you stay on track and course correct when needed. For fitness goals, a likely feedback loop likely would include weekly check-ins on a scale to assess your progress toward your goals.

Be consistent

Consistency always beats intensity; your daily eating and exercise habits will compound over time. A lot of people start out with a strong desire and intensity to only flame out in a few weeks. If you miss a workout, don’t worry, set a rule you will never miss more than 2 in a row.

“When you feel like quitting, remember why you started.” – Unknown

Rik Basi