You can liken your body to a big hairy bag of chemical soup. It sounds strange I know but the more we’ve gone on to learn about the body, the more this term rings true! Your starting point is different to the person whose journey you’ve been keeping tabs on.
If you already lead a very healthy lifestyle with a diet rich in unprocessed foods, it can take up to 8 or so weeks of consistent effort for you to notice an admirable change in your physique. On the other hand, if your starting point is a lifestyle containing processed foods on a daily basis, boozy weekends and/or an unstructured training plan, and you’ve really embraced the whole clean eating routine, then yes, you will most likely see a very noticeable difference as inflammation starts to subside within the first couple of weeks of cleaning up your nutrition and starting your new training program.
Whatever the case though, your metabolism and chemical pathways are totally different to the person next to you, what works for one person might not be worthwhile for you, this goes for training, supplementation and foods.
So how long do you have to wait to see the results you’re busy chasing and what can you do about it?
It’s the small things you do on a daily basis (your habits) that determines where you are and who you are, right now.
What you do is influenced by your beliefs and experiences, all things that can be addressed by a good coach or therapist who knows who to bring about lifestyle changes.
When it comes to body transformation, the best thing you can start doing is to behave more like the person who already has what you want.
Start with the basics and doing those basic things well. If you’re in your first 12 week program, here are some of the common starting points you may need to turn your attention to:
- Meal preparation
- Improving meal frequency
- Improving water intake
- Setting clear goals (with a plan to achieve them)
- Establishing a consistent routine
- Getting quality sleep and adequate recovery
- Increasing plant food intake
- Improving muscle activation
- Improving mobility and range of motion
So what about “Motivation“?
It’s the one thing that most people struggle with but by implementing something from the list above you will start feeling better and motivation will begin to find you. You may nail all of this within the first 4 weeks or it may take you 2-3 x 12 week programs just to get these vital factors under control.
The important part is to enjoy the journey your new lifestyle is taking you on. Enjoy feeling good, having more energy, feeling stronger, experiencing less pain, feeling happier and you will crave this lifestyle of eating well and training smart, that will lead you to your ultimate goal.
Results will occur at different times for everyone. Your metabolic classification can outline very clearly where you are right now and how long it will take to see the change you are after, we can go through that in your first session if you like, just ask your trainer. If on the other hand you have been training for a while and have implemented everything on the list above but results have plateaued, then we need to address other factors such as stress.
An applied muscle testing session can help identify what changes need to happen next for you. Back in 2009 I did my first serious 12 week challenge following the metabolic precision program (I’m talking 100% focused and determined to follow my plan to the letter, cheats, there were no cheats, not one, 100% compliancy). It wasn’t until I was 8 weeks into my second round that I actually saw a great change. I didn’t have much to go by except the science behind what I was doing. I just had to trust the system and understand that I was undoing years of abuse and neglect.
While it took 20 weeks for me to physically see an impressive change, the magic was happening underneath all along, it was just a small tweak in my second 12 week challenge that started to reveal the definition I had gained as the body fat melted away, and this came by addressing my food sensitivities.
Going through this experience has shaped the way we have taken on a different approach at Assist Personal Training. Since then both Matt and I have invested much time and money to learn more about nutrition and programming for a successful body transformation to speed up results, so when it comes to your personalised journey, you are never alone or following a ‘one plan fits all’.
Assist PT’s holistic approach to body transformation means we carefully assess your bodies response to your training programs, food and supplementation to make necessary adjustments as your body changes. These days we address food sensitivities first, helping our clients implement healthier nutrition choices so they can see faster results. Using Applied Muscle Testing, we can also address many other factors to help speed up results.