4- The Beginning Is in Sight–Let’s Work Back to the Starting Line!

After considering the first three points (found here in From Finish to Start), we’ll refine our goal as lose 1 size in 3 months and stay consistent no matter what.

3 months is approximately 12 weeks or 84 days. First thing we need to allow for are regular days off–at least one per week. That brings us down to 72 days.

You’re going to want a few days off right before your event so you have no muscle swelling from your efforts skewing your clothes fitting properly! So now we have 70 days.

Since we have decided that 4 days per week is doable, that gives us an additional 2 days off per week. While we may do a few moves on those days, we are not going to “count” them in our total for working backwards. This brings us down to 48 days (we already counted 2 extra days off on our final week). Doesn’t sound like much, does it?!

Yet it is enough! (So let’s get rid of that “It’s not enough!” monster screaming at us, okay? Kick him OUT!)

You might decide you will want a bit more effort at the end of your 12 weeks. So you’ll put that week’s workouts together, making a bootcamp of sorts, then taking the last 3 days completely off.

A bootcamp at the beginning using the Instructional of one of your chosen workouts is also a great way to kick off your personal challenge. I am a huge fan of shorter bootcamps with more focus on muscle activation (which is why instructionals are great for this!).

NOTE–if you have health or adrenal challenges, do NOT worry about doing a bootcamp on either end–start or finish! You may need to split up Instructionals and workouts–but that’s okay!

The two bootcamps take 8 days of your 48, leaving you 40 days to focus on consistency each week. Now, your particular 4 days may always stay the same or they may change from week to week, depending upon what’s going on in your life. Take out a calendar and mark days off when you know you definitely need off. Then you can schedule your workout days around them.

Finally we’re ready to put it together!

Couch to 5K has a great chart, but you can do the same thing with calendar pages you can print for this purpose. Mark your days off. Again, you may decide to do Primary Back Stretch and a move or two on those days, but you are planning them off right now. Make sure one day IS completely off (except for Primary Back Stretch) to give your body the rest it needs.

Let’s say you have decided to use Healthy Hormones Menopause Management (HHMM), Broom 2 and Hit the Floor (HTF) as your chosen workouts.

Here’s how the first few weeks may look:

Week 1:

Day 1: HHMM Instructional
Day 2: HHMM Instructional
Day 3: HHMM Instructional
Day 4: HHMM Instructional
Day 5: Off
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off

Week 2:

Day 1: HHMM workout
Day 2: Off
Day 3: HTF
Day 4: Broom 2
Day 5: Off
Day 6: HHMM workout
Day 7: Off

You could continue to use the same workout schedule each week or you might vary it due to days available to work out. You could put shorter workouts such as Broom 2 and Hit the Floor back to back but be sure to schedule a day off after doing 2 days in a row (or a light day–Primary Back Stretch plus two moves).

ALWAYS listen to your body–if you just feel “done” 5 minutes into the workout, be done. You will be fresher for your next workout day and get more out of it than slogging through just to say you did it all.

Fourth step–working backwards, break it all down into realistic and manageable increments that will take you consistently to your goal.

5- Schedule yourself as a priority!

It is so easy to put ourselves on the back burner! We intend to take care of our health–someday. We intend to exercise consistently–someday. We intend to eat better–someday.

Life does happen but it’s important to be sure we are not constantly making ourselves the low priority that gets bumped completely off the list!

Because someday, our bodies may just scream at us, “TAKE CARE OF ME NOW!” Whether it’s a frightening panic attack, total loss of energy and motivation from an adrenal crash or a heart attack, we WILL make ourselves a priority someday!

Why not make “someday” today?!

Write on your calendar whatever it takes to show you are making yourself a priority. Whether a CEO of a company or CEO of your home with little children, you are busy. But you also need to take care of yourself or you won’t be able to take care of the precious responsibilities you have. The oxygen mask analogy is familiar, but in life we don’t always take that advice well!

Put on your calendar that you have an appointment with Teresa Tapp, or with your personal trainer, or whatever it is that motivates you when you see it that this is important–YOU are important!

Fifth step–put yourself on the calendar as you would an important appointment that you wouldn’t want to break.

You can’t run a 5K overnight, and you can’t create consistency, improve stamina and lose a size overnight, either. It takes planning, persistence, patience, and then–

Sweet Victory!

Photo credits:

Celestine Chua

jayneandd