My three steps to getting started

 Kia ora guys and girls!
 
As I sit here in one of my favorite cafe’s called Deckchair just off the beach in Mount Manganui, New Zealand it is the perfect Saturday morning to sit back, reflect and take the time to update you all and once again bring you all on a journey as I go from your “every day” athlete to the top of my game for the second time.
 
As most of you are aware my journey started in 2012, when I went from 118 to 83kg’s over a period of 6 months after changing my lifestyle completely, which included but not limited too; focusing on eating healthy natural foods (unpackaged and non-processed foods), having an active lifestyle and I feel most importantly, having a reason why. My journeys key point though is that not only had I managed to drop the weight, but I had gone from being someone out there competing to finish, to competing for the top of the podium which is not always the case for a “big lad” and in no way was it easy as my work ethic reflected my result.
 
So and update on where I am at; I am 15 months on from exceeding expectations by completing a 2017 Taupo ironman on a very windy and hot day in the time of 9.46 hours. At this time I weighed 74 kg and was extremely fit after building on the base I had, in addition to this I also achieved a 4.10 hour half Ironman to my surprise!. It is amazing to look back to my first half Ironman where I finished in a time of 5.14.59 😱.
 
So what’s new, where am I at? Well after Ironman my priorities changed and I made the decision to focus on my career, buying a house and life with my fiancé I balanced out at my natural weight of 83/84 kg but, with the last six weeks of traveling Europe I have found myself tapping on 90 kg’s.
 
So I thought to myself, why not share with my readers, followers and ThinkFitPod listeners my journey and commit to a weekly blog over 10 weeks to share my journey and give you my step by step guide on what I do to get fit, get on top of my game and live a healthy life.
 
So here is today’s lesson; Establishing your why, Setting a plan and Accountability.
 
I feel these three things for me are so, so vital in a lifestyle change and below I will touch on these and next week I will explain in more detail.
 
Establishing your why; the first vital step toward losing weight successfully is mental. Determine why you want to lose weight and let this reason be your motivation. Do you want to regain your health and self-esteem? Are you looking to be a role model for your children? Do you simply want to fit into your old jeans again? Any reason is valid as long as it minimizes your self-destructive behavior. I also believe you need to ask yourself the question “Why” of your answer multiple time's to truly have a strong reason why.
 
If you don’t question your reason why and don't get what I call “below the water line” at the beginning, then giving into temptation can be far too easy.
 
What is my reason why? My reason re-sounds with me which is “I want to feel healthy, I want to feel confident about myself, I want to run with ease, I want to have a healthy and strong mental health” these for me are my reason why, why I want to get out and exercise when I feel tired, why I want to eat healthy and why I will put my health and mental wellbeing first.
 
Setting a plan: now that I have my reason why, I can begin to set a plan, this is what I want to achieve in the week as a goal without a plan, is planning to fail. So for me this is planning my weekly meals, weekly exercise/ stretching and daily reflection. I will go into more detail on this next week!
 
Accountability: that’s what this is! But also, I have set accountability with my fiancé. To kick start my accountability, it is weekly weigh in, daily reflections of my food log and weekly post reflecting on the week. Accountability is a great way to ensure you stay to your plan, especially when your why might not seem that “important” when you are in the moment of temptation.
 
So with that said, if you are up for the 10 week accountability plan to get started then post below your why and who is helping you be accountable (if that’s me then let’s go).
 
I’m looking forward to sharing my journey with you along with the challenges.
 
Until next week, let’s do this team!
 
Robo