It was also around 2 years ago that I started really getting into fitness. I did it to combat my eating disorder and my body dysmorphia because one day while I was staring at myself in the mirror, hating myself, something snapped and I realized the only way to actually like what I saw was to do something about it. I was sick of starving myself, so I asked Robert to teach me how to do the healthy way, and he did. Since I had put so much effort into maintaining my ED, I threw myself with as much rigor into working out. I work out nearly every day (I try to have 1 rest day). I started out mostly with Blogilates and fitness blender videos, and then progressed to running, but martial arts is a huge component of that now.
I recently got a DEXA scan and my body has the fat and muscle composition of an athlete, so I thought I'd share how I did it.for anyone else who's interested in being fit.
If you want to see results:
Fix your diet. This is the actual difficult part to getting fit and I see so many people who think they can lean out just by hitting a treadmill and not changing up what they eat. Google "TDEE calculator" to figure out how much you need to eat a day for your goals. (Don't worry about macros until you've gotten the calories down. It's way easier to adjust macros when you're already well versed in calorie counting) The only way to see results from the hard effort of your workouts is to eat properly.
Did you just skip over that first part? No, I'm serious. Fix your freaking diet. It's about 80-90% of the results you'll see. There is not a single high level fitness person who doesn't watch their diet. People used to think I was a weirdo because I brought pre-planned meals to work in tupperware. But fuck them. I was the one seeing result while they did "Weightloss challenges" (Gaining all the weight back quickly) and whined about how fat they were getting.
That being said, don't restrict unnecessarily. You need to eat enough to fuel your workouts. I am a 5'2 woman and my TDEE is about 2000. If I try to get away with eating 1400 calories, I wind up wanting to die during my workouts. Either restrict or bulk by about 20-30% of the TDEE. You will see slower results, but you probably won't give up frustrated or black out during burpees.
Start simple. Don't rush out and buy a bunch of gear until you're invested. I still haven't joined a gym. You can do bodyweight workouts on the Internet and see pretty good results. My favorite workout channels are Blogilates, FitnessBlender, Christine Salus, and Millionaire Hoy. Buy yourself some nice workout clothes and gear when you've already done a few months of work to reward yourself. It'll feel way better.
Maintain consistency. It's okay to have an off day, but not an off year. As long as you maintain about 80% consistency of your goals you should be on the right track. Recognize that you're not always going to want to do the work and push through it. If you truly can't push through it because of illness, a particularly bad day, then forgive yourself, but realize you have to get right back on it.
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Be okay with boredom. So many people don't want to work out because "they're bored." Working out is something you do because you want results, not something that in and of itself needs to be particularly entertaining. Shift the framework of how you see workouts. Eventually, like me, you may start to enjoy them because doing something with effort and accomplishing it is in general rewarding.
Push yourself every workout. You need to have an increased heart-rate and be sweating, otherwise you will not be seeing results. Getting 10,000 steps is fine for someone who's looking to be more healthy, but it is not going to get you -fit-. You also need to keep going until you feel the burn (Burn, not pain. There is a difference) in your muscles. That's when the growth starts happening. People like to say that the real work starts happening in the last 2-3 reps. If you're doing strength training, you want to keep lifting/working until you can barely lift the weight/your body. If you're not pushing yourself, then it's not a work-out. You may get more used to it, but it is never supposed to be easy.
Take pictures. The pictures will you show that you've progressed better than the scale has. If you can get one, google DEXA scan and do one in your city if it's available. It will give you the most accurate idea of your body composition.
You are not broken. Everyone is different, -within slight degrees-. If you are not seeing the results you want, it is not because your metabolism is damaged or you're an ~ectomorph hardgainer~. It's because you're not doing something correctly. Your body matches exactly what you have done to it, because it adapts to what work it needs to do. Your body is a pure reflection of reality. (Yes, some people have a higher NEAT, are taller and need more calories, have a naturally low appetite, gain more muscle naturally. But the rules of reality still apply) That is good news - it means you can review your habits and fix them if you need to.
Don't do just cardio. You are probably not going to get the body you want with just cardio, as without strength training you will have no shape. You can do bodyweight strength training, but if you just become a treadmill bunny you will probably be disappointed with the results.
Enjoy the results. If you worked so hard to achieve a better body, then allow yourself to appreciate it. No, being fit is not going to make yourself magically happier or a better person. But understanding that you worked hard to get results, and then accomplished something that millions of people want but think is ~too hard~? That's something to be proud of.
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