Nathan: Hi, I’m Nathan from the DVCC and today I’m here with Josh; how are you?
Josh: I’m good thanks.
Nathan: Awesome. Today we’re going to be discussing the top three reasons why your results may drop off. So Josh, what is the first reason somebody’s result or results might drop off?
Josh: In my opinion, one of the top reasons people’s results drop off is falling out of routine.
Nathan: Ok, obviously there are loads of routines that are healthy routines; what routines might they be – can you give me an example?
Josh: When people are ready to start a commitment – take, for example, fat loss as a pretty generic topic – people start the routine of training very regularly – it might be a certain time of day; they might make certain changes to their nutrition, for example, one thing we recommend if you’re looking to lose body fat is to eat a high protein breakfast in the morning; or drinking 2-3 litres of water; or it might be restricting carbohydrates, for example – something like that.
One of the top things that halts progress, or sees people yo-yoing, is that a certain amount of time passes and perhaps they actually reach their goal; you see this typically with “dieters”.
So you’ll see a 6-week diet or an 8-week diet or something like that and, typically, once people reach their goals, they stop doing the things that actually helped them get there in the first place. Obviously, half the battle is won once you’ve reached your goal, the other half is maintaining it and making sure you keep doing the things, the habits that got you there in the first place.
Nathan: Ok, so just keeping up with those regular habits. I know breakfast is one that a lot of people have struggled with; as I have myself. It’s very easy for those not so good habits to creep back in. So what would be your second one?
Josh: My second thing that would stop progress would be cheat meals, or reset meals, and the knowledge behind that. 
A reset meal is a scheduled in advance meal, as a reward for all the hard work and effort that you’ve put in nutritionally to stay on the right tracks, that will happen once every 20-30 meals.
Obviously, a pre-requisite of that is that you are perfect in the meals between and that’s how you can be allowed to indulge guilt free and it will not only give you a mental release, but will also speed up your metabolism and speed up your progress, allowing you to hit your fat loss goals that much faster.
What I see people do is to not schedule their reset meals; for example, imagine you go to a friend’s barbecue at the weekend and you’re eating healthily, and then suddenly someone brings out some cakes or something that you know you’re not meant to be eating, that won’t be conducive to you achieving your goals.
You initially refuse and then pressure from someone who says go on, you might as well try one and you end up giving in. Obviously, this isn’t scheduled in advance, it’s not part of the plan, you will end up feeling guilty and it’s going to derail your progress.
A lot of the time I see confusion about what is actually classed as a reset meal. It would be any time that you eat food that isn’t part of the plan. So whether that be some starchy carbohydrates, if you had a biscuit at work, it would still count as a reset meal, it’s not just a blip on the radar.
You can’t just brush it under the carpet and imagine it never happened; these things all count and if body composition is your goal, then it would be wise for your own results to remain accountable to that and either schedule your reset meals in and enjoy them properly or, if you do fall off the wagon in that regard, to count it as a reset meal and get back on the wagon and be strict again before your next scheduled reset meal.
Nathan: Give me a way that you combat not having a reset meal, just on the off chance. So how do you make sure that you don’t have too many reset meals? Josh: A prime example is this weekend. It is my girlfriend’s birthday today, as it happens.
So we’re going out for a meal. Now it just so happens that my reset meal falls on the Saturday, so I can enjoy, for that one meal in the evening, guilt free, whatever I want – and it’s planned. If, perchance, my reset meal was on the Friday evening, the sensible decision would be to move it back a day to the Saturday.
So instead of having my reset meal and eating what I want on the Friday evening and then having to fight an uphill battle to remain strict when going out for a meal when I’ve not got so much freedom with choice, then that just makes the decision a little bit easier for me.
What I have done as well, is I’ve read the menu so I know what’s on the menu at the particular restaurant we’re going to. I’ve already made my choice about what I’m going to order, so it’s all part of my plan, essentially. So, half the battle is forecasting in advance and knowing what you’re going to do; that way you kind of plan for success.
Nathan: You build anticipation too.
Josh: Exactly. It’s going to make the whole evening much more enjoyable, because I know I can sit down and have a great meal with my girlfriend and enjoy all the foods that I want to enjoy, without any of the guilt or regret that you would possibly get if it wasn’t part of the plan and if you were to be taken by surprise and end up ordering something that you know you shouldn’t be eating.
Nathan: Another thing you’re really good at as well is, wherever I see you, you’ve always got food with you prepared for the day. Is that something that you’ve always done? Have you found that’s helped you?
Josh: It’s not something I’ve always done but actually I’ve found it’s something that’s really, really helped me. Obviously, eating regularly is an important part of what I do to maintain energy levels. In the past I’ve found it really hard if I go a very long period of time, say 5-6 hours without eating; my blood sugar tends to drop very low and it’s harder to make good decisions because my hormones aren’t working in my favour.
My blood sugar has dropped and my body is thinking, oh my gosh, I need to replenish all of this sugar. So you tend to crave sweeter foods and it’s harder to make the right decision. So by preparing food in advance - I tend to cook in batches, maybe 2 or 3 times a week, to keep me ticking over - I know some people like to cook all their meals once a week, some people do it every day; this is one of those individual things, whatever works for you and your schedule; you’ve got to make it fit with your life. Having that food ready in advance, so that I know I’m never going to be without, I’m never going to be at the mercy of the nearest restaurant…
Nathan: Gives you confidence, right?
Josh: Yes, definitely. I know when I leave the house every day that I’ve got 3 nutritious meals that are going to keep me full of energy, that I’m really going to enjoy, and that are going to keep me progressing towards my goals. And that confidence really helps in every aspect of my life. It’s just one less thing to stress about.
Nathan: Awesome. Talk to me about the third reason that your results may drop off?
Josh: The third reason is lack of progression with training. 
Progression can take a number of forms; whether that be increasing the weights you lift in a session, or just pushing yourself hard.
Typically, when I see people first start training they push themselves very, very hard and they’re eager to get results; it’s easier for that eagerness to drop off the longer you train. So the one thing we always try and do is to make sure people are consistently trying to better themselves.
Ways to do that would be going faster, lifting heavier or, with the same weight, getting more reps in the same amount of time. And by doing that, you’re sure your body is always moving forwards and you’re constantly challenging yourself. It takes the same amount of effort to go and do a session at a fitness facility and give 100% as it does to go and give 50%.
Once you’ve got yourself out of the house with your training gear and you get to where you’re going, that’s half the battle; then you’ve got to really set your mind to making yourself better than you were yesterday.
And if you always come into a training session with that attitude of being better than you were the previous day, then great results are just around the corner.
Nathan: For clients of the DVCC listening to this, you’ll probably know that myself and Josh – and the rest of the transformation experts at the DVCC – will push you to lift heavier; we know what you can lift and we know what you’re capable of. Say if someone is listening to this that isn’t a client at the DVCC, how can they make sure that they’re increasing their intensity every time?
Josh: The best way and the easiest way is simply to keep a training diary. Actually, I know this is something you do very well, better than most people. It’s to track what you do in a session.
So in my experience, whenever you track something, whether it be your monthly budget, whether it be the total number of calories you consume during the day or the volume of exercise you do, it improves, because it’s kept at the top of your mind and you’re constantly reminded of your goals and what you are trying to achieve.
So if you were to go to a gym and you were to do a session and you were to record all the weights, and then the next day you were to try and better that in whatever way – as I said you could go faster, you could lift a heavier weight, you could do more reps in the same amount of time – you know that if you consistently do that over the time, if you improved every day - at the start you may be able to improve every day, as time goes by it might be slower so you might improve week on week or even month on month - but, as long as you’re doing that, you know your body is having to improve with you to be able to keep up with that.
Nathan: As you say, the progression does slow down but, for people listening, doing one extra rep at a heavier weight and then going back to that previous weight will make a big difference, right?
Josh: Exactly. And sometimes it can mentally just not feel right to just lift one rep with a weight that you find very challenging and then drop back down to a weight you find more comfortable and to complete the rest of your set, but it does make a difference.
So it maybe that you lift and do that one rep every day for a week but then, the next week when you’re doing 2 reps and the week after you’re doing 3 reps, suddenly you’ll start getting stronger and eventually – it may be a month, it may be 6 months down the line – when you’re doing that heavier weight for more repetitions and the same amount of repetitions that you were doing with the lighter weight, you know your body’s progressing and you know you’re making progress towards your goals.
You’ve got to have this mindset of wanting to constantly improve and not coming and doing a session just to do what you did the previous day, because if you do what you’re already capable of, then your body has got no reason to be forced into changing; you have to have that mindset.
Nathan: Awesome. Josh, let’s just recap what we spoke about first; the top 3 reasons that people’s results drop off would be – the first one?
Josh: Falling out of a routine, so stopping doing what helped you get the success in the first place.
Nathan: Ok, and the second one please?
Josh: Not enough planning or discipline around cheat meals or reset meals.
Nathan: Ok, and the third one?
Josh: Lack of progression with training.
Nathan: Awesome. Josh, it’s been a pleasure to speak to you today. If you’ve been listening to this Podcast and you’d like to talk to Josh about joining the DVCC, book a Right Fit phone call at www.theDVCC.com/signup.
This is Nathan and Josh from the DVCC; have a great day.
