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To be 100% honest, we’ve done a lot of stupid things in our lives…most of them having nothing to do with fitness and nutrition.
But, our nutrition mistakes run deep, everything from bringing white bread and a protein shake to the gym and having it immediately-we mean timing it to the “T” after our workouts ended because we didn’t want to miss the anabolic window, all the way to waking up in the middle of the night to slam a protein shake to keep our bodies in a muscle growth environment.
We look back and laugh at some of the stuff we did, however, we have learned a lot of game changing lessons within our nutrition journey.
It took years and years of self-experimentation, hiring top fitness coaches, doing high level institute educational programs, and working with over a thousand clients the past decade.
Luckily for you, we are going to share with you “8 Keys to Setting Up Your Nutrition Program” in Parts 1 and 2 and “8 Keys to Setting Up Your Fitness Program” in Parts 3 and 4.
These keys have been some of the top secrets we teach to our DDT members and what we have learned over the past decade and through countless mistakes throughout our nutrition journey.
Here we go with part 1!
Key #1- Behavioral Habits and Systems
At the end of the day, whether its nutrition, fitness, or any other endeavor in life, habits are key to success.
We can’t tell you how many top tier individuals we’ve talked to on some of their success secrets and the trend we usually find is creating good-sound habits.
We have also found with the thousands of clients we’ve worked with, that putting systems within nutrition and fitness around their lifestyles and schedules has been one of the biggest determinants to getting results.
Let’s look at some real-world examples on creating habits and systems in your nutrition journey:
Habits- Something we teach heavily from the get go with DDT members is to develop a habit each week by going grocery shopping on the same day or having your groceries delivered to you.
You’re probably like “duh guys, who wouldn’t do this,” but to be honest with you, this simple of a habit isn’t thought of or put into action and it has enormous benefits long term in your nutrition journey and getting results.
Systems- Here’s a real-life story from one of my clients (Chris):
Chris- Hey Stacey, this week, lets put a system into place within your nutrition program?
Stacey- Hmmm, I don’t really feel I need that…I mean how does that look anyway?
Chris- Since I’m noticing a weekly trend of you not hitting your macros early on in the week, why don’t we put a system into place for you to A) start meal prepping on Sundays and B) planning out your daily meals and macros the night before?
Stacey- Wow! I never thought of that, it makes total sense, and I will start doing that, thanks Coach!
DYNAMIC Action Step to Take-
Make a list of things you struggle most in within nutrition and see how you can start building habits and systems around them
Key #2- Your WHY and PURPOSE
Have you ever heard someone say, “It’s important to know your why and purpose in life?”
We agree, its very important because it keeps you in alignment with your vision, goals, and gifts in life.
Same concept within your nutrition journey, let us explain:
When we first have a potential DDT member, come on board with us, we have them fill out a detailed questionnaire, one of the first questions on that questionnaire is:
“What is your WHY and PURPOSE for wanting to make these changes to your health and lifestyle? (if you have trouble with this, use a blank piece of paper, split it into 2 columns, one with “your why” and one with your “purpose” and do a brain dump).”
The reason its so important for you to understand this as the fitness enthusiast is to know the real WHY and PURPOSE behind your nutrition goals.
Because 9 out of 10 times, its not because you want the six pack abs, or to fit in that poke a dot bikini.
There’s a deeper reason WHY.
When you know your WHY and PURPOSE behind your nutrition journey, the following happens:
- you get crystal clear on what you need to do to get there
- when you hit plateaus or get stuck in a rut, you look back at the WHY and PURPOSE and they re-ignite the fire to keep going
- It makes the process to the end product that much more enjoyable, fun, and fulfilling
DYNAMIC Action Step to Take-
Take a blank piece of paper, make 2 columns, one for your WHY, and one for your PURPOSE, in your nutrition journey, and just do a brain dump.
Key #3- Reward System
Let’s face it, we as humans, love to be rewarded, if you don’t, you’re lying to yourself and us, and the rest of this article isn’t going to help you. Lol
Just think of a time in your career life, when your boss said to you “Hey Judy, I’ll tell you what, if you get this project done in the next 3 weeks, instead of 6 weeks that was projected, I will reward you with a 3-day trip all paid, to Cabo.”
Now, do you think Judy, is going to say “no” and take 6 weeks to complete the project?
OR
Do you think Judy will work her tail off these next 3 weeks to get that all paid for vacation to beautiful Cabo while sipping on margaritas on the beach?
We think we all know the answer here 😊
In your nutrition journey, you should implement a reward for the week, month, or end of your phase goal.
Here’s an example of what we do with our members:
Lindsey has a projected 8-week diet block and we want her to lose 10 pounds.
The end of dieting phase reward she chose was a spa day all to herself.
So, we then constantly remind her each week about that reward and spa day, so it sticks in her brain, incentivizes her, makes her stay focused, increases adherence and consistency, and thus results come.
DYNAMIC Action Step to Take-
Think of a reward (the bigger the better) for yourself during your fitness journey, whether that’s weekly, monthly, or at the end of the phase goal.
Key #4- Increase Adherence and Consistency
Now, pay very close attention here to what we do with our members with these first 4 keys.
If you’ve caught on, email us and you win a trip to Cabo on us 😉
If you look at the first 3 keys, these are all factors that play huge roles in increasing your adherence and consistency to your nutrition program.
It doesn’t matter if you have the “BEST” nutrition program or try the latest and greatest fad diet, you will fail it without adherence and consistency.
That’s exactly why we wanted to focus on the first 3 keys to open up this 4-part series.
Because we can get into all the fancy stuff in part 2, but it wouldn’t matter.
These first 4 keys are the foundation of the nutrition and fitness house you are building and without the foundation, a house falls over.
So really understand that you need the foundation of the house built for your nutrition and fitness journey to last, get results, and enjoy it.
Don’t make the same mistakes we made with building rooms and layers without the foundation.
DYNAMIC Action Step to Take-
Think of this question after re-reading the first 4 keys again, “what will it ultimately take for me to adhere and be consistent within my nutrition journey?”
===>>>Read part 2 as we get into the last 4 Keys to Setting Up Your Nutrition Program.<<<===
Our new physical paperback book “The New Era of Fitness” is finally out!
We are pretty much giving it away “FREE” and giving away a “FEW BONUSES” along with it.
Get it HERE
Thank you for reading Part 1! Please help us out by sharing it 😊