Burning Calories

Now for that second part.

I cannot express to you how much more impactful your nutrition will be on your weight loss compared to any level of working out you hope to do.

Especially if you are not a former athletes or gym goer. 

You cannot outwork a bad diet. Simple as that. 

But, working out can assist and accelerate your progress. 

1) The more muscle you have the more calories you burn at rest. Burn calories while laying down. Not a bad deal. Get jacked! 

2) Workouts are an opportunity to expend energy at a higher rate than you normally would during your day. Burning 300 extra calories from your workout is pretty great. And if you do that consistently each week, that adds up quick. 3 workouts a week means adding 900 calories to your weekly deficit. That is some weight lost if you keep your nutrition moving the right direction. 

3) More important than your body weight is what your body can do. You may have a specific body weight in mind but my goal for you is for you to get to the place where you can be proud of what your body is capable of. And working out is a great gateway into that exploration. Learning to move your body through full ranges of motion sets you up to do many many other things, inside and way outside of the gym space. But it’s also awesome realizing you can pick up 200#s or actually run a mile faster than you thought. The journey is unique to you but you have to be intentional about celebrating what you realize you can do each time. 

What can you do? 

Well, I am a pretty big proponent of finding a group workout so that you are not trying to do this alone. We are not lone wolves. We are not meant to be lone wolves. And actual lone wolves are not at all what we are striving for.

The idea that you are supposed to be able to use self discipline to workout on your own is ridiculous. You are a grown up with a lot of adult responsibilities and, don’t know if you know this or not, NOT a personal trainer or coach. So why are you supposed to know what to do and then motivate yourself to do it over and over again? That’s crazy. 

Come join Black Wolf CrossFit, obviously. You can grab a Free Week here and stop by even if you aren’t going to join. We just like coaching people. 

But if that’s not a possibility, look at what’s around you. CrossFit gyms offer instructor led group workouts and generally have some pretty awesome, down to earth people as members who have all been on their own fitness and wellness journey. 

There are non-CrossFit functional fitness gyms all over. There are pilates studios and yoga studios and spin studios. The right way for you to workout is to do something you will do consistently. That matters far more than you having the perfect plan. And please pick something you can find some joy in doing and not just the most extreme program you can find. If you cannot enjoy any part of the journey, you will not succeed. 

On your own, walking daily or running are fun solo activities that can have a big impact. You still need to find a way to do some level of strength training, but running and walking are great ways to accelerate your daily step count which means burning more calories each day. 

Getting on the treadmill and doom scrolling is another great way to move. You can offset ruining your brain by adding another 1,000 steps to your day.