I skipped the gym this morning.
My alarm went off and there was no way I was getting up.
I barely slept last night.
It could have had something to do with the Sixers game being on too late and then my adrenaline pumping through the roof after Embiid hit a game winning 3 in overtime.
Regardless … I could not shut down.
One of those nights where you try to guess how late it is and then start counting the hours .. “Ok, if it’s 1 am right now, I can still get 4 hours of sleep, which isn’t that bad.”
All … night … long.
Then, the alarm hits and all you can think is …
Fuck.
So yeah … no gym for me.
In the old days, I never would have skipped the gym.
Several years ago this exact situation would get me all bent out of shape.
Skipping the gym was never going to happen.
Didn’t matter if I got 2 hours of sleep … I was going.
Young and naive Mike was funny.
Thought he was doing everything right.
“No days off, bro!”
Fortunately, he got a little bit wiser.
Not much. But a little.
One extra rest day can be the exact thing your body needs to progress.
One day of imperfect macros can be just what the doctor ordered.
The situations that we interpret as “failures” can actually be quite helpful.
It’s not skipping the gym or over eating that’s often the issue …
It’s your interpretation of those events that causes problems.
Consider this …
In order to achieve any kind of result, we have to understand stress balance.
Your metabolism is NOT a calorie calculator.
It’s a stress barometer.
Meaning … if I went to the gym on no sleep … I’d be adding stress on top of stress and would be setting myself up for frustration.
Similarly, if you continue to hammer a dramatic calorie deficit and then eat a little more freely one day but you get all butt hurt about it … that’s more stress too.
Your body doesn’t discriminate stress sources.
Training is a stressor.
Eating too little is a stressor.
And yes, your emotional reaction to skipping the gym, missing the mark on your macros, or seeing the scale up a couple pounds is also a stressor.
When the stress equation is out of balance, your metabolism adapts accordingly.
The result … a plateau. Zero progress. Feeling stuck.
And then you typically respond by trying harder or pushing for “more.”
More stress.
That’s like trying to run a race with a rope tied around your legs.
And you just keep tightening the knot.
The solution is often the opposite of what you’ve been doing.
Whenever you’re feeling stuck and like you’re trying so hard without much to show for it …
Sometimes you gotta do less.
Remove some stress from your life.
Some stress is never going away and that’s perfectly normal.
But, there’s a lot within your control.
Reduce your stressors, get better results.
It’s ok to prioritize sleep instead of getting in a 4th or 5th or 6th day at the gym.
It’s ok to take an untracked day or to simply listen to your body when it wants more food.
It’s ok to stop stepping on the scale if it’s making you crazy (in this scenario we’d likely want to improve your relationship with the scale but that’s a different topic for another day).
My point is that you can’t succeed when the stress equation is out of whack.
Which is exactly why all of our clients begin with a Metabolic Priming phase.
We’re not going to push additional stress on someone knowing their body won’t respond to fat loss.
So, we assess the low hanging fruit when it comes to balancing that stress equation and putting the odds in their favor.
And, we can immediately tell when their body has received that “safety” signal and will effectively drop body fat in a predictable way.
Often times, our clients don’t like to hear that they have to go through a Metabolic Priming phase first.
They want results immediately.
Which is fine.
You can either learn the hard way yet again. Or, learn from past experiences.
If beating your body into submission was going to work …
It probably would’ve worked by now.
And, if you’re still not where you want to be …
We can safely assume it didn’t work.
Metabolic priming and 1:1 nutrition coaching
So, you can try again … slash calories, do more cardio, push harder …
And see if anything changes this time.
Or, you can learn from the past and do things the right way.
The funny thing about Metabolic Priming is that most people assume it’s a “delay” period before seeing results.
Which it’s not.
Most of our clients see body composition improvements, more energy, better performance in the gym, better sleep, improved mood, increased sex drive, and less hunger and cravings.
It’s almost like your body enjoys feeling safe.
This is just 1 phase of our 3 phases that help our clients lose 20-30 lbs. on average with the skills and mindset to never gain it back.
We also implement our Neurotyping principles to help them with the easiest path to their fat loss goals and our Lifestyle Integration phase ensures that their results last forever.
It typically takes between 6-12 months to feel totally self sufficient in your ability to maintain your results for life.
For those who feel skeptical or unsure about 1 on 1 coaching … we offer 2 guarantees …
1. A satisfaction guarantee. If you tell us we suck … we give you a full refund.
2. A results guarantee. If you don’t achieve your goals … we give you a full refund.
We do this because myself and all of my coaches have been burned by poor coaching in the past.
And we feel strongly about earning your trust and allowing you to know that if the experience isn’t what you expect … it literally costs you nothing.
