The Program

"The program, by following which step-by-step, you can change your lifestyle. Strictly adhere to the points and never forget why you are doing it.

So, the program is as follows..."

I wrote these lines exactly 23 days ago at the end of the post entitled  Are you alone...? , which I intended as an introduction to this entry. If you think you're going to get the ultimate diet and workout plan in this post, I have to disappoint you because it's absolutely not about that. The success of a lifestyle change program doesn't depend on whether you eat eggs for breakfast or fish for lunch, nor on whether you can run 4 km three times a week. These opportunities are available every day of the year. You know what to do and how to live to lose the excess weight, and what not to eat so you don't look like a cautionary tale. This program is about preparing for a diet, bridging the gaps during the diet, and overcoming constantly emerging obstacles. In short, it's about the mental preparation without which you will surely fail in your big resolution. Everything depends on this, not just sticking to your diet and doing your workouts. Your performance in different areas of life also only depends on how you mentally approach life and what results you can achieve with how much energy investment…

 

The Tomorrow Problem

"I'll start my diet tomorrow." These are the two words most often uttered by women, of course, after they've called other women whores. These two words are the biggest dead end, because too many tomorrows come one after another, and what there's too much of becomes worthless. Someone who constantly goes on dates wears themselves and their feelings out, and they won't take any guy/girl seriously because they know there's always tomorrow and another one will come. This way, meaningful things cannot be started or achieved because things lose their true significance. If every damn afternoon you're saying, with pizza in your face, that "it doesn't matter now, I'll start tomorrow," then you'll never, ever start, and that's one of the biggest problems here. Dieting is like smoking. Either you quit, or you don't. There's no "today I'll only smoke 5 cigarettes" or "this is the last pack, I won't buy any more." I smoked, I know what I'm talking about. Either you light up or you don't; if you do, you smoke; if not, you've quit. It's that damn simple, and everything else is just self-deception and being chained to an 8-centimeter paper stick. Or take relationships and cheating. Either you're with the other person and you're faithful, or you cheat and there's nothing to talk about because there's no in-between state. Is a kiss okay (chocolate)? Or a blowjob because that's not cheating (lasagne)? Maybe 1-2 times a month sex is okay (desserts)? No, it's not okay, or is it the same as with dieting, that "I was faithful for 3 weeks, so now a sinful indulgence is okay"? Then why would they be okay in a diet? Either you do something and take it seriously, no matter what it is in life, or you do it half-heartedly or a quarter-heartedly without any results or a spark of progress, stuck at a miserably pathetic level from which you'll never move forward because "tomorrow" or "this is still okay for now"... It's absolutely not okay.

13 Points

1. Retreat from the world for a bit, take a deep breath, and instead of crying in front of the mirror, reflect on your life. Sit in a park, sit in a cafe, go for a walk, and do all of this ALONE. Think about where you are now, what you've achieved so far, and what else you want to accomplish in life. If you still have enough fire within you, then pull yourself together, look yourself over, and ask yourself how and because of whom you got to the point where you have to look like this. If that fire no longer burns within you, then it doesn't matter anyway, but then I ask you to quietly step aside and make way for those who still want to make something of themselves in life. Self-reflection and setting goals are therefore the first step.

2. I understand, and even know the feeling you get when you realize what the reality is, and that great desire to change turns into a great, furious determination, which is the last thing you need at such a moment. Someone who is angry cannot think clearly and rationally. You're angry at yourself, at the world, and what happens then... You pack your things, go to the gym, and with immense determination, you want to get rid of the stagnant state that has accumulated on you over several years with a single workout. The result is usually a workout that breaks you, and you're wiped out for days, if you even escaped injury. But the worst part is that you think you've done something for yourself with this, and this workout helped. You've done nothing and it helped even less, I'm just telling you, because running 8 km at once when you can only do 3, or trying to bench press 90 kg at the gym when 60 is a struggle, is anything but a useful workout. Just because you get tired and feel incredibly pushed doesn't mean your body cares. You run 4-5 km once and feel like a king? First, your body will reject it because you won't change from a single heavy load, but by gradually developing over a long process. This requires patience, so calm down, because this will be a process spanning months, the first step of which will be reading through this program.

3. The beginning that most of you mess up. This annoys me the most because this is where the tomorrow problem comes in, when you blurt out to the world that you're starting tomorrow… What? What are you starting tomorrow? Are you starting to write the handbook for idiots, or what did you have in mind? I get this "I'll start tomorrow" and the "I'm dieting today" speeches decided in the morning. Today, damn it… you understand, I'M DIETING TODAY. Let's say it's 7 PM, you've had your usual daily slop meals. Almost nothing for breakfast because you're dieting today, dessert with lunch, something trashy from Fornetti on the way home in the afternoon, and after dinner comes the usual 2,749th "I'll start tomorrow" resolution. What kind of diet are you starting, and if you do start it, what do you have in your fridge for it? What will you have for breakfast? What will you eat during the day and where? I'd really like to know, what do you think in these moments? The same goes for workouts. You go for a run, but how much, and what's the goal? Working out in the gym without even knowing what each machine is for, but seriously, what the hell do you want to start tomorrow?

Make the decision, and once you have, prepare for your program. Choose a workout plan and a diet that suits your body type and that you can actually follow through with. Prepare and attune yourself to it on every level. After the day of your decision, set a date to start, but this date should definitely not be within 1 week. 10 days is perfect for tuning in. During these 10 days, you'll prepare, and this will be your foundation upon which the weeks and months will later be built. You'll prepare for hunger, the difficulties of workouts, the hindering embraces of friends, parents, grandparents, and loved ones, not to mention the traps laid by your colleagues, envious people, and ill-wishers.

4. So, we are within 10 days, meaning we haven't started the program yet, but we are already in the antechamber. Prepare and count down the days as if you were going away for a longer period because that's what this is really about. You are traveling for 10 weeks, where you will be homesick, and the beginning will be damn hard because everything is unfamiliar and new. You will break out of your usual routine, leave your environment, and have to live in a completely different rhythm for 10 weeks from now on. You cannot eat at your usual places, and you cannot eat what you used to. No happiness chocolates, no getting drunk at parties, no gorging at celebrations. In the 10 days preceding the program, you can still eat your junk (I hope it chokes you), but try to pay attention to yourself here and test a little what the period full of renunciations will be like. These 10 days will be the period of gathering strength, when you go into the mountain with momentum. The greater the momentum and determination, the higher you will get with the push-off, but after that, you will still have to suffer like hell to reach the peak.

5. 5 days until the start. By now, you should know what you want to do. By now, you should have your workout plan and diet for 8-10 weeks ahead, which, of course, requires some special preparations...

6. 3 days before starting. Buy your gym membership. Check what running shoes you have; if needed, buy a cool new pair, you shouldn't skimp on this. Get everything you'll need for your workouts. Comfortable workout clothes for running and for the gym, and if you can't run without music, check if your MP3 player still works and if your headphones aren't short-circuited. Look around your area to see where you'll run, and plan which days you'll go to the gym. You'll need to reschedule your daily routine to have time for everything, as you'll be living a new lifestyle that you need to plan. There are cool apps for measuring distance, but if you don't have a smartphone and can't run on a measured track, measure the distance by car, motorbike, rope, or however you can. Creativity, kids, not everything will be handed to you; if you don't know something, Wikipedia, Google, or YouTube will be your map. You're still not dieting, but you should already cut back on food. Rice instead of potatoes, a muesli bar instead of chocolate, and it's high time to say a tearful goodbye to sugary drinks. Say goodbye to sugars and alcohol for 2 months, and try to skip evening meals; don't order pizza anymore. We're damn close to the start, feel the importance of starting, because the better prepared you are, the greater the failure will feel if you give up, which means that anyone with an ounce of character won't give up for this reason alone.

7. The last day. Officially, the program only begins tomorrow, but in reality, it starts this afternoon. You need to buy groceries for your diet now because you can't start anything without having everything ready. The program simply cannot fail because you didn't have eggs at home or milk for your shake. Get your protein, vitamins, and everything else you need for the diet. Cut the chicken into 10-15 dekagram slices, have enough water at home, and generally have everything you need to survive the terrible first 8-14 days. The hard part is coming now. The preparation is over; tomorrow will be the first day of your program, the first day of the rest of your life. Don't waste any more and promise not to mess it up. I got a bit nostalgic and looked back at how I experienced the last day back then.

8. 40,000 HUF is how much this program costs you so far. It's a whole different story, isn't it? Being prepared and investing time, money, and energy, which means a somewhat more serious attitude than the "I'll start tomorrow" messing around that cost nothing. And we know that what's free is worth as much. Be prepared that the first 8-12 days will be the most brutal phase of the program. If you fail, you'll fail here. The detoxification processes due to the diet start here, and as your body digests the fat pads on you, the toxins stored in the fat are released. Colorings, additives, preservatives, in other words, all those substances that your body couldn't handle, so it pushed them into your body's stores. These are now being released, which can cause headaches for several days, lethargy, malaise, bad sex. It will be damn hard, and if the shock of the diet wasn't enough, you'd still have to exercise besides it. So when I say prepare for all this, I mean these days, among other things.

9. Register a blog, start a diary, create a Tumblr page where you upload pictures of yourself, write everything on Twitter about where you are, what you're doing. The point is to share your transformation with other people so that if you fail, you'll fall on your face in front of them and they'll see what a zero you are. Exclude your family and everyone you know from the process. They should only see the change and not harass you with their idiotic questions like "where are you now?" and "how are you coping?". These constantly drain your energy, and you must not let that happen. This is your program; no one else can be a part of it, and no one can stand in your way. Ignore your colleague's bitchiness; be reassured by the thought that her husband has probably been screwing another girl for a while. Think about things like that and move forward. Head towards your set goal and don't care about anything.

10. You will encounter many obstacles, be prepared for this. There will be times when you have to run in the rain, and times when your legs feel like they're encased in concrete, you just don't want to start working out. Muscle soreness won't be pleasant either, but you have to keep going and ignore everyone. If you do these things and overcome the obstacles that now seem insurmountable, you will become stronger, and this whole damn world will open up before you. After the 15th day, you will also notice the beneficial effects of the diet. Better well-being, increased sexual appetite, and a more qualitative experience of your changed life. The first confirmations will arrive, the "are you dieting?" questions, and you'll fit into clothes that you've outgrown for years. The more you suffer, the more cathartic the feeling of rebirth will be, because that's what this is about, rebirth. You are dying now, it would be a shame to deny it; your body and therefore your self-esteem and self-confidence are also dying.

11. 30 days later, you're consistently sticking to your diet and your goals are starting to change. Your initial goals were born in the desperate world of someone at rock bottom, goals that you now need to rethink and revise because what you once thought was unattainable will now feel ridiculously small. You'll start to actively approach life again. You'll change, you'll develop, and not just your body, but you'll also become stronger mentally. Look at this blog. When I started writing, I wanted to document 64 days and lose 12 kilos. By the time I finished, I was a new person, with goals orders of magnitude greater, and I met such valuable people through the blog whom I would never have met if I hadn't written Lifetilt.

12. After 40 days, the slowdown and phase of contentment arrive. This is the second point where quite a few people give up on the program, and the worst part is that you don't even perceive it as a failure because you've lost weight, you lasted 40 days, and you're satisfied, even though this is just as much of a capitulation as if you had given up on the 4th day. It only counts if you reach the finish line, and no one gives a damn when you gave up before that, because you gave up, ergo you failed.

 

13. It's over. The results you achieve will be shown by the quality of your diet, the effectiveness of your workout plan, and the intensity of your approach to the program. There can be incredible differences between results. If we take a given diet and workout plan, some will get the maximum out of it and lose 17 kilos, while others will only lose 4, and this is not a matter of body type but of attitude and the amount of energy invested. It's not enough to just complete a program. It's not completing it if you sometimes eat what you should and sometimes go for a run, and then 70 days just pass and you don't understand why you haven't lost anything. The program is a journey, for which you have to travel and you can't come home for 70 days, this is what you should finally understand.

Two months, kids, two damn months of your lives, which can change and rewrite everything around you. This is not just about weight loss, this is something completely different, much more than that. A lifestyle changing program that molds you into a human being because of the sacrifices, overcoming obstacles, and your perseverance. You will become a capital-H HUMAN because life will appreciate the enormous energy investment. Two months is all it takes to change from your years of struggling. This is the only thing whose success does not depend on others, but solely on you. You achieve as much as you yourself are. If you achieve nothing, then you are simply nobody, because you know…

“Every single person handles the distance the same way they would react to situations and circumstances in any other area of life. With the tools and paths they would take in life due to their character or qualities.”

And this, just because it's a damn good picture...