Lost Bodybuilding Progress
Yea, its been another rough time period. I’m working 40 hours a week while in my last semester of college, and the end of a 3 year relationship… Life is busy, and it can suck really bad at times. My weight gain has suffered, but it didn’t have to. It’s easy to get into the mode of hitting the gym less often and skipping out on meals when you dont feel like you have time.
DON’T MAKE THAT MISTAKE!
No matter how busy your life is feeling, never forget the amount of stress you will be able to relieve at the gym. You need to let your trips to the gym be your release, your time away from stress; dont treat it as another speed bump in your day. Going to the gym should enhance your life, not get in the way of it.
Your diet is just as important. A shift into a busier lifestyle requires a shift in eating habits. My days got incredibly busy these past 3 months, so much that I was working through lunch breaks, skipping breakfast, etc. I’d tell myself, Oh, I’ll just have a really big dinner… but you know what, us hard gainers will NEVER be able to eat a big enough dinner in order to make up for all the calories we missed during the day, our stomachs simply cant handle that much food.
Again, this shift in lifestyle requires a subsequent shift in eating habits. You have less time, you need to plan ahead. It might be as simple as grabbing a pack of ramen noodles and eating them dry during lunch, or making a simple PBJ at home to take with you before leaving for the day… I mean hey, at least bring something mildly substantial! remember, when you are hungry, you are losing weight, and that’s a BAD thing… and that 300 calorie sandwich you brought with you to eat at work is going to be 300 less calories you need to make up later that night.
Point being, learn from my mistakes. Don’t let a change in lifestyle get in the way of your progress… Don’t let it even put your progress on hold… Because it will inevitably happen over and over again and keep you from ever achieving your goals.
Become more adaptive and learn to plan your meals in advance… Even if it means planning to stop at burger king on your drive somewhere to pick up a buck double.
My picture at the beginning of this entry demonstrates how important it is to adapt quickly to your changing lifestyle. I seem to learn all of these lessons the hard way, hopefully you will read this and be better able to recognize changes in your life that can indirectly effect you making progress and reaching your goals. I’ve been back in the gym and kicked my diet back into gear for about 1 week now. I’m definitely ready to reverse this lack of progress I’ve had recently.
