You survived Christmas!  You’re going to get right back on TRACK TODAY, right? GOOD!

I don’t care if you have spend 30 minutes watching videos on NerdFitness.TV to get pumped up, do it, and get back on track.  NO EXCUSES.  Exercise and healthy eating today – we’ve been at this for almost seven weeks – you know the drill, now get it done.

Onto today’s mission: we’re down to our last few days.

I know, I know, bittersweet…but this is when your training wheels start come off and you learn to ride.

So let’s talk about predicting the future.

I want to start with a story from the Four Hour Body, a great book on self-experimentation when it comes to getting in shape and accomplishing physical goals. In one particular chapter, we learn about Phil Libbin, who wanted to drop 28 pounds over the course of two years.

(How many of you usually set goals WAY more drastic than that?)

I know I have.

Here’s the thing. Phil didn’t want to change his diet or exercise, but wanted to experiment and see if just being aware of his weight trend would help him get closer to his goal.

So, Phil set up a chart, with dates and times, and drew a line from his current weight to his goal weight over two years, with a slight “buffer” above and below the goal line. For the next two years, Phil did nothing different (or, thought he did nothing different – he didn’t consciously change his diet and he didn’t start exercising). Sure enough, he managed to keep his weight within the buffer zone each week and reached his goal weight ahead of schedule.

How is this possible? Allow me to explain:

1) Phil lost all of this weight without exercise. Hopefully you’re thinking, “Hmmm, maybe that Steve guy is onto something when he won’t shut up about your diet being 80-90% of my success or failure.”

Now, I’m not telling you to stop exercising, as I bet Phil lost quite a bit of muscle that he already had along with the fat with that 28 pounds. Instead, I just want to show you what’s possible with “awareness” and long term thinking; imagine what Phil could have accomplished with a good strength building routine mixed in there.

2) Slow and steady wins the race. You might be disappointed that you haven’t lost 30 pounds and gotten 10x stronger with the Level Up Club. Phil set his goal weight loss of almost thirty pounds over TWO YEARS. He was content with minute, tiny changes taking place over long periods of time. I bet if Phil had radically adjusted his diet, woke up two hours earlier every day to do P90X or Insanity workouts six days a week, he would have burned out and given after two weeks – or sooner.  Or, even worse, he would have put in the 90 days, reached his goal, and then without another plan to follow, give up and revert right back to the old ways.

You’ve spent six weeks taking things slow.  Small. Steady. Slow. CONSISTENT. STRONG. DELIBERATE. This is what we’re looking for. Life changes that stick.

3) It’s a lot easier to follow the road from Point A to Point B if you have a road map to get there! Phil created his road map and just followed the signs. To use another analogy, imagine you’re a bowling ball. You’re at the starting point, and knocking over those pins at the end of the alley is your goal. Yes, you can aim for straight and narrow, but that requires more skill than if you have those awesome bumper balloons are placed in the lanes. You might bounce a bit off the left or the right, but eventually you reach your target and knock down those pins!

Build Your Road Map

We spent the past six weeks together, and I’ve done everything I can to provide you with all of the tools you need to build your roadmap.

Today, I want you to actually BUILD one.  Now, personally I think a two year road map is a bit long, but I think a six month to a year road map is perfect.

Our goal with this is to keep you driving down the road safely, not riding a rollercoaster of emotion: The freak-out excitement of “look how much weight I lost!” often leads to, “why didn’t I lose that much weight this week?” Or even worse, the “what is WRONG with me, I gained half a pound this week” depression.

Slow and steady, but with a deliberate direction. Small changes can be made when you start to veer off the course slightly. A week of extra diligent eating, maybe an extra workout, a slight decrease in calories, or an extra session of intermittent fasting, and you’re right back on track.

The Level Up Club ends on Sunday, but we’re going to checking in on you occasionally for another few weeks after that.

I hope I am still getting emails from you after the Level Up Club ends saying “hey I made more progress!”

So, what does a healthy road map look like?

Read this NF article: “How to Level Up in the Game of Life”, and think about where you want to be three to six months from now.  Maybe you want to be able to do five pull ups. Or you want to put on a bathing suit next summer that makes you excited to wear it.  Whatever it is that you’re hoping to be six months from now (your “Level 50″), you can then work your way backwards and break it down into monthly benchmarks and milestones.

If you can’t do a pull up now, and you want to be able to do one in six months, you can break down your goals:

• Month 1: Get stronger with dumbbell rows.
• Month 2: Mix in dumbbell rows with body rows
• Month 3: Add in Negative pull ups with body rows
• Month 4: Complete first pull up
• Month 5: Complete three pull ups in a row
• Month 6: Complete five pull ups in a row.