Physical strength looks different to everyone. We each have our own goals and aspirations, and our starting points also vary significantly based on many factors. Reasonable physical strength and weight loss goals require you to determine how much effort you are willing to put in, how dedicated you are to getting the results you want, and what your plan is for maintaining your results once you achieve them.
I started the Dad Bod Done. journey not to change my physical appearance into a dad hulk or a beach hunk. The end result may not look like that at some point, but I set out to achieve a realistic goal of what I could accomplish in the short term. I like to focus on smaller and more easily obtainable short-term goals. Long-term goals seem more like dreams. With long-term goals, carving a path forward from start to finish is tough. It creates a vision of what I want but doesn’t lay out every step of the way to get there. However, short-term goals cut a path forward, shorten expectations, maximize progress, and help you mentally feel accomplished when you achieve them. If you stumble in your progress, it is easier to step forward to get back on track.
Conquering physical strength and weight loss goals is much easier if you have created a spiritual foundation in your life, as well as taking control of your mind and your thought process. A spiritual foundation is a daily walk connecting yourself to your creator. This walk can be as simple as having a moment of self-reflection and prayer at the beginning of your day. This mindset is an integral part of my life and a key requirement for success. Suppose I do not have peace within myself by acknowledging that God ultimately controls my life. In that case, I will have created unnecessary distractions and roadblocks that will hamper my physical transformation progress.
If you are starting with zero interest in God, zero experience, or are trying to shake off previous damage caused in your life tied to “religion,” understand that what I am calling a spiritual journey is a personal relationship between yourself and God the creator. No one else, no man-made rules to follow, no expectations, just you and your creator having a conversation and working through your struggles one-on-one with him. Once you feel comfortable expanding this foundation, seek him further through his word, the Bible. I would recommend downloading the Bible app. Every day there will be a verse of the day, which is usually just one sentence. Read the verse and let it soak into your mind. It isn’t overwhelming or time-consuming, so there are zero excuses to bypass this step.
There is also a short, guided scripture video if you want to learn more about the verse. If you are not interested, just stick to reading the verse. Do this daily. Don’t miss a day. Don’t make excuses to wiggle out of the habit. You can even set a reminder on your phone as well. There is also a streak counter that will keep track of your daily habits and remind you of your consistency. This habit is the first step towards your physical transformation. Developing a consistent habit of just a couple minutes a day will help transform your mind to a place where you can tackle more significant issues plaguing your life. Building a positive, consistent habit will train you to be intentional about what you do and how frequently you do it.
After your spiritual foundation is set, next it is time to tackle your mental foundation. You will know when you are ready to integrate the mental foundation on top of the spiritual foundation after consistently demonstrating that you can follow this concept daily without making excuses or trying to find a reason not to do it. I will not give you a number of days, weeks, months, or years. That is for you to figure out. When I tell you that you will know when you are ready to proceed, it will be abundantly clear.
A mental transformation looks 100% different for everyone. There isn’t a specific checklist that I can give you of what you need to clean out in your life. We all have things that we know that we could do better or improve. Habits that we should break and habits that we should start. Start with a list of ten things you know you need to improve and change. List the items from 1 to 10, with 1 being the most significant priority that you want to focus on. Write a short description of what you currently do that is wrong and what you need to change to make it right. The first step towards creating a change is identifying the underlying issue. Taking charge of the problem and not trying to fix symptoms will help you stay focused and see greater results.
Reflect on your list every day after your daily prayer and Bible verse reading. At some point, you will have either tackled the issue because of your consistent work, or you may be required to re-arrange your list based on the importance or priority change in objectives. Once you have changed and transformed one of your objectives on your list to a satisfactory and manageable condition (not perfect), remove it from your list and replace the objective with something that you are already doing right and have a good handle on. Now, take the good things in your life and analyze how you can take them to the next level and make them exceptional. You have now replaced a negative with a positive in your life. Now, along with continuing to tackle negatives that you still get stuck on, you have a positive action that you can use to magnify your self-perseverance.
When you do this, you clear your mind of struggles and validate that you do some things in your life exceptionally well. The hardest part to this process is going to be working through your top ten list until you can start removing one item from your list and replacing it with a positive. This point is where your mental transformation will take place. You will see progress in your struggles and boost your confidence by improving your accomplishments and taking them to the next level. As you continue to fight the struggles in your life, continue to follow your daily spiritual journey. Lean on this when times get tough and when you want to give up.
After replacing fixes on your list with accomplishments, you can start the physical transformation process. Along the way, you have developed skills to help you internally manage your struggles, prioritize changes that need to be made in life, praise yourself for your accomplishments, and give yourself purpose by being on a spiritual journey. You will need all these tools to accomplish what lies ahead for your physical journey. Your mindset drives your physical journey. If you do not have the right mindset, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Trust me when I say this. I have tried things the other way, just by jumping into the physical journey. It didn’t last for me, and it doesn’t last for many people. You have to be mentally strong before you can be physically strong. Mentally strong is going to turn excuses into solutions. Being mentally strong will praise your progress, not self-sabotage when you struggle. It will keep you steadily focused on your short-term goals, not obsessed with only seeing the completion of a long-term goal. Mentally strong is the tool you will need to make it to the gym when you are tired. It is the tool you will need when you have to make wise food choices when you are starving and low on time and energy.
Once you start your physical transformation, you will need to begin with short-term obtainable goals. For your physical activity you will have to know your limits and what you are capable of doing. Quantify your goals. For example, I will walk 15 minutes daily until I hit my weight loss goal of 5 pounds. Another example could be I will meal prep to ensure that my food is ready when I need it, portioned so that I don’t overeat, and managed so that I don’t exceed my calorie and macro goals. You need to have one cardio goal, one weight training goal, and one meal goal to get started. Your goals need to be realistic, achievable and measurable, or they turn from goals to dreams. Dreams do not get rid of the dad bod; goals and the implementation of those goals are what transform us.
You cannot outwork bad habits and lies. After you lie to yourself enough, you will eventually give up and abandon the entire process. If you are not ready for the physical transformation, go back and ensure that your two foundations are set. Your failure will almost always come from a breakdown of one of the two foundations. If you need help with your spiritual foundation, reach out, and I will be more than happy to help you as best I can. If you feel that your mental foundation is struggling, sometimes it is necessary to get some help from a professional who specializes in counseling or therapy. Ultimately, you will have to make that decision. You will have to put in the work, and you will have to make the changes in your life to get you ready for the physical transformation.
This entire process is a life journey, not locked in a time frame. You will get the results that you put in. If you are consistent and deliver completed goals to yourself, you will see progress. You will solidify your foundations and see the physical change that comes with it. Cutting corners will not create sustainable goals that you can grow from. Muscles do not develop overnight because you lift heavy weights one day and take a week off. The continual process done over and over and over again will produce results. The results will take time, and the process will not move as fast as you want it to in the beginning. One thing that I can tell you is that time moves fast. Consistently meeting your goals will make noticeable physical changes faster than you think. Show up for yourself daily, and you will shed the dad bod. I know that you got this!