What you do every day matters more than what you do every once in a while

I love this quote from Mike Matthews (muscleforlife.com), which he said on his recent podcast episode, 5 Keys to Success That Show You How to Win.

As a number cruncher of health and fitness, this makes a lot of sense if you just do the math.

Take the dude who gets gung-ho about working out during New Years and goes to the gym 4 times a week, putting in 15 sets per session, but loses motivation, quits after week 2 and sits on the couch the rest of the year. He completed 120 sets in a year, but really needed more like 1,200 sets to get results. Oh well, he had a good 2-week run.

Or the overweight gal who is always in a slight calorie surplus, maybe only 100 calories per day, which is barely noticeable. She wants to lose 10 pounds, so she goes on some kiwi juice or zero-carb or other unsustainable diet. Let’s say she was in a 1,000 calorie deficit each day and including water and muscle, did in fact lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks.

But then, she goes back to her normal eating routine. Her yearly calorie surplus is 21,000 (a 14,000 calorie deficit for those 2 weeks offset by 35,000 (100 calorie surplus daily x 50 weeks) which is good for a modest fat gain of 6 pounds by the end of the year. Extrapolate this over a decade and it’s easy to see why people get fat as they get older.

Daily habits, not valiant spurts of effort, are what matter most in life.

The person going to the gym 3x per week 50 weeks per year will actually make progress and see results after a few years. The person who never slips into a calorie surplus because they are tracking their food daily, will achieve their ideal weight and maintain it over the years.

Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Take a week off from the gym every couple of months. Enjoy some treats once in a while (it is Halloween, after all). You don’t have to be perfect 100% of the time to be healthy and fit. But you do need to be better than average most of the time.

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