Intro

If you’ve followed any mainstream health advice in the past, you’re probably pretty confused about where to start this whole thing. Dr. OZ and other mainstream influencers on social media and TV need content so they’re always talking about the “next hot thing.” This series of posts is not that. This is the foundation that you build on to lose weight, put on muscle mass, or help with other chronic health conditions.

There are a couple of things that need to said before we get into the meat of things:

I’m not a doctor. You should listen to your trusted doctor and make sure you’re cleared to start any new diet or fitness regime. Every diet and fitness routine comes with inherent risks… but so does sitting on the couch eating fast food for decades. (full disclaimer)

Second, you need to do what you are capable of. You don’t have to do everything at once… you probably shouldn’t anyway. We’re trying to build lifelong habits that are going to stick with you for the rest of your life. The only finish line, when it comes to your health, is how far you can push off the finish line.

If you’ve had some particularly bad habit’s over the years, it’s going to take you longer than if you’re young and have generally been “healthy” most of your life. That’s ok. Your internal health will turn around much faster than your outward appearance (but that will change faster than you think too).

Everyone can start feeling better very quickly. You’ll even start losing quite a bit of weight if you’re diligent but there will be sticking points and there will be setbacks. Just stay the course. Build the habits and do the things that will build on each other day in and day out. Before you know it, you’ll be looking and feeling great and it doesn’t have to be all-encompassing. Red Pill Fit has Four Pills of Health (hehe). They are borrowed from (soon to be “good friend”) Robb Wolf which he wrote about in his amazing book Wired To Eat.

Four Pills of Health:

• Diet
• Movement
• Lifestyle
• Community

I’m going to get into the specifics with the first three in follow-up posts but I want to touch on Community really quickly.

Community is as simple as a good church, family, group of friends, hobby group, or even close co-workers that see outside of work a few days a week. The one thing that should be stressed, is that they shouldn’t make you stress. Whoever you decide to spend time with, make sure they are a positive influence on your life and make you laugh, smile, and encourage you. The next step? Pick the first area you think you can tackle. Take some time to let the habits set in then, move on to the next one. You could also take bits and pieces from each one and apply them as you feel you can.

“How do I know what to do first?”

That depends on how much of a challenge you want or where you’re weakest. If you have no issues falling asleep at night, Lifestyle might not be helpful. If you have a hard time controlling yourself around food, then Diet might be too much to handle. Just give yourself an honest evaluation. Where are you most motivated to do better? What can you realistically do? The great thing about them is that you don’t need to improve all at once (though it can help). Once one starts getting better, you’ll find the other start getting easier.

For instance, you’re doing really well on your diet and you’ve lost 15 lbs. But, you hit a snag. You can decide to stay calm, keep going, and start focusing on something else. You start getting better sleep and keep your diet the same and before you know it, you’ve lost another 5 lbs because you’re getting better sleep.

It’s pretty great seeing what happens when all the pieces start falling into place. You’ll start looking forward to moving each day, you’ll stop craving bad food, you’ll feel more rested and have better focus during the day, and generally, just feel better. If you could put “fitness” into a pill, it would be the highest-selling drug of all time!