12 Week Plan-To-Action Program Helpline

Answers. Tips. Strategies.

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It’s time to make things happen people! Something is better than nothing has been live for just over a month 🥳 & we have covered a lot of information. I am so glad you are here and hope you have enjoyed it so far. I created this newsletter to give you the tools to create a plan on your terms. And now it’s time to bring your plan to life.

This article will serve as your helpline through the next 12 weeks — return to this post and ask questions, talk about challenges, cheer each other on in the comments! Come back at any time over the course of the program. I will monitor the comments and respond for all of you to see. We learn from every question: ask away!

I will walk through the creation of my own plan using all the tools in the newsletter — I am doing the program with you! You have the tools; now let’s use them to make a plan:

Before you begin, make sure you have read through BOTH the Essential Education of Nutrition and Essential Education of Strength Training. These articles break down the fundamental knowledge behind ANY plan — do not skip ok?

CREATE YOUR PLAN

1. Choose Your Overall Goal:

ARTICLE: Basics of Body Composition

It all starts with your goal. What do you want out of your plan? If you don’t know where you’re going — there’s no way to build a plan. You don’t need to know the specifics, we’ll get to that. Decide what change you want.

MY PLAN: Lose fat via a negative energy balance.

2. Set Realistic Expectations:

When it comes to body composition, it’s important to get clear on something: it’s going to take longer than you want. If you think that 12 weeks is a long time to get results, you’re right. It takes a long time to get results. Programs or “coaches” who tell you they can get you where you want to go in 4 weeks are lying. These changes take time — because we are doing it sustainably. We increase our chances of success by giving ourselves space to be flexible, not perfect. We are not hyper-restricting. There are no off-limit foods.

If you are looking to lose weight, a realistic goal is to lose 0.5-2 pounds a week. This ensures that you are losing slowly enough to preserve muscle and aren’t starving yourself in the process. Slower is better.

If you are looking to gain weight, a realistic goal is to gain 1-2 pounds a week. This ensures that you are gaining in a controlled manner: if you gain rapidly, chances are it’s mostly fat and not muscle.

3. Establish Your Daily Calories

ARTICLE: Determining Your Daily Calories

With your goal in mind, create your overall daily calorie goal.

I currently weight 191 — and my goal is to lose fat (calorie deficit).

191 x 12 = 2292 daily calories » round up to 2300 for ease of use.

MY PLAN FOR DAILY CALORIES: 2300

4. Create Workout Schedule with Cardio

ARTICLE: Programming Cardio to Support Strength Development

The best plan is the plan you can stick to consistently. Take an honest look at your schedule for the next couple weeks. If you are juggling a lot, committing to six days a week of strength and cardio sessions probably isn’t the best option.

More is not better. Consistent is better.

Use the schedule at the bottom of the article linked above as a guide.

MY PLAN: 5 days per week (3 total body strength sessions, 2 cardio sessions)

Active recovery days include leisurely walks, stretching, sauna/massages.

5. Build Your Workouts