Repetition is key.

Let’s say you a have a big gut.

But you want a six pack. So, you go online and look for an exercise that will help you.

There, you find that you will need to lower your overall body fat for the abs to show. You are intimidated by the prospect of going on a diet.

You tell this to one of you friends. He tries to cheer you on. He promises to join the gym with you.

You are sick and tired of having a big gut so you decide to start your journey towards having abs.

You join a gym and work your abs until they are sore. Your friend on the other hand doesn’t over work his abs like you do.

The next day you are surprised to see that your abs are still sore and you can’t work them anymore. Your gym coach tells you to give them a week of rest. That week, your friend went to the gym without you. After some rest, your abs start working again. The next day, you join your friend in the gym.

You ask your friend if he had similar troubles. He tells you that he didn’t. Rather he kept working his muscles throughout the week when you were absent. He also tells you that he can now do more reps than he could a week before.

You are tempted to over work your muscles again. But you’ve learnt your lesson.

You start giving some love to all your muscle groups- biceps, neck and shoulder, pecks, legs etc. You don’t over work a muscle anymore. You are more concerned with putting in more reps. You now realize that, you won’t see results after one day of hardcore training. Rather you will see results after you’ve put in regular work, day after day after day.

Here’s what James Clear has to say about it,

Everyone wants to make progress. And there is only one way to do it: put in your reps.

He does a great job at explaining this idea. He cites multiple studies that prove this effect. I highly recommend you read his post. You can find it here- https://jamesclear.com/repetitions

How I lost 24 pounds in 60 days (Keto Diet)

22nd March of 2018 was my 23rd birthday. I weighed 180 pounds and was slightly overweight in the BMI scale. I looked fat too. Despite all that, I didn’t care. Then I got rejected by someone very special. Heartbroken as I was, I decided to better myself. That included my physical condition. I became interested in Ketogenic Diet. The whole concept sounded fascinating to me. I didn’t like rice and bread anyways. So I was happy to ditch carbohydrate altogether and live off of protein and fat.

For those who don’t know what ketogenic diet is, it’s where you keep your daily carbohydrate intake to a minimum (less than 20g). This induces body to seek alternative fuel and thus burns the fats stored in your body. Hence, the weight loss…

I started to eat fish, chicken, eggs, butter, mayo for protein and fat. With them I often ate Kale and Cauliflowers. The breakfasts were really boring. The hardest part was to find proper food in my University cafeteria. I struggled but I carried on. I had to give up snacks and all kinds of sugary things. Instead of cola I drank mineral water.

The results were drastic. I found both physical and mental benefits. On the physical side, I lost 3-4 pounds every week. My body felt lighter and I was less lethargic. My sleep cycle was better and I woke up early in the morning with no sleepiness. I enjoyed this benefit the most. Usually it takes me a lot of time to truly wake up. But, when on ketosis, I seemed to wake up instantly.

On the mental side I felt fresh and focused. I don’t know how much of all this was placebo so don’t quote me on the benefits. But as far as I know, some benefits of the ketogenic diet are well documented, specially the weight loss part. If you are interested in this for weight loss, I’d say go ahead, but do your research first. If you have some health condition you definitely should seek expert advice. Another good alternative to ketogenic diet is intermittent fasting. It is well documented too. Still, seek expert advice before trying any diet.