Ray's Take

Knowledge, sustainability and progress are the pillars of the the RW philosophy.

Knowledge

You have to know what matters, why it matters, and how to improve. Based on those, care about it enough to set a goal and change your behavior by taking the actions necessary to improve.

Then move on to....

Sustainability

You use the knowledge on how to improve toward your goal and try doing it.

In doing it, for our pursposes having to do with health, nutrition and exercise, do you:
- not like it? (for any reason)
- feel like you are sacrificing or missing out on anything? (would rather be doing or eating something else)
- not feel good (hungry, sore, injured, etc)
If any of the above are even close to "yes," your current program is an auto-fail. Keep in mind, when first starting, what you are trying is most likely to fail, and that's OK. Our program has so many strategies to help you get to full, authentic sustainability.

Progress

So lets say you have a nutrition and exercise program that you can honestly say you are happy with. That's table stakes.

However, we must assess if we are making progress toward our ideal goals. Examples:
- Are you reducing body fat and getting closer to "abs?"
- Are you increasing strength based on what you have written down?
- Are you lowering cholesterol (apob) and in effect lowering heart disease risk and increasing longevity?
- Are you getting more high quality hours of sleep?

Do you actually have to assess the above?
YES. If you learn anything from this article, you must assess, for real.

To know your body fat, you must get a dexa scan (you can just look in the mirror in between).

To know your apoB, you must get a blood test.

To know your strength, you must write down every workout.

To know your sleep, you must assess with a wearable or clinically validated PRO (patient reported outcome survey).

Reaching true success mode - routine goal fit

If what you are doing (routine) is truly sustainable, and you are making measurable progress toward your goal...just don't change anything.

Like product market fit for startups, you just need to find your routine, that you can do sustainably, that moves you closer to your goal. At this point, just don't change anything. It doesn't matter how long it takes to reach your goal. In fact, slow and steady is the best.

If you do not have a routine you can do sustainably or that routine is not moving you closer to your goal, you must iterate on your routine. You must achieve sustainability and progress.

It's the only thing that matters.

My sustainable nutrition plan
My sustainable strength plan