Read this first: a lifestyle, not a task

Before you do a single press-up, read this. It's the most important chapter in Basic Training, and it has no exercise in it at all. Sorry.

The problem with finish lines

Most diets work. That's the annoying part. You cut out everything you enjoy, live on lettuce and spite for six weeks, and the number goes down. Then the diet ends. You go back to exactly what you were doing before, because that's what "ends" means, and the weight comes back to see how you've been. Often it brings friends.

This isn't a guess. A big review of long-term weight-loss studies found that more than half of the weight people lost was back within two years, and more than three-quarters within five. The people who kept more of it off were the ones who kept exercising.¹

So the plan here is different. There's no end date. You're not doing a task. You're changing what normal looks like for you, for good.

From the sofa to the Matterhorn

Picture someone whose entire weekly exercise is reaching for the remote and answering the door to the pizza driver. On Monday they decide to climb the Matterhorn. By Wednesday they're on a crash diet, running at dawn and doing burpees in the kitchen while the dog watches. By Friday they're broken, starving, and the dog has lost all respect for them. By Sunday it's pizza again, now with a side of guilt, like extra cheese nobody ordered.

That's what crash diets and crash training do. They ask for too much, too fast, and nobody can keep that up. Not you. Not your neighbour. Not the person online who says they can.

The Matterhorn is still there. We'll get you up it. One flight of stairs at a time.

How fast is sensible?

If losing weight is one of your goals, the NHS suggests aiming for 0.5 to 1 kg a week, which is roughly 1 to 2 pounds.² That sounds slow. It is slow. Slow is the point. Slow is what stays.

Not everyone reading this wants to lose weight, by the way. Some people want to get stronger, sleep better, or play football with their kids without needing a sit-down at half time. All of that counts.

It took time to get here

It took time to get here, and it takes time to leave. That isn't a one-for-one deal. Ten years of takeaways doesn't need ten years of salad. But it won't be undone in a fortnight, either.

Habits are what do the heavy lifting. In one study, people picked a new daily habit, like a walk after breakfast, and it took a median of 66 days before it felt automatic. Some people got there much faster, some much slower. And missing the odd day didn't ruin it.³

So give it two months before you judge anything. Not two days. Not one bad weekend.

Eat slowly. Yes, really

This is the cheapest trick in the whole of Basic Training. People who eat more slowly tend to eat a bit less, without trying.⁴ Put your fork down between mouthfuls. Talk to someone. Chew like you're paid by the chew. Your food isn't going anywhere, unless you live with a Labrador.

How Basic Training works

There are 18 chapters, in four parts: head first, moving, fuel, and out the door. They're in this order for a reason. Each one ends with one small job, called your rep. Do the rep, then move on. Read one a day or one a week. Nobody's timing you.

There's no jargon here. Where a proper name is useful, you'll get it in plain English first.

All 18 chapters of Basic Training