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Hey there 🙂
I don’t exercise every day, and I eat and drink whatever I want, but still, I'm in the BEST shape of my life and look 10 years younger.
I’ll be celebrating my 39th birthday in 3 months, and I’m looking and feeling younger than I felt in my 20s.
I’m more fit, more flexible, have more energy, and the pains I used to deal with every day are now a distant memory.
All because of one thing -
M.E.D.
M.E.D. stands for Minimum Effective Dose.
Doing the minimum effective dose means doing just enough to move the needle.
When you do the MED, you can easily sustain it in the long run.
Over time, the results compound
Just like a long-term investment 📈
The problem with most people is that they go ‘ALL IN’ for a short period, get exhausted, and then fall back to the starting point…
I’ve been there myself numerous times in the past.
When I started my yoga journey, I did 1.5 hours of Ashtanga yoga 6 days a week.
I felt great at first and saw amazing results...
But after 2 months, I got exhausted 🥵
I couldn’t bring myself to unroll my mat,
and I ended up giving up on yoga for a year!
The same happened to me when I tried to get in shape.
I started a workout plan to get in shape before summertime.
12 weeks, 5 workouts per week, 45 minutes each.
I survived for 6 weeks,
got some results,
and stopped working out altogether for a year.
The same happened when I tried to change my diet...
The same happened when I tried to start the habit of running...
Nothing seemed to stick.
Until I decided to change my approach.
I realized I want to be fit even when I'm 80.
I want to remain agile and lean.
To reach these goals I needed to develop routines I can sustain for years to come.
So instead of doing too much and going ALL IN I decided to do the minimum necessary.
Do just enough to move the needle but not too much so I won't burn out and quit.
To do the Minimum Effective Dose.
At first, I implemented MED in my yoga practice.
Instead of doing 1.5 hours of strict yoga,
I started practicing for 10-20 minutes in the morning.
Sometimes it was 20 minutes of vigorous power yoga and other times 10 minutes of gentle stretching 🧘♂️
All depended on how I felt that day.
Next, I implemented MED in my fitness routine.
I started to workout twice per week.
This way, I’d have enough time to recover
Plus, I won't need to change my schedule to show up for my workouts.
In 6 months, I got in shape,
but more importantly,
I fell in love with working out! 🥰
I used to hate exercising.
I didn’t like lifting weights.
I didn’t like being out of breath 🥵
But now, I’m actually looking forward to the next workout!
And I’m loving the results.
I also implemented MED in my diet.
Before, I had strict rules -
Eating only a plant-based diet.
Avoiding processed sugar at all costs.
Eating 2g of protein per kg of body weight.
These rules are very important to support good health and body composition…
But they made eating a chore and sucked the fun out of food 👎
Now, I aim to eat healthily and stick to my rules 80% of the time.
20% of the time, I eat for fun.
I eat mostly a plant-based diet but enjoy a good sushi or pizza night every now and then 🍕
I avoid sugar most of the time but enjoy a good chocolate croissant when I go to a cafe 🥐
Using MED has made my life so much easier.
Getting in shape and staying in shape has become effortless.
With MED, I was able to create and maintain so many healthy habits:
- Daily yoga
- Daily meditation
- Strength training
- Mobility training
- HIIT training
- Outdoor walks
- Eating healthy
I focus on doing the Minimum Effective Dose that moves the needle.
And do it consistently.
If you want long-term results, I believe you should focus on MED too.
Have a wonderful day ✨
Idan
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