I love the energy at the start of the year. Everyone’s committed, everyone’s motivated, and there’s real power in that collective push.
After 10 years of coaching New Yorkers through their fitness journeys, the people who actually transform their lives aren’t the ones who sprint hardest in January.
They’re the ones who understand seasons.
Not just calendar seasons—energy seasons. The natural rhythms your body and life move through.
And right now? We’re in the most important 8 weeks of the year.
Here’s why:
It’s cold. We’re inside more. We have more control over our environment—our groceries, our meal prep, our training schedule, and canceling social events 😆
Especially the last couple of weeks,…
In about 8 weeks, that first 65-degree day will hit. You know the one. The whole city floods outside.
That shift changes everything: how you spend your time, how you train, what you eat, and your social rhythms.
If you built a strong foundation now—consistent habits, good momentum, some real progress—you can ease into spring feeling confident.
You can afford to be more flexible because you did the work when it was easier to control.
But if you’re still “getting started” when spring hits? You’re playing catch-up for the rest of the year.
Then comes summer. You want to feel light, move well, and look good in your clothes.
Then fall. Back-to-school energy, new rhythms again, dialing back in before the holiday season.
Then the holidays. And you want to look back at the year knowing you followed through. That you didn’t just set goals—you lived them.
Right now, over the next 8 weeks, you have a rare window when the conditions are set up for you to build something real.
Not perfect. Not extreme. Just consistent and intentional.
That said, here is something I found myself using with all my new and existing clients last month!
The Adaptation Principle: How to Stay Ahead of Your Body
Here’s what nobody tells you when you start a diet or training program: your body is designed to get efficient at whatever you throw at it.
That calorie deficit that worked in week one? Your metabolism adjusts. Those 2-mile runs that felt challenging? Your body learns to do them with less effort.
This isn’t failure. It’s biology. It’s called adaptation.
But if you don’t plan for it, you’ll end up stuck—or worse, doing something extreme and unsustainable just to see results again.
The key is understanding that you need room to progress. You can’t start at your max and expect to have anywhere to go when your body adapts.
Let me show you how to stay ahead of it across the three main areas:
Calories: Leave Yourself Runway
The biggest mistake? Starting too aggressively.
I see people drop from 2,500 calories straight to 1,200 because they want fast results. Sure, you’ll lose weight… but then what? You’ve got nowhere to go when progress stalls except even lower, and that’s how people end up miserable, starving, and eventually rebounding hard.
Better approach: Start with a 300-500 calorie deficit from your current baseline. Lose what you can lose at that level—maybe 2-4 weeks. Then drop another 200 calories.
Keep stepping down gradually so you always have room to adjust without destroying your quality of life.
Think of it like walking down stairs, not jumping off a cliff.
Example progression over 8-12 weeks:
- Start: 2,000 calories → lose 4-6 lbs over 3 weeks
- Step down: 1,800 calories → lose another 3-4 lbs over 3 weeks
- Step down: 1,600 calories for a couple weeks
- Final push: Mix days at 1,500 and 1,200 to break through the last plateau
- Then reverse back up slowly: 1,200 → 1,500 → 1,800 → maintenance
You’ve got runway. You’ve got options. You’re not painted into a corner.
And never go from long periods at low calories right back to a massive surplus,that’s the fastest route to weight regain.
It’s what happens when people crash diet for vacation! They balloon back up after going all-in at the all inclusive!
Cardio: Start Below Your Ceiling
Same principle. If you start running 5 miles, 5 days a week right out the gate, where do you go when that stops working? Run 7 miles? 10? At some point, you run out of time, energy, or knees.
Better approach: Start with less than you think you need.
For me, with Zone 2 cardio, I start at 30 minutes on a high incline at 2.5 speed. That’s challenging but manageable. I do that for 2-3 weeks. When my body adapts, and it starts feeling easier, I’ve got options: add 5-10 minutes of duration, or increase the speed to 2.8 or 3.0.
By the end of my 12-week plan, I’m usually at 40-45 minutes at 3.0 speed, and that’s when I’m pushing through the final bits of fat loss.
With running, it’s the same idea: start with 2 miles, 3-4 days a week. After a month, add a mile. Your body will adapt to those 2 miles—that’s when you break the adaptation by adding more.
You’re building a ladder you can actually climb.
Training: Stick With the Program
Here’s where people get impatient. They hop programs every 3 weeks because they’re bored or think they need “muscle confusion.”
You don’t.
Better approach: Stick with a program for at least 6-8 weeks. Add weight. Add reps. Let the adaptation work for you—getting stronger IS adaptation. Progressive overload is literally you planning for your body to adapt by forcing it to handle more load over time.
It takes time for your body to truly plateau on a program. Most people quit way too early, never giving their bodies a chance to adapt and get stronger.
You only switch programs when you’ve truly stopped making progress, not when you’re just tired of seeing the same exercises.
“Did I leave myself room to progress, or did I start at my maximum?”
If you started too aggressively, dial it back now.
You’ve still got 7 weeks to build something sustainable.
If you haven’t started yet, start with less than you think you need. Give yourself room to add more as your body adapts.
If you are reading this tonight, message me tomorrow (presidents day) I’ll have some time to reply back and help where I can 🍟
One More Thing: Track Your Protein
If you’re not tracking anything about your nutrition right now, just track protein for one week. Don’t change anything else. Just write down your protein intake each day.
Most people are shocked at how low it is. And protein is the one macro that actually moves the needle on energy, recovery, and body composition.
You can’t fix what you don’t measure.
For the Parents:
Quick training tip that’ll save your lower back: add rotation to your workouts.
Most of the exercises we do are up/down or forward/back: squats, deadlifts, and presses.
But real life (especially parenting) happens in rotation: picking up your kid while turning, loading the car seat from an awkward angle, reaching for something while twisted.
Cable chops, rotational rows, lunges with a twist—these will make a huge difference for anyone spending hours at a desk, then coming home to wrangle kids.
The Bottom Line:
Spring will be here in no time. Summer after that. Then fall. Then you’re looking back at 2026, asking yourself if you did what you said you’d do.
Right now, the conditions are right. You’ve got 8 weeks. And now you’ve got the tool to make sure you don’t stall out halfway through.
Build smart. Progress strategically. And when that first 65-degree day hits, you’ll be ready.
Cheers and see you in a couple of weeks,
Ryan
P.S. —
I am updating ryanchandlall.com, and I’ll have some guides to help published by the next letter.
Hope this one helps. Also, share the letter with someone who could benefit from the adaptation rule or needs encouragement to get their well-being back on track!