Hi everyone, Joshua Marron here, founder of The Arena and the subject of Project Legacy. I’d like to start off by saying thank you to those who are following along and those who have contacted me regarding Project Legacy with words of encouragement. I designed Project Legacy to be a transparent (mostly, we need to save some behind the scenes magic for when you sign up to the Arena!) look at the coaching protocol of The Level Up! Arena. As you’ve seen, it’s raw, it’s gritty and it’s data intensive. Not to mention uncomfortable for me personally sharing so much of my data and photos but it is necessary to give you that full view of the program.
Please remember as a client, we will ask you for progress photos, but they are kept between you and the coach and taken to your comfort level. You are not required to show the world your tighty whities haha 🙂
What a Week It Was
I’d say this week was quite a learning experience for me as I had some big goals but ultimately time got the best of me as I realized trying to implement all these new habits while also trying to do the documentation and the other administrative duties of The Level Up! Arena, that I just didn’t have quite the time to do everything. There was one night, Tuesday, I remember it clearly. I had just finished eating a perfectly curated dinner (curated in terms of my macro and micronutrition targets), dishes still in the sink, and I looked at the clock and it hit me, if I’m going to get the proper rest that I need, there is just no way I can train tonight. It wasn’t a lack of commitment. I was just flat-out drained, my body didn’t have it, and my brain didn’t either. And honestly? I felt a twinge of guilt. Not shame, but that quiet frustration that creeps in when you care deeply about a goal but your life demands more than your schedule can hold.
I knew then that I had to make a choice, do I try to juggle of these things and hope for the best or do I laser focus into one area? I chose laser focus and I made a note to the coach that next week, we needed some adjustments. I chose to pause, but I didn’t back down. I rewired the plan. That’s where real change starts, not in the days that go perfect, but in the ones where you stay in the game even when your hands aren’t on the controller. You too will have this moment of feeling like you bit off more than you can chew, but you didn’t, you just need to learn how to manage time, work with your coach to prioritize, and that is what I am doing. I focused very hard on ensuring my nutrition was right, that was my number one this week.
Dialing In The Nutrition
Regarding nutrition coaching, it’s important to know how deep into the data you want to go. At minimum we want you to track your calories in and your macros (protein, carbs, fats). If you are willing to go further, we add in your calorie expenditure which is a calculation of your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and your calories burned during activities (requires a fitness tracker). Then if you want to really get deep in the weeds like me (I am a total data nerd, you’ve probably realized that already), you can use an app like Cronometer to track all your micronutrients as well. Unless you are trying to figure out a deficiency, we really do not recommend worrying about these numbers at the start of your journey as it will be time-consuming and send you down a rabbit hole of trying to perfect your nutrients.
This week, I really tried to prioritize nutrition, even when time got tight. I didn’t hit every macro target, but I stayed consistent, and that’s what matters. I played around with different food combinations to hit my protein without relying too much on shakes or fake meats (not easy when you’re 100% plant-based and keeping saturated fat under 10g). That part felt like a win.
Fiber stayed high all week, and I hit that personal target of 60+ grams per day. I know that it helps keep my appetite in check, and honestly, it makes me feel like my body’s firing on all cylinders. I dropped from 205.3 to 201.5 pounds in Week 1. That’s a 3.8-pound loss, which looks dramatic but isn’t abnormal at the start of a new program. A lot of that is likely inflammation, glycogen, and water shedding, not just fat.
It’s easy to get excited by these numbers and start compounding in my head how much I will drop at this rate, but this is a long-distance run, not a sprint. This week was down 3.8, next week, I may not drop anything or even gain some back, the key is to ensure the nutrition is locked in so we can chalk up any abnormality to either increased expenditure or water weight.
Hits & Misses
Strength training took the biggest hit this week due to time constraints and focusing on nutrition. I tried a few exercises throughout the week to ensure my back held up through the weighted motions and I am happy to report that I did not experience any concerning pain, just normal soreness. After making a few adjustments, week 2 should see more progress on this front.
All in all, I am happy with the progress of Week 1. I knew not to go 1000% in due to burnout, so I took time to focus on one component, which I think I did very well and now we start stacking. My character class is Hybrid Warrior, so I have 3 main goals, lose weight, increase strength, focus on OCR movements and recovery. I think by the end of the first month I should be firing on all cylinders.
This isn’t about doing everything at once, it’s about doing the next right thing until the path becomes a rhythm. Remember when you are going through your own transformation, the two most important aspects are habit building and momentum. Once you have your habit built and your momentum is high, you’ll be unstoppable! Until next time, thank you again for joining me on this journey.
In Legacy,
Joshua
