Why every diet works

            “If we only knew now what we knew then.”

                                                                        -Unknown

            So you’ve been on a diet. Or two. Or three. Or maybe you’ve been on all of the diets! At this point you’re probably saying “Nothing works for me! I have tried every single diet, and at this point, I’m ready to give up!” The biggest problem I find with some diets these days is the fact that people have to make it so complicated (That includes training too, which I will talk about later). You’ve tried the Paleo diet, you’ve tried the vegan diet, you’ve tried the juice diet, the twinky diet, etc. The list goes on and on, but in the end, when you’re trying to get exact with your macronutrients by the end of the day, how long will it be until you just break and give up? In this chapter, I’d like to address the fundamentals of why every diet works (evening just by eating portions), and what kind of habits you can implement to begin improving your lifestyle today rather than tomorrow.

Everyone is different

            Everyone is unique in their own physiological and psychological ways (Some could use some work). Maybe you want to look like Tom Hardy, Hugh Jackman, or Christian Bale (I would include the Rock, but ‘roid raging doesn’t count). If you’re a woman, maybe you want to look like Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, or Jamie Eason. Just as everyone has their own special conditions in which they can’t eat certain foods. This could range from nuts, grains, dairy, etc. The fact of the matter is all diets work, but some of them don’t work for others because they either have a certain condition, or maybe because the person lacks the intrinsic motivation to not eat certain foods. A study in 2005 comparing the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers and Zone diets showed that, overall, everyone in a controlled environment had similar weight loss results(Dansinger, Gleason, Griffith, Selker, & Schaefer, 2005).

            If you want a successful journey through fat loss (Or addition of muscle mass depending on your goals), choosing a diet plan to adhere to is only one step in the process of successfully completing it. You need to constitute in every other aspect of the process. Set your goals properly, get a fitness program, a diet, find some social support, and go do what you want to get done! Just don’t constantly change your plan because it’s “Not working”. Take into account the following equation stated below:

Energy in= Energy out + Change in Body Energy stores

            This is, in its simplest form, the laws of thermodynamics (In bodily terms, that is). People today have the mentality that doing nothing will get them something. Let me ask you this question: If you shot your best friend in the foot because you were angry at him, do you think he would just sit there and do nothing about it? Unless your best friend is a volleyball with blood smears on it (See what I did there?), then I would assume that your friend is going to respond unkindly. Simply stated, with every action there is an equal or exceeding reaction. If you want the body of your dreams, this isn’t the welfare line folks: You have to put in some work.

            Let me make this clear: While the moderation diet may be working for you, it may not work for someone else. Giving someone a one size fits all sort of program does not work for everyone. I understand that. This is where making a choice comes in. I will give my insight into my recommendations for everyone who is reading this right now. You can choose what I tell you, or if you feel like doing some more digging, I will provide you with resources to many diets you will find in Appendix A.

Dieting for Muscle Growth

            Maybe your goal isn’t trying to lose fat. Maybe you’re trying to try to get back instead (In a good way that is). Going off of the energy equation above, the same principles apply. If you want to gain muscle mass, there is two things that will help you achieve this goal: The appropriate volume and intensity in your weight training program, and a calorie surplus. I know you’re probably saying “But I don’t want to get fat!” You’re going to have to come to the realization that if you want to gain muscle, you may have to put a little fat on with that. Putting on muscle doesn’t come from consuming excess fat. It comes from consuming excess calories. I highly recommend focusing on only one goal at a time though. Unless you’re below ~15% bodyfat (Or ~19% bodyfat for females) I would not recommend mass gain until you achieve cutting down to the appropriate composition first, as this could cause many different issues (High blood pressure  being one of them). It’s your body though. You don’t have to take my word for it.

            One other thing is people putting on mass think this is the time to go all out and eat whatever they want. While I’m not going to say to not do this, as it does work for many people, this is not recommended as the word moderation tends to be thrown out the window when people begin a bulking diet. I will discuss appropriate bulking rules and some good methods of doing so in the coming chapters.

Social Support: Your Success multiplier

            It has been one of the most observable things in not only stressful changes, but also in trying to achieve fitness-related goals. Social support is a must if you hope to achieve long term success in reaching the body of your dreams. A study was conducted on couples in relationships and their rate of success in achieving their goals. Let’s just say that the numbers speak for themselves (Brunstein, Dangelmayer, & Schultheiss, 1996). Now I know you may be thinking that you aren’t in a relationship, and the only people you can depend on are your friends, but as long as there is a mutual end goal, then you will multiply your bouts of objective-oriented success to your goals, fitness or not.

            Making these kinds of changes is the ones that put stress on are in life, because the amount of change that we are experiencing at times can seem detrimental to our life’s progress. You’ve most likely been in a stringent situation in your life where decisions had to be made quickly. As this was going to induce change, you didn’t know if it were for the better or worse of your well being, you just knew that things should be happening another day, just not today! Am I right or am I right? Many people, believe it or not, tend to see change as something greater than death to them. I would say just think of it as if you were the phoenix. You’ll rise from the ashes again, greater than before (Bugental & Bugental, 1984).

Your Lack of Patience and obsession with the scale

            If there is anything that will kill your progress quicker than binge drinking every night on the weekend, it is obsessing over those numbers on the scale. It’s understandable that you want to lose 30 pounds, but have you set your goals? If you want to lose more than one or two pounds a week, then you’re really pushing the limits. “I weighed myself after the first week though and it said I lost five pounds! Explain that!” Two words: Water weight. Whether it was from the little bit of fat you lost, or because you have nearly depleted your glycogen stores because your body isn’t used to metabolizing its energy this quickly, water weight is your number one answer. If you weigh 400 pounds and lost that much, that may be a different story. As you lose more fat and get down to that area of “lean” (Depending on your definition of the word), yes things will get more difficult, but when you lost no weight during the week, you need to assess why. “Did I have enough of a calorie deficit?” If yes, wait another week or two, and if you stay consistent, I guarantee you there’ll be a massive drop of between 3-6 pounds (Depending on you).

           

            As for the scale, sure it can be somewhat reliable, but how does your body look? If the progress is visible in the mirror, but not on the scale, then there is really no necessity to worry about such silly things. You’re making progress! Are you getting compliments? Do you feel lighter? The simplest things to observe are many times the most reliable. Who knew?

These Foods are the only ones you should eat

            Let’s make this clear: While whole wheat bread may be “Better” for you, it doesn’t mean you should completely eliminate bagels or French bread from your diet that is refined. While they may not be the best to be eating all the time, you’re not going to potentially die from high blood pressure unless it’s your breakfast every morning (Maybe you won’t, but it’s the trend these days). Ladies who have a fascination with ice cream (Or gelatos. Or frozen yogurt (I prefer cheesecake to be honest)), guess what? You don’t have to give up ice cream to get six pack abs. However this does not mean I’m telling you to go get a tub of ice cream and eat half of it. I’m saying if you learn to moderate your intake of it, but still adhere to eating more whole foods, you will be off to a good start of your fat loss journey.

            While I do believe everyone has a freedom of choice in what they eat during their fat loss journey, I still advise against a few things that should be limited to only a couple times per week (If you cut them out altogether, great). I only have a few but here they are: Excessively sugary junk, partially or fully hydrogenated oils (Which includes fried foods, most cookies and crackers, etc) and Nutella (As you hide the empty Nutella bottle next to you as you read this). One thing you still need to make sure to consume daily though is vegetables. I don’t care how much you don’t like eating your vegetables. I’ll tell you some creative ways to eat them in some of the recipes I offer later on in this book.

Change is good… when you can moderate it

            Many people that go on a diet can just pull through and do it without any issues. The thing about these people though is the fact that they were most likely already made certain changes to make their fitness journey easier. This is where many other people fail to realize that just jumping into the swing of a diet is not an overnight thing. You need to condition yourself to go through this diet successfully.

            How do you do this? Simple. Start with some small changes. We all know habits are hard to break. That is why some people can’t just cut themselves one day from eating top ramen, taco bell, and mcdonalds one day to eating all Paleo the next day. You have to make small changes to influence a bigger change in the long run.

            So you eat white bread right now? Change to wheat bread one day. You eat cookies right now? Resort to the cookies that lack hydrogenated oils. You eat processed meat? Start cooking real meat (A George Foreman grill is great for those people who are in a time crunch). You don’t eat vegetables? Eat more vegetables. Resort from Hamburger helper and have some chicken and sweet potato instead. As you make these changes, you will feel much more comfortable doing so.

Don’t make it a quick fix… make it a lifestyle

            This goes along with my last section. If it’s not something you can’t adhere to in the long term, then what is your purpose of trying to lose fat in the first place? Take it one step at a time, and after a few months, you will come to realize that you’re doing a lot better making a few small changes gradually rather than making one big change. You don’t have to give up drinking with your buddies on the weekend, but if you want to make progress, you have to implement change. The end. Also, keep it simple as I said before. We’re not trying to figure out the Pythagorean Thereom, people.

           

Conclusion

            If you want to succeed, keep it simple. More food on the days you work out, less on the days you don’t. Then again, you don’t even have to do that! You could just eat the same every day and still witness similar results! Keep the changes small, but gradual. Hopefully this has helped you learn a little about how to successfully thrive in the long term.

           

Brunstein, J. C., Dangelmayer, G., & Schultheiss, O. C. (1996). Personal goals and social support in close relationships: Effects on relationship mood and marital satisfaction. Journal of personality and social psychology, 71(5), 1006.

Bugental, J. F., & Bugental, E. K. (1984). A fate worse than death: The fear of changing. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 21(4), 543.

Dansinger, M. L., Gleason, J. A., Griffith, J. L., Selker, H. P., & Schaefer, E. J. (2005). Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone diets for weight loss and heart disease risk reduction. JaMa: the Journal of the american Medical association, 293(1), 43-53.

Excuses, the death of success

Everyone makes excuses. It’s a natural thing, especially when you’re surrounded by people that do the same thing. Limitations are only a conditioning implemented upon us by family, friends, media, or those that we find credible. This goes along with my statements I made in the foreword. In this chapter, I am going to address a little on why people make excuses, some ways to help improve your willpower in the matter, and a little on the psychological insight of why we think this way. “Why are you telling me this in a health and fitness book? Shouldn't you be explaining things to eat and types of exercise?” Sure, I could give you those things initially, but without mental willpower, without some kind of mental structure, you may lack adhering to a healthy lifestyle in the long term.

 

Why People Make Excuses

                “I don’t want to go. I’ll be busy that day.” “Gee that sounds nice, but I can't do that. I don’t have any experience.” These are just a couple of the generic excuses you might hear from many different people. Why is it that people make excuses though? You may be able to answer me this one, but if not, when you think of an excuse, the other word that commonly compliments it is simply this: fear.

            People can deny that they’re not afraid, but usually it’s because they know they have to initiate in something (Usually something they've never done before or rarely ever do) and so they are afraid to fail (An example would be riding a kayak even though you've never done it, and afraid you’ll fail, i.e. falling in the water and humiliating yourself). Maybe it’s because you don’t want your friends to see you in a certain way (You and your friends are big Steelers fans and you get offered tickets to the Packers), or maybe your parents are strong in their spiritual beliefs and you dating a girl you really like opposes those beliefs or is slightly different, you may hesitate to ask her out (Let’s assume your parents are Christian and she is Buddhist or something like that). My last example is more so personality dependent. People who are knowledge loaders tend to do this same thing in certain situations (You already have sufficient data on the subject, you just want ALL of it before you take action).

            These excuses can come in all shape in sizes. If you want to live your life through the rest of the world, go ahead, but understand one thing: Once you begin making excuses, you will continue to make excuses for more and more things, and like Vladimir Lenin stated it, “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” When your initial bad excuses become habitual, you begin to live these lies you condition yourself to. Why would you ever want to be dishonest with yourself, if anyone at all? It’s really counterproductive in the long-term.

            In the short term though, it’s a quick fix. We as humans want it now, with minimal effort and no trying. You know if it were that simple, everyone would be successful! (Or, in a real world, it’d probably be man killing himself off by then). So, because there seems to be fear dependent on one thing in all these examples, it would be social surroundings, particularly your social group (Sometimes in the general population, but mostly influenced by those you care about). If you decide to go on a diet and start exercising, regardless of how hard you try, if you don’t surround yourself with people in the majority of advocating this goal, then you will eventually conform to their standards and fall off your diet (Or whatever else you’re attempting to strive in doing). If you want to succeed in the long term, you have to hang around people that want to succeed with you. If you don’t, you will find yourself in a line of something we like to call stress.

Stress: The Other Nemesis to your Successes

            So you just got out of a meeting with your boss. Your sales are down, and your boss is stressed out because sales are lacking, which may affect the future of his company. So he takes out his anger on you because you were one of the few who actually had the integrity to sufficiently report your record of sales. First thing he does is take his anger out on you. You could get angry and yell at him back, or you could just shut up and color. You decide the latter, and the meeting is only a brief ten minutes. You finally get out what seems like hours, and for the rest of the day you feel completely unmotivated and lack any appetite whatsoever.

            After this long day, you get home to your loving spouse, which you have minimal interest in any type of intimate contact whatsoever. You decide not to do your run for the day, you go grab some alcohol from the convenience store, grab a pizza, and watch some movie that, you aren’t aware of, manifests negative unconscious emotions you developed another time you watched the movie. You pass out on the couch by the time you reach your eighth shot of bourbon, wake up the next morning hungover, smelling heavily of alcohol (And sweat), and you know you’ll be late if you decide to shower, shave, brush your teeth, put makeup on, etc.

            At this point, depending on your importance to the company, and how consistent you are with this action, multiple different things could potentially happen. I’ll let you get creative. This is what I call the “Stress multiplier” or “The Red Button” (I just made up random names).

            One thing stresses you, and then essentially that stress mitigates your goals and your stress exponentially increase it over a short term time (Sometimes the long term, depending on how critical it is). Rather than choosing a creative outlet of some kind (i.e. Reading, meditation, running, replacing the oil on your vehicle, etc.) you choose to indulge in the things that satisfy you in the short term.

           

            You have essentially conditioned yourself to do something after a bout of stress. For example, some people are hypophagic (Don’t eat when they stress out), which is only about a third of the population. Some people are hyperphagic (They eat abnormally or binge after a moderate bout of stress), which is about two-thirds of the population. Most people though, can be both.

            I am going to get a little scientific for a moment. Let’s say you’re in a gas station and someone at the counter up front pulls a weapon out and points it at the cashier, yelling at them for the money. At this point, unless you’re James Bond and ready for some gunfire at anytime, you’re going to freak out. Your fight or flight response is going to activate as epinephrine and norepinephrine levels increase, and your sympathetic nervous system is activated, your heart rate increases, etc etc. You may not note at this point (Most likely not, you’re probably running or hiding) that any type of appetite you had before is completely gone. This is a hormone secreted known as CRH, inhibiting your appetite. Hence, as the scientists call it, hypophagy.

            Afterwards however, hormones known as glucocortocoids begin to secrete, telling your body to recover from this stress by repairing what was lost. In other words, it’s an abnormal increase in appetite which can result in overcompensation or binging. It’s an instinctive response that’s been part of us for quite a while (Sapolsky, Gurley, Demarest, & internationales Télé-Film, 2004).

            This is perfectly applicable in a real life situation, unfortunately, the lack of abundant food thousands of years ago did not allow our ancestors to overeat as they had limited supply, so the increased appetite had decreased to normal levels by the time it could potentially happen.

            Stress can wreak all kinds of havoc on our systems if we don’t do something about it. Effects can include, but are not limited to:

·         Impaired cognitive ability

·         Increase blood pressure

·         Decreased sex drive

·         Depression or Anxiety

·         Increased risk of cardiovascular disease

·         Dwarfism

·         Decreased immunity

·         Difficulty sleeping

·         Substance Abuse

·         Increased aging rate

·         Bulimia/Anorexia

            How do we inhibit this response? We could just inject ourselves with CRH, if we want to feel like a paranoid person struck with anxiety constantly. Or… there’s always other options.

Mental Conditioning

            This is the part where you expect me to give you some way to completely overcome these mental barriers: Excuses and Stress as a whole. Now, you can read through this part and just think about it and not do it. You don’t have to after all, as the world is not depending on you to change your life.

            If you implement everything I give you here though and do everything I tell you (Or even some of it), I guarantee you your successes will multiply. If you’re mentally conditioned to organize your workout schedule, log your food intake, write down your goals and such, it may look silly on paper, but if you can push these boundaries, then I kid you not, you will be prepared for anything you want to do when it comes to this knowledge.

            Think of this knowledge as the seed to a tree (You have the knowledge). You can plant the tree (If you  start something), but if you don’t water it, give it sunlight or good dirt (If you don’t keep your commitment consistent, accounted for, and supported), the tree will never be able to grow branches (You will never learn to adapt), and the animals will never begin living on the tree (Your friends who initially wouldn’t support you still wouldn’t support you).

            I know this sounds a little metaphorical, but I was just trying to make a point. I did mention in Dieting Myths and Truths all about social support and keeping a journal so we’ll start with those.

            So, before doing the below, you will need a journal, a pen, and an open mind (And you can use highlighters and sticky notes if you’re hardcore about it). I will be talking about social support, keeping track in your journal, affirmations and goals, and lastly, ways to help relieve stress.

Social Support

            As I had said before, keeping a social group that will support you in the long run will be of massive help to you, regardless if you are a strong-minded person or not. In fact, there was a study conducted on this. 166 participants were divided into either going on a weight loss diet alone, and the others went on a weight loss diet with three other people (Family or friends) that supported them and also participated. Unsurprisingly, only 76% of the group that went at it alone completed the 4 month treatment, and out of those, only 25% of them kept the weight off at the 10^th month follow-up. If you look at the ones with social support though, almost 70% of the 95% that completed the treatment managed to keep the weight off. (R. R. Wing & Jeffery, 1999). Imagine that!

            So, that’s what I’d like to talk about here. I want you to sit down with your journal, and make a list. Make a section in it called “Social Support” or something similar. Make one column for “Supportive people” and another for “Unsupportive people”, then maybe one for “Undecided”.

            What is a supportive person? Well, ask yourself this question: When you begin sharing a goal or passion you have with someone you know very well (Strangers don’t care. They’ll kiss your ass and say what you want to hear if they barely know you), that person is going to respond in a certain way. Is it positively or negatively?

            You may have already started your journey, and may have already encountered resistance like this. Someone saying “Oh that sounds too hard” or “Man I hate eating healthy!” or “Man I just couldn’t give up my morning donut.” You’ve might’ve heard one of these variations, and these are the people you do not want to hang around.

            If you will notice, all of these responses are conditioned by a point of influence we have, be it the media, our parents, or any type of authoritative figure to us. “Too hard” implies they were taught what their boundaries are (Or that there are any).  “Healthy”, in the second example, was conditioned by the mass population. Most of the population never associates “Healthy” with “Good Times”. “Morning Donut” is another mental conditioning situation where the person sees a donut as a positive part of their morning. All of these things are influenced in you via environment, hence your friends and family.

            For example, you might remember as a kid being told to clean your plate. Unfortunately, your family’s sense of “portion size” was very rough and they weren’t including the 1200 extra calories you intake between soda, vending machine snacks, and cookies from your grandma down the road.

            Many other examples could be anything from religion, political views, cultural bias, or even the very job you work can be compared to environmental influence. It may seem so vast, but it’s really simple. You don’t want to be alone, so you conform with one crowd to a set of “standards”. This all comes back to how people come together and who deflect others.

            So back to what I was saying, who responds negatively when you try sharing that you’re going to lose weight or that you’re going to begin lifting weights or running? Alright, so you have your list of people. Good. Now what are you supposed to do with them? There are two options: 1. you can ignore their negativity, or 2. you can weed them out.

            You think I’m kidding. If these people are just dragging your motivations and aspirations on the ground like a dead swine, you need to get rid of them. Tell them the situation and point out their lack of advocacy. The only reason these people put you down is because they’re insecure you’re changing and growing in aspects they have not yet. There is no justification in a negative mindset. Don’t have them waste your energy. Tell them the situation, let them know what’s up, and if they don’t go along with it, move on. You’ll be surprised how many of these friends will come back and want to join once you make some development in your feats.

            What happens if you don’t weed them out? Well, like everyone else, you’re going to be influenced by your primary environmental stimuli, hence your friends or family (Yes I included family too). You’ll beginning acting negatively on your actions and lose track of your goals. Don’t be another one of those statistics.

            Now let’s assume that you have no choice but to be around people like this. What do you do then? There is a method for that, but it can be harder than you think, especially since I know man as a whole loves to speak of their successes (Or bragging, depending on personality). Let’s assume it is the people you work with as an example. Some of them will support you, some of them won’t. For the ones that won’t support, don’t speak of it to them, if only briefly and whenever they want to talk, divert the conversation towards something about them personally. This will give connection between you two, without you giving anything away, and by the time you are on the road to success, they will feel a little more inclined to support you, as you’re not putting this info in their face without walking the walk first.

As for the ones that will support you, and this is key, pick their brains about their approach, what they do for exercise, any special method of eating (i.e. paleo, low-carb, etc), and listen to them. It is a key in keeping a positive connection with these people. If you expect to get support, they are going to expect the same reciprocation, without them knowing or not. Don’t rant about how they could improve their diet. Keep an open mind about it and sound legitimately interested. These are the people that will be supporting you in your journey after all. If they want some kind of tips for how they will improve, they will ask.

I know, for many people, this may sound a little difficult, as we want to tell everyone about our success, but a lot of people can be selfish and insensitive these days (I’m not talking about sarcasm. This is a healthy part of every social group). If you want to succeed, you have to start with yourself, and then add on to the people who have those similar aspirations. This is more than just applicable with health and fitness. Business, travel, cooking, sports… hell, even stargazing are all applicable with social support. I don’t judge, half of the time.

             

Keeping a Journal

            So you have determined who is worth keeping and who is not. Now you move onto the rest of the journal essentially. What should you keep in this journal? Because I believe this book can be more than just an aid for nutrition and fitness, I am going to list everything that can potentially go into this journal. I’ll show you what I mean. Here’s my recommended list:

·         Goals, short-term and long-term (Any type of goals)

·         Affirmations

·         Diet schedule: Macronutrient ratio/Caloric intake (For at least 12-16 weeks)

·         Diet compliance chart and recorded macros/calories

·         A diet plan for after those 12-16 weeks (Or at least a potential brainstorm)

·         Grocery List

·         List of exercises (Mainly for weight training and circuits. Cardio is almost a no-brainer)

·         Workout Schedule

·         Workout Record Sheet/Compliance

·         Meal Plans

·         List of your current Supplements

·         A list of common foods you eat with macros and calories

·         A record of hours of sleep you got (This one’s a little nitpicky, but I like my sleep)

·         A weekly record of your Bodyweight and Waist size (Bodyfat size if you want. If you’re trying to get bigger, or are nitpicking, you can also measure chest, thighs, forearms, neck, etc)

·         For someone who wants to get financially organized, make a list of priorities and things you usually get and you’ll realize how much you overspend and can potentially save.

This is not the limits to this list. You can always add on other things i.e. appointments find my phone appropriate for that, but other people might have a different preference), school notes, dream journal, wizard spells, whatever floats your boat.

            Now you might be wondering: “Where am I going to accumulate all this information from? There is so much stuff on this list!” That is one reason I am here to help you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t need my help and you wouldn’t be reading this (Unless someone made you read this for class. Then you may not care what I have to say). The first and second one I will give you below.

Developing beliefs, consciously and unconsciously

            I want you to take a minute and imagine back to the time when you were in grade school, when you had red rover at recess, played jeopardy for your upcoming history test, and traded cards with your friends (Or action figures or played marbles. Maybe you were the social outcast and just wrote in your journal quietly in the corner of the playground. Everyone had their interests).

            So you’re sitting in class one day, bored listening to the teacher, so you take one of your wide ruled pieces of paper and make some random paper airplane design out of it and throw it across the room. The first time you throw one, it was just for fun. Your teacher is writing on the board and doesn’t notice. The second one you throw, she gives you a warning and you barely think about it. The third time though, you write a note to your buddy right before you throw it to him. She catches you as he/she begins unraveling the origami, and makes you stay after class.

            After class, she sits you down and gives you a piece of paper that says “I will not throw paper airplanes in class.” She tells you that you have to write this down on the board 500 times (Or maybe 100 if she’s nice or in a hurry to the break room). At this point, you either listen to what the teacher said and just do it, irritated, or you begin arguing before she takes you to the principal or school counselor because she doesn’t want to deal with it.

            Let’s assume you listen and begin writing this. After that day, I’m pretty sure you have never thrown a paper plane again (At least in class), and if you did, it’s because your school didn’t care enough and/or had bad discipline methods. Where am I going with this, you ask?

            Repetition is the primary method to reprogramming your mind, if you want to believe it or not. Thomas pain once quoted “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” Essentially, if you want to control what you believe is “wrong” and “right”, if you want to control what is “possible” and what is “impossible”,  then you’re going to get nowhere in life. You may think this is some cheesy fairy tale philosophy, but you need to know that there are limitations. For example, if you run 50 miles a week and include weight training three times a week into that, you’re going to end up in the hospital relatively quick.

            I have made a few lists of how you set goals (mostly goals), and writing what you aspire out on paper is much more effective than you would think, as long as you refer to it consistently. Where can goal setting help you in life? Here is my personal list:

·         Career

o   Where do you want to be in your career in the future, and how far do you want to go?

·         Financial

o   How much do you want to earn after X amount of years? Including outside of work? When do you plan to retire?

·         Education

o   What education level do you think is required to attain your other goals? BS? MS? PHD?

·         Family

o   Do you plan on having kids in the future? Do you plan on adopting? How will you thrive as a parent?

·         Personality

o   How do you want to change yourself? How do you change your attitude to benefit you in achieving your goals?

·         Physical

o   Do you want to look thin or fit? Do you want to live your senior age as a drug addict, or as a marathon runner?

·         Leisure

o   What kind of hobbies do you have currently? How do you want to further this interest to enjoy yourself?

·         Influence

o   How do you want to change the world?

           
            I know this is a pretty large list, but we will just stick to the physical aspect for now and you can tailor yourself to the other ones you need later. Now, some of you may have heard of the SMART acronym when it comes to goal setting. It stands for Specific (What is my goal in explicit detail?), Measurable (How will I reach my goal and can it be measured?), Attainable (Is this goal not completely over the top and impossible to reach?), Relevant (Are these goals relevant to your current life situations, and are they narrowed to this situation?), and Time-Framed (Do you have a timeline allocated to when you will complete this goal?).

            Now as you take that in, this is the best information I could possibly give you to write down your goals. Now, for you people who need an outline, I will give you one momentarily. Firstly, you must be thinking in your head: “Get to the nutrition and fitness stuff already!” Without a proper mindset, it’s going to be difficult without structure. Some people can do it, but very few.

            For an example of a generalized goal, you would say something like “I want to lose weight.” Now, when we apply the principles above, it will sound something more like: “By July, six months from now, I want to have lost 20 lbs of fat, while maintaining or increasing my muscle so I can look good going on this vacation to Myrtle Beach.” Now that is a goal. After that, you would write a set of sub-goals of how you would get there. You need a timeline though, so I will give you one. Normally, as a career goal for example, your longest term goal would be 5 years, but in this situation it is only six months. Let’s say you go a step further and want to get a six pack in two years (You’re about 75 pounds overweight and have close or over 30% bodyfat). This is what a timeline might look like:

            -1 week: Begin eliminating sugary foods out of your house and eating more whole foods. No calorie deficit is set, but you are changing things up.

            -1 month: You begin to cut out more thinks such as less drinking, eating out only four or five times a week now. You join a gym and begin walking, along with picking up the weights for the first time. You have lost about 15 pounds in a month. Unfortunately, about 10 lbs of it was water weight)

            -6 months: At this point you have lost around 20-25 lbs of fat and have cut your eating out to 1-2 times a week, limited to drinking only on the weekends, and have vastly improved your knowledge of health and fitness. You now workout three times a week, with all days consisting of weights and a little cardio. Looks like that Myrtle Beach trip ain’t going to be too bad after all…

            -1 year:  You have lost nearly 50 pounds in this year long journey. You begin to get a little lazy and gain a couple of pounds back after the year mark, but you bounce back quickly as you have set your goals, kept your journal current, and gotten this far. You have more social support than ever. Who’s stopping you now?

            -2 year: This is it: The moment you’ve been waiting for: Six pack abs baby! Time for a trip to the beach this summer! You’ve become a coach, you now have a wife/husband with similar aspirations, and your successful fitness endeavors have encouraged you to better yourself in every other aspect of life.

            “2 years? 2 years? Are you kidding me? You’ve got to be kidding? That is ridiculous!” You probably are saying right now. Ask yourself this question: What was the last thing you’ve done in a week that’s changed your life? In a month? How significant was it? Like everything else, this takes time, and if you don’t want to “waste” your time, then stop reading this right now and go off with your life.

            Goals are what make successful people. They’re what make successful marriages. They’re what make successful parents. They’re what make successful businessmen. They’re what make successful leaders, and, they’re surely what make successful people. If you want to succeed, you need structure. Dismissing writing out (Keyword writing, not typing) then your direction will be questionable. After structure for a long enough period, it becomes intuitive, and you make it a habit. For now though, structure into things initially is essential to success.

            Before continuing, write down your goals in explicit detail. I want you to be selfish about it. If the people around you can’t handle it and don’t want to change with you, then they can go do their own thing while you find your supporters. Once you write these goals, write below them what accomplishing this goal will do for you. For example, if you say “In six months, I want to lose 20 lbs of fat to get my beach body ready for Myrtle beach.” how will this make you a better person? What will it do for you? “I will have lost weight and look healthier.” “My blood pressure levels will look a lot better.”  “I will feel better about myself.” “I will be able to breathe easier when running.” These are just a few examples.

            This may take some time. That’s ok. When you have it, go back through those and write them out in a statement form, and put this statement in a present tense. “Why do I have to do this?” You ask. If you tell yourself often enough, you eventually will become what you say (if you say it often enough), but if you write it in the future tense, it’s only assuming you will be a certain way, and you’ll state it as “You are”. I’ll give you a couple of examples of this whole process:

·         The goal

o   Lose 20 pounds of weight by July to prepare myself for beach season.

·         How will this improve me as a person?

o   I will look better

o   I will feel better about myself

o   I will have a lower blood pressure

o   I will be able to run easier

·         The Affirmation

o   I am so glad that is of July of this year I have lost over 20 pounds to prepare for the beach. I feel so much better and it is so much easier to run than it used to be!

            Easy enough right? Good. Now, once you have these, make sure to look over them every day. You will be surprised how much it helps. However, to make this works, you have to believe these affirmations when making them, so to maximize effectiveness, write it down multiple times if necessary, and say it to yourself rather than just reading it off the paper. What initially will be a conscious habit will be an unconscious habit over time.

Methods of coping with stress

            I’ll be brief on this. There are a few I will mention, but everyone has their own creative outlet. Here is a few that I recommend for the average Joe:

            -Exercise: Self Explanatory. Exercise is like an anti-depressant. Running, weight training, or both, you’ll feel tired and satisfied afterwards

            -Meditation: Some people may have heard of this one before. If you can, try getting away from all noise for 20-30 minutes a day, and just close your eyes and imagine a positive world of your own. Deep breathing can definitely help. There are audio programs for this type of thing. One last thing is they also have self-hypnosis and neurolinguistic books on this stuff. Check it out if need be.

            -Active Hobbies: When I say active hobbies, I mean something that actually involves you in action i.e. writing, sports, four wheeling, shooting, cooking, etc. Things like collecting coins or possessing an inanimate object just to say you have it is not an active hobby.

            -Sleep: This is a little obligatory, and I’ve already made my explanation on sleep. Just make sure not to oversleep as this may throw off your sleep schedule a little bit.

            -Conversation: As long as it is an intelligent conversation rather than a strand of arguments. Arguments only lead to more negativity. If you can have someone to vent to about your day, or your aspirations, etc, that connection you develop will calm you down real quick.

            I explained to you why we make excuses, a little about stress, what it can do to us and what we can do to mitigate it. I also explained to you how to account for your goals, set them, and create new beliefs, and implement them in your everyday life. Now if you actually did these exercises rather than skipping this chapter like many of you will the first time you read this (Before you realize how important this is), you are set for all the information I will be giving you in the next sessions to come. If this is all you needed from this book, I wish you well in your future endeavors. 

Sapolsky, R. M., Gurley, G., Demarest, D., & internationales Télé-Film, E. (2004). Why zebras don't get ulcers: Times Books New York.

Wing, R. R., & Jeffery, R. W. (1999). Benefits of recruiting participants with friends and increasing social support for weight loss and maintenance. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 67(1), 132.