One of the biggest mindset shifts that can literally “make” or “break” your fat loss success is to stop obsessing about your short term results (or lack there of) – and just focus on mastering your daily habits.
If you consistently follow proper nutritional habits along with doing some form of daily exercise, even if it’s just for 10 minutes, it will add up overtime.
Most people who start a weight loss diet focus only on the number on the scale.
If their weight on the scale goes down, they feel good… But if their weight on the scale doesn’t go down, they feel like a failure and quit… That’s why over 90% of dieters quit after 1 month.
However, you need to realize that your weight on the scale doesn’t always go down every time you eat a healthy meal or workout… Just like the scale isn’t going to go up every time you eat an unhealthy meal or skip a workout.
Imagine how fat people would be if we ‘gained weight’ at the same rate when NOT dieting, as most people expect to ‘lose weight’ when dieting?
…That would be scary!
When you look at things from that perspective, it’s actually a good thing that the body is resilient and change takes time.
But rest assured that when you eat more healthy meals, and do more workouts, the scale will eventually move in the right direction but it’s not instant.
There’s a lag time between the actions you take today and the results of those actions. For example, if you workout today, you’re still going to be fat tomorrow. Or if you smoke a pack of cigarettes today, you’re not going to get lung cancer tomorrow. Those actions have to be repeated over and over again many times for the results to compound and accumulate.
The process of becoming overweight didn’t just happen quickly, it occurred very slowly. You may have only gained 1 pound per month – or less. But by consistently eating a poor diet and living a sedentary lifestyle – the body fat added up year after year until eventually you became overweight.
Just think what would happen if you simply reversed those numbers, which isn’t that hard to do once you understand how your body works.
Instead of slowly getting fatter year after year, you could slowly get leaner year after year. That’s how you can live a lean healthy lifestyle and maintain it.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are advanced strategies that you can use to speed up your rate of fat loss to the point where you are losing 1 pound per week (or more) with focused effort. But even if you go in “slow motion” and only lose 1 pound per month… Celebrate that, pat yourself on the back, because it’s still positive progress!
Heck, even if you just maintain your weight – that’s still a victory – because it’s much better than gaining weight.
The point of all this is I want you to zoom out and look at the bigger picture. Stop stressing over how fast you can lose weight in the next 30 days, and start thinking about where you want to be in the next 5 to 10 years.
If you master healthy habits, you could be living your life in a lean and athletic body – and loving every minute of it.
Or you could keep going down the same path you were on before, and end up living your life in an obese body that is riddled with health problems… The choice is yours!
Every little decision you make – good or bad – is like casting a vote for the type of person you want to become. And just like with any election – you don’t need a unanimous decision to win – you just need to make good decisions the majority of the time to win.
Don’t let your short term results – or lack there of – derail your long term progress!
It’s so sad when I hear people say:
“I tried dieting for a month and didn’t see any results, so I quit.”
Imagine if a student went to school for a month, but didn’t get any smarter – and quit.
Or if a businessman started a business for a month, didn’t get any richer – and quit.
Or if a farmer planted his crops for a month, didn’t get any produce – and quit.
In other areas of life we know that it takes time to get results, and we are willing to put in the time to get the results. But for some reason when it comes to losing weight if we don’t see instant gratification – we get frustrated and quit.
Bottom line – stop quitting on yourself – focus on mastering the simple daily habits of doing the right things and the results will happen.
Coming from the bodybuilding world I’ve been through my own ups and downs with yo-yo dieting – going from extreme contest cutting to off season bulking. I’ve also let myself go, got a “Dad Bod” and understand the struggles – it’s not always easy – I get it.
I’ve been working in the fitness industry coaching people since 1997 and have literally helped thousands of people during that time. Many of whom have experienced amazing life changing “Before” and “After” transformations… And there were many failures as well (unfortunately, more failures than successes).
But ironically the only time I’ve seen people fail, is when they quit on themselves… Having the best workout program, the best diet, the best coach, etc. Isn’t going to do jack sh!t if you quit on yourself…
Please stop quitting on yourself. This isn’t rocket science, it’s not complicated, it just takes making a few simple habit and lifestyle changes and sticking to the process long enough so that you actually get the results you want. And the cool thing is that the more you do it, the easier it gets!
Just take it one day at a time, one meal at a time, and one workout at a time. And when you screw up and get off track, don’t beat yourself up and quit – forgive yourself, correct, and continue – START AGAIN and keep moving forward.
If you can do that, your fitness and fat loss success is inevitable. You just need to have faith and trust the process.
If you are ready to “Start Over” for the last time and finally claim the gains you deserve… Without Punishing Your Body… Then let’s chat and plan out a strategy that’s right for YOU!
Click Here to schedule a FREE 10-Minute Strategy Session Call with Lee Hayward.
The purpose of this call is for us to get to know each other better and brainstorm some ideas and action steps for how you can reach your personal health, fitness, muscle building & fat loss goals.
If I honestly feel that I can help you, then I’ll let you know. And if I can’t, then I won’t BS you, but I will offer some suggestions to experts or resources that can help you.
Either way, at the end of our short 10-minute strategy session call you’ll walk away with more clarity about what you need to do next in order to move in the right direction towards building the body you want.
